Today is Easter Sunday, sunny and finally warm. After a Saturday of work and resolution of problems, I’m taking the day off. I walked to a coffee shop nearby and flipped through the Vernon ‘Morning Star’ while sipping a robust coffee and eating a cinnamon bun that looked good but was underdone and doughy. I’ve been looking for a good cinnamon bun for a long time now; the search will have to continue. There are quite a few coffee places within walking distance of the house, and I’m going to try them all.
Good Friday was a mixed day. I tried again to contact Shaw about the problems I’ve been having with the phone and internet service since they were first installed. I put the phone on speaker for almost an hour and listened to endless repetitions of what a valued customer I was as I worked at organizing the kitchen. The young man I eventually spoke with said he could see the problem and that a service person would be at the house that afternoon or Sat. morning at the latest. Of course, this didn’t happen and I continued to lose phone and internet service simultaneously, often in the middle of a call. It happened once while I was talking with mom and dad and of course they assumed the worst. By the time I had another period of connection and called them, they were in quite a state. I’ve suspected for a long time, but now know why I’m having such a struggle trying to master my tendency to panic and jump the conclusions. On Saturday afternoon as I still waited for the tech man and was trying to make the most of a moment of connection by calling Shaw, putting the phone on speaker and Skyping Ina, I was able to treat her to a sample of my anger unleashed. The Shaw person answered as we were talking on Skype, and I launched into a tirade about their service while she listened. I had blown it, just when I was congratulating myself on handling the vicissitudes of moving with uncharacteristic calm. I had been happy to escape from Ma Bell, but was beginning to think that Pa Shaw was a match for her. Finally Steve arrived and I knew that I was going to be connected properly. As is so often the case, the institution is completely frustrating but the individuals who do the real work within it know exactly what they’re doing. He was a bald young man of few words, with a bandana tied tightly around his head, a big bag of equipment and an enormous pair of black airline-type shoe covers that he pulled on with authority as he entered the house. It took him about an hour and a half. At one point he made a mildly positive comment to which I responded that he sounded less than enthusiastic. He looked up and said, “ Oh. Maybe I should work on my delivery.” I laughed to myself and let him continue working. So Good Friday’s problem was settled late Saturday, and what had appeared to be Good Friday’s success, proved by Saturday to be problematic. I had bought a push lawnmower at the Canadian Tire sale, along with an articulating stepladder, which might turn out to be beyond me. The mower was easy to put together, only the handle came in pieces. As I waited for Steve on Saturday, I began to cut the lawn. I was enjoying the work and congratulating myself on having saved 50% on the mower, while protecting the environment by pushing it myself and at the same time, avoiding health club fees by exercising in my own yard. Half way through the job, I almost broke a rib. The blade, described as ‘contact free’ hit the frame and the mower came to a complete and abrupt stop as I was pushing it for all I was worth. Once Steve had the phone working, I called Canadian Tire to ask them to put a mower aside for me, there had only been 11 at the beginning of the sale, as I was returning mine. I did so, and now the new one sits, still in the box because my neighbor, the one with the issues and the motor home, cut the rest of the lawn with her electric mower while I was at Can. Tire. I’m not changing my mind about the hedge; the wall of white out the window still bothers me. Even though Donna and I are being good neighbors now, I still believe that a good hedge will make us even better
On Monday, Jim’s cousin and her husband who has a truck are going to help me pick up a dining room table and 6 chairs that I bought on Kijiji, our Canada Want Ads competition. I brought the dining room table that was the first thing that Jim and I had ever stripped with me to Vernon, but it was harder to find chairs for it than I had imagined it would be, whereas table and chair sets were numerous and cheap. After having divested myself of so many unnecessary possessions before I left Ottawa, I’m determined not to acquire so much again, but you’d never guess it from reading this blog.
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