I am reporting from heaven, well heaven on earth. It is morning , I am in Marin and gaze our my Best Western window on the ground floor. There is lawn, flower beds, trees, a pool and a jacuzzi. It is blissfully quiet, although the freeway is not far away. A wonderful buffet breakfast awaits me. I cannot seem to make the damn coffee machine work but other than that all is well. I make plans for the day which will include an appointment with an eminent surgeon and there is the word of the day: (of a person) famous and respected within a particular sphere. (One of the world’s most eminent physicians). The surgery is covered under my health plan, the health plan is one of the benefits I receive from my retirement. All is right with the world. Well surgery is not fun but there is a new technique and I will emerge fit as a fiddle and able to walk up and down those Sotheby stairs with ease.
Yesterday was wonderful. Although I usually get to airports early something happened and I arrived rather late but was whisked through it all. I get a wheelchair and simply love getting pushed around making beeping noises to get people out of the way. I actually bring joy to airports and security lines. People are so serious and they are usually going on vacations, cannot figure that one out. And what great surprises awaited me. I was not seated next to a handsome man but instead an extremely interesting 84 year old woman who lived on Vancouver Island. I cannot imagine anyone whose life was more different than mine but we had such fun swapping stories. She was blissfully happy with her second husband, who is thirteen years younger than she. She had a long and illustrious career, she and her husband are potters. She had four children, all successful and creative individuals with grandchildren who are up and coming talented individuals. She remains very active, played tennis until a couple of years ago but all of her tennis playing friends died off. Perhaps solitary sports are a better idea when one ages. She stopped creating pottery when she found she was not getting any better, she turned to knitting. She lives in the countryside with acres of land, she and her husband purchased it yeas and years ago. The kiln is located on the property, of course. She was going to Burbank to visit an old friend whose health issues make it impossible to travel. So all of that is so, so different from my existence. About the only thing we have in common is a failed first marriage, we did laugh! But do let us enumerate the differences – I can neither knit, not play tennis, had a miserable second and third marriage, did not have children, all my husbands were older than I am, do not have genetic grandchildren, and I am not going to visit my old girlfriend. But we did have two things in common – we both enjoyed our lives and the time we spent chatting on a United flight between Vancouver and San Francisco. The plane got to San Francisco half an hour early but impatient people clamoured to get off the plane. My friend and I were the last two off – she had a wheelchair as well. It is so handy to be only two hours away from SFO, it will be a pain to get from London to here.
Then I caught the Marin Airporter was met by a taxi to take me to the Best Western. The taxi driver cannot believe I am 75 and made a pass at me. I do not lie. I demurred. Perhaps demur can be the second word of the day, it is a legal word but also there is common usage. Demur, when used as a verb: object, take exception, take issue, protest, lodge a protest, cavil, dissent; raise doubts, express doubt, express reluctance, express reservations, express misgivings, be unwilling, be reluctant, baulk, hesitate, think twice, hang back, drag one’s heels, refuse; informal be cagey, boggle, kick up a fuss, kick up a stink.
So I expressed reservations, misgivings and reluctance to the taxi driver’s advances but he is coming to give me a ride to my doctors appointment this afternoon. By the time I got here I was starving as I had not eaten all day but had purchased the tapas snack box on the plane.
Instead it was off to my favourite restaurant Il Fornnaio where they love me almost, but not quite as much as they love me at the Rex Whistler in London, England. I was greeted with great enthusiasm by all, and ,although I asked for a handsome waiter instead I was gifted with a wonderful woman whose nickname is S the S. Her life was remarkably different from mine as well – her pride and joy is her son who is in school taking viticulture and computer engineering. Our topic of conversation was the strange phenomena of the Marin Matron. They appear only in pairs, two women dressed alike who cleave only onto one another and whose chief, and only topic of conversation is slamming other women not in their presence. They often sit in the bar but do not pick up men because who is going to deal with two women unless the guy are into threesomes (and what woman, or man for that matter wants that). Here is the question of the moment. Was I one of those women as I did live here? The answer is yes and no. I did the girlfriend number but not the gossiping number. I am not a gossiper but I sure do bet a lot of women gossip about me. But I went to live in London in 2014 and all of that changed. Although I was phenomenally popular and was the person that organized get togethers I see none of the people I chummed around with when I return. NONE. Instead I meet new and interesting people on my visits. I shall see my favourite friend who lives and works in Marin – he is a young and handsome guy. We sit around and drink whiskey. I cannot wait.
I now write from the Apple Store at The Village. Ran into a woman I worked with but had a longer conversation with a woman who was waiting for her computer. I am sending this off from the Apple Store.
The picture is one I posted on Instagram – the snack box from United Airlines. I actually got a lot of likes for that one.
