Yesterday Tuesday at noon I attended the weekly Kitsilano House Seniors Drop-In, $5 for a light lunch for 25 old ladies and 3 old men scattered at tables around a hall with a nice guy to keep things organized and moving along. At the end I won his “recognize the songs” contest and my prize was a Ziploc bag full of miniature candy bars. I wasn’t going to eat the things so I circulated around the tables offering them to my new friends but was clearly going to have some left so I started offering “take one for your favorite grandchild”. At the last table an elegant well appointed lady replied “ I wouldn’t give that shit to any child let alone one of my grandchildren.” I laughed all the way home.
Today Wednesday 13:00 to 15:00 I went to the weekly Seniors Peer Support – Seniors Friendship Group meeting in the Kitsilano Seniors Resource Centre. This time about 14 older ladies and two men who all knew one another very well sitting around in a circle talking about things like how their weekend went and what Robert Mueller had said in his recent interview. Passing around a small microphone so a lady who is quite deaf could hear the conversation on her hearing aids.
A lady arrived late and announced she had good news, she had been accepted for treatment at the Change Pain centre for her abysmal back pain. She had tried all kinds of treatments and interventions, she has a metal rod in her back and last week her doctor had told her to go to Weeds on Burrard Street and get some edible cannabis to see if it would help her to sleep. She had tried it for a few days but so far no help sleeping so she was now going to double the dosage.
The lady in a wheelchair to my immediate left adjusted the hearing aid hanging around her neck and offered an alternative approach. She grew her own marijuana, hung it around the house to dry, she emphasized not heating it to hurry the drying, then powdered it in a pestle and mixed a spoon full with an equal amount of maple syrup. She claimed it was excellent for most things.
The gentleman to my right said he had an even better recipe for stress but it required a modest amount of hashish which was illegal, quite expensive and difficult to obtain however if anyone wanted the recipe he would give it to them. The first lady asked how well it worked to which he replied “marijuana has no effect on me but I notice that after smoking it everyone else becomes much nicer.”
Then it was my turn with the microphone and not to be outdone I said I also once had a very painful operation, namely I was circumcised. It was due to a misunderstanding, my being very young at the time and thinking they had said circumscribed but I was sure that it hurt a lot and I had cried very loudly. This was much appreciated so I think for next week I am now part of the circle.
Walking home I noticed this young man working on his summer vacation plans.
