All Hallow's Eve

Here we are again, another dark and cold Hallowe'en and I thought I would write about the scariest thing that happened to me this year.That would be the twenty four hours I spent at Bridgepoint Rehab Hospital in Riverdale in June.
Bridgepoint sits beside the Don Jail, a dark energy source if ever there was one. Bridgepoint also was known as the Toronto Fever Hospital and The Toronto Plague Hospital. It's history goes back a long, long way.
Now it's a rehab centre and a palliative care hospital with the kindest staff you could ever hope for. However, its facilities are awful. There was a washroom for every fifty patients and it was in the middle of a very long hall. A trek for the botched and the bungled who had to shuffle down to it. The loo was more often than not unusable as cleaning didn't seem to be a priority. Thank goodness for Depends!
The nursing station had bells ringing in the hall so that we could all share in the din twenty four hours a day. The beds were short with metal bars and chains hanging over them. One had to take care not to crack one's skull sitting up. One's neighbour was a scant twelve inches away and potty to boot. Deaf as a bandicoot and addicted to CBC Newsworld played at top decibel non stop.
The food, dear me, the food. I have yet to find hospital food edible and I've unfortunately had more than my share of it. I was handed a tray of something brown and lumpy for my lunch. Toria looked at it and asked what it was. I suggested it might be shit whereupon we both had hysterics. Oh a laugh always does one good, no matter what the circumstances.
I was persuaded to stay overnight so that the paperwork could be done for my rehab at home.
There was very little sleep -the bells! the bells!- and what there was, was visited by nightmares that were simply awful.That's when I found out about the history of the place. A very sweet nurse named Valerie told me the place was haunted. No kidding!
I had to get a bit shirty with the doctor to get myself sprung but I tell you home never looked so good.
There, my little horror story for Hallowe'en

Plucked Like A Chicken

Well I finally gave in to the inner voice and Did Something About My Hair. I was even to my eyes looking a lot like Methuselah's Aunty. It was something to do with the walking stick and the dullness of the gray hair. The aged visage I'm stuck with. I got rid of the stick and now I got rid of the gray. I actually gave myself a fright when I looked in the mirror this morning(I often get a fright when I look in the mirror but this was a real start). I had forgotten about my hair. The plucked part is the eyebrows. Curly (the friseur) was wittering on about my great bones!!! and how I needed something done with the eyebrows and would I step into the back room and she would fix them up. I did just that and next thing we have hot wax daubed on the virgin brow that was a second later brutally ripped off. Shriek! Then the next eyebrow was assaulted in a similar manner. Shriek again. Tweezers were whipped out and plucking ensued that brought a tear to my withered eye. Hell's bells!
Back in the salon I was shown the result and to my astonishment it did make a change for the better. Who knew?
I'm just waiting to see what happens when the salty pool water hits the coiffure. I am comforted by the fact that the eyebrows will remain gorgeous as they are all my own. Looking good is a bit of a pain.

Enough Already

Now that the house has sold we are on the trot to find a new one. The original dream was a condo in town and a piece of land in the Northumberland Hills. We drifted away from that and started in the summer looking at houses which soon proved to be beyond our means. Ones we wanted to live in did for sure.There was no shortage of others! Then we went from detached to semis but they don't seem to make semi bungalows and we are on the hunt for a stairless abode. Right! Back to the dream and on to condoland. Again anything on the cheaper side is in a basement,( very nice for mushrooms) or needs so much work that we are back up to" almost blow the budget".We are out on the prowl again today to the point that getting in the car is just another chore.This time we feel more positive than we have before and that may be that a form of real estate madness is setting in or we will hit the jackpot. I will keep you posted.

Me Nerves!!

Well we are back from our travels and rested yet ratty as the house sold while we were away much to our surprise. Now begins the search for a new home in the Big Smoke.We are on a third round of viewings this Friday and have a feeling we may be in luck.
While we were in Toronto we stopped at the Grinder for a bowl of soup and a visit. Little Jakey was there putting on his socks and boots when he scarpered out the door and I hit the panic button and hustled after him. He was only going home to his Mum down the lane and has been doing this for ages quite safely. I being a Nana of vintage years and a nervous nellie of a mother when I was younger was appalled. His parents reassured me that he was as safe as one could be while living in the world and that I shouldn't worry.They are right, I shouldn't but I am. So now I get to practise mindfulness and whenever I think of Jakey hightailing it down that alley I shift gears and put it out of my mind. However I have taken the precaution of wrapping him in white light. I have also been told that it will be many moons before Franki is allowed out on her own as she is not the biddable little soul that Jakey is. Me poor nerves!