Vancouver Visit

Wednesday was awful. It was a horrible day to go to Vancouver — wet, dark and wetter. The rain was hitting my car like drumsticks. Plus, I had a long list of duties do.  

I left at 5:15 to catch the 6:15 ferry; I needn’t have gone so early.  I went to Lowes to exchange my curtain rods and then I caught the 8:30 am ferry to Vancouver (I had a reservation in spite of being very early and there being hardly any cars).

I got to and cleaned my old condo, had lunch with Dwight and then beetled over to get my bed footboard and a drawer set from the furniture store. Then … back home after an exhausting and stressful day.  I caught the 6:10 ferry to Gabriola and was home and cozy by 6:45.

That’s the end of my and my Vancouver condo — the place I loved so much and the place that got me so much praise for my decorating. It was very strange to be inside it with nary a thing of my own. I felt nothing and have not missed it for a second since leaving.

The nice thing about yesterday was getting an email from Amy proposing that we meet today for a walk and/or a coffee. She’s coming to pick me up just before noon. I think I’ve made a lovely connection with her and her man, Todd.

My only tie to the city now is Dr. Shoja. And guess what: I get a medical pass now for every trip to the city to see her; I get 30% off flights between Nanaimo and Vancouver or my ferry fare is waived.

Today I’m putting my second guest bedroom together. I’ll likely never run out of things to do.

By the end of the month Jay and Kelly will remove the pool table and then I can start work on the studio. I can hardly wait. I’m planning on installing a small wood stove, a new practical floor, lots and lots of shelving, a sink and a huge worktable. Then my ladies, a daybed/sofa, coffee table and a few chairs will finish it off.

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Setting up my medical and dental network, buying so many supplies and equipment, dealing with the postal office staff to establish service at a long-vacant address and all the lawyers and bankers have involved “speaking” to many strangers. It’s been brutal but, as always, superlative; I provoke only compassion and patience.

But people do tend to speak to me slowly, loudly and with lots of gestures. I have to say that the dominant impression I get is of kindness but I also wonder if some of them think I’m cognitively damaged. That’s the impression their speech gives me. I don’t mind. As I say, it’s subtext to kindness.