Friday 18 January 2013

Records, events and remembrances

What a busy time. Yesterday I went to see the Metropolitan Opera film of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera. Sitting at the breakfast table, sipping my tea, after my reasonably energetic morning walk, I read the newspaper, and noticed that  this film was showing at 10.30 am. So I leapt into the shower, moved with more than usual celerity, raced off to the bus stop, and arrived in time. Hindered somewhat by the rather disorganised system of selling tickets (you would never think that they sell ticket all day long every day) I managed to buy a ticket, sat myself down and watched this film for the whole 221 minutes. And I enjoyed it thoroughly.

One of my sisters and a friend of hers are visiting me for a couple of days. They arrived yesterday evening and I picked them up from the airport. Naturally the traffic was horrid, in both directions. I deserve a medal, or some other more useful reward, for sheer bravery and dedication.

This visit has provoked me into more activity than usual. More cooking was necessary, and thoughts about entertainment arose.

Today was the hottest day on record in the city - 45.9 degrees. This was higher than our other fiendishly hot day about a week ago. Fortunately there has been a mild cool change, but the tiles in my bathroom are still unusually warm underfoot.

We have had a busy day. I took them shopping this morning. I came home with perfume and some Venetian beads, and my sister managed after much research and consultation to buy a new frying pan. We learned much about the myriad designs and composition. That shop is a real trap, with immensely enticing and irresistible sales.

Then we went to a lovely local shop where I bought a couple of light and easy summer dresses the other day. We had a very agreeable time there. My sister is thinking about buying a dress, and her friend came away with a couple of things. The dress my sister likes is one I like too, so if she decides not to buy it, I will. But she saw it first, and so she has first refusal.

Then they wanted to go to the beach, so to the beach we went. Now I am a big sook when it comes to driving around this city to anywhere other than the usual close-by and well-known destinations, and I exert great imagination and wit to prevent my having to drive anywhere I don't know a very simple, direct and easy route.

Fortunately there are buses. One such bus goes from near here to a  nice ocean beach. We packed up, in mid-afternoon, and arrived at the beach. Naturally it was packed with swimmers, children building sandcastles, gorgeous young things in quite revealing attire (or parts thereof). So we plunged in and had a good swim. There were no nasty currents or dangerous waves, and the water temperature was blissful. After a perfectly delightful swim we came out of the water and it started to rain - heavily. There was a mass exodus from the water, and those on the sand hastily grabbed all their gear and rushed for shelter. This shelter turned out to be the sort which gave relatively little protection. It was all very funny. There we all had been, getting thoroughly wet, and when the rain came down we all rushed out of the water to get dry, and headed for shelter.

We took the bus home, and returned to my unpleasantly overheated house. The house faces east- west - not a good orientation and I often think bad thoughts about the idiot who designed the house to take advantage of the view, rather than the best orientation for warming and cooling.  It has taken ages to cool the house, and shortly after out arrival back home, The News announced that this was the hottest day here on record. I believe it.

So it has been a lazily busy day, and they have gone to bed and I too am on my way. We had fish and salad for dinner, so what with my morning walk and the swimming, I should be in better shape. However I must report that everyone out walking whenever I go walks much faster. Am I too old to be able to speed up a bit?

I fear so.

It seems likely that we will be taking ferry rides and visiting another beach tomorrow.

Today would have been Dr P's 89th birthday, so I have been thinking about him, and feeling very sad, despite all the distractions.

3 comments:

molly said...

Sorry about your sadness. I know he was a difficult man, but we do get entangled....Your day with your visitors sounds lovely! Makes me want some! And if you keep this walking up(and you can go a tiny bit faster I'm sure) you'll be the one turning heads at the beach!

Pam said...

I too am sorry about your sadness. Life is too short.

Gosh, that sounds hot. Wouldn't like it. Mind you, it's a bit cold here at the moment.

VioletSky said...

I would not be able to bear such heat. I would definitely prefer having to deal with the cold - at least you can keep adding layers and moving to keep warm if you have to.
You cannot help but think and feel a little sad, but I am glad you have your visitors to help with the distractions and thinking about happy times.