You may or may not have gathered that Hubster and I have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride these last few months with his health and Slobberdog's health.
What between him and Slobberdog it really has been a case as to which one of them was going to shuffle off their mortal coil first.
At the moment, it's looking like Slobberdog is the likely candidate. As I write this he is at the vets to determine the extend of his liver damage caused by taking years of anti epilepsy medication.
So...moving swiftly on to safer territory.
Hubster, Slobberdog and I went out for the afternoon to our local Cantina a little while ago. The sun shone, the birds twittered and all was well with the world.
As we chatted about life in general the conversation turned to Hubsters many brushes with death. We talked about how as a child I used to be terrified of dying and would have nightmares about it. The fact that since I was alive then at some point I had to die bounced around in my head a lot as a child and caused me much anguish. My mum, on one of the occasions when she was nice, told me me that she always imagined heaven to be a calming and happy place in shades of green. It didn't stop me being terrified but it sounded like a nice place to visit.
As the years have gone by I have accepted the inevitablility of death but then worried about the manner of my death. Drowning: ohhhhhhhhhhh nooooooo!!! That's the worst followed by suffocating. In fact any kind of death that stops you breathing scares the hell out of me.
I know!!
I know, every kind of death stops you breathing. Don't be pedantic, I'm trying to be serious here. Going to sleep and not waking up, that's a nice way to go.
Anyway, back to the story. As Hubster and I chatted about getting older and the aches and pains that come with it. We talked about how the world has changed. How life can be so very difficult and how people and standards are so different. Manners, kindness and courtesy are the exception rather than the norm.
As you may or may not have gleaned, dear reader, I live in an apartment block. When Hubster and I were thinking about buying a flat everyone voiced their opinion,"Oh no. You don't want to be living in a flat with people all round you." Oh no, you'll smell people's cooking, you'll hear them. It'll be awful." Did they forget that we owned a hotel for 5 years and lived in a poky little basement flat while the guests had all the nice rooms? Did they not realise that we could hear people moving around all the time? As for the smell of cooking, well. In the hotel quarter of town the smell of bacon and sausage wafts from every building. None of those arguments put us off at all.
We love our flat, we love the view and we love our immediate neighbours. Communal living is, on the whole ok as long as everyone is considerate to each other.
And that, dear reader, is where the issue lies.
You'd think a bunch of old fogeys living in God's waiting room would be nice. Oh dear me no.
I have never seen such aggression in my entire life.
I won't bore you with the details because it's just TOO boring but now two of the male residents, having been stirred up by another resident, are vying to each park closest to their garage. Talk about willy waving, it's ridiculous.
Another, brand new, resident has a dog which is nervous in its new home so has taken to howling when the owner is out. I would have thought a word in their ear or a letter suggesting they make other arrangements for the dog would have sufficed but no. An anonymous, vicious note was stuck to their front door. It was awful. What is wrong with people that we can't just show each other some respect and courtesy and stop bitching and moaning and fighting about absolutely sod all? I could go on and give numerous other examples of recent pettiness and nastiness but I don't want to.
To be honest, I'm a bit peopled out at the moment. It seems that everyone has an agenda and too often not a very nice one. I need my faith in human nature restoring.
Tell me a heart-warming story of people being nice to each other or helping each other out for no gain . Anyone? Please?
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