If We Were Having Coffee – May 17/2015: Guest Post.

 

LETTER TO A  FRIEND

Simple Afternoon Tea With A Friend

Welcome to Willow’s weekly coffee and tea garden. My name is Paul, I’ll be your Barista today and I’m happy to be here once again. Please come in and make yourself comfortable. Willow has plumped the cushions and started a cozy fire so we can warm ourselves while we have a cuppa and chat. As usual, I’d be pleased to bring a pot of whatever beverage you prefer – we have a wide range of teas and coffees to satisfy our world-wide readership. Also available is a large selection of spirits for addition to your cuppa or in its place. We can relax while we discuss the affairs of the week both personal and/or worldwide. How has your week been?

We discuss a wide range of topics here while having our coffee and tea. Today I thought that I’d do something a bit different and reproduce a letter that I just sent to a friend on Friday night after I got home from dialysis. I have changed her name and tidied up the punctuation and corrected spelling errors for ease for reading. Otherwise every word is identical. I chose to share this letter as I felt it gives a “real” glimpse into one day in my life.

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Hey Francine!

I went to the hospital for dialysis a bit early today. When the weather is nice, I’ve been going early. I usually run out of cigarettes about mid-month so I go and troll the smoking areas around the hospital. I take the partially burnt cigarettes that people leave in the outside ashtrays and then take out the tobacco and use rolling papers to make some home made “rollies” (as they are called here). One visit can usually keep me in cigarettes for 2 days. Anyway, I was pondering today how I was going to get some more rolling papers – they are only $1.35 (about a pound) for 100 but I only had 75 cents to do me until my next cheque (in about 10 days).

So I was walking around the hospital – good exercise for me (about 1.5 km or 1 mile)- collecting the butts when I got to the employee smoking area behind the hospital. This is usually the mother lode as the staff (non-medical) is mostly French and smokes a lot. They are well paid and often leave cigarettes that are only 1/4 burnt. There are about 500 employees working in the Hospital. Anyway, there were a few people there but I seldom mooch, I just walk around and collect from the ashtrays. There was a woman sitting there and I greeted her. When she looked at me quizzically I explained that I used the unused tobacco to roll cigarettes. She gave me 4 new cigarettes and I thanked her. So, I sat down to smoke one and chat with her. Her brother in law was into trucking so we spoke about trucks and when she asked what I did I told her. Anyway, after about 10 minutes she got up to go, reached in her purse and gave me a twenty dollar bill (about 15 pounds) – saying that she wanted me to have it. I was flabbergasted and thanked her very much.

When I was walking back into the hospital I was thinking and realized I had asked for 70 cents earlier today – it is so like God to give so much more than we ask for. You know, people often really are very kind. I had the transport drop me at the corner store on the way home and I bought some milk and bread and rolling papers. I still have a few dollars to get to my next cheque. I was pissed off last week, when I had purchased a big ham to cut up for sandwiches and when I went to use it, there were black spots on the ham, so I pitched it. It annoys me because I kept it very cold and it was not passed the expiry date. That left me a bit short on food.

Dialysis went pretty well tonight – few alarms and the needles were perfect (first shot and excellent flow – indicating they were perfectly placed in the fistula). I had “restless legs” a condition that happens sometimes on dialysis – it is annoying but I got through. There’s a new hospital volunteer in the dialysis unit on Friday evening and Saturday – a  young student by the name of Mubarak. He is a third year biochemistry student at a local university. He does this because he enjoys helping – there is no requirement for him to do it. We chatted for about an hour about university and chemistry – it was a good break from the routine.

Anyway I should let you go F – I have to write a coffee guest post for Willow tonight. I wrote a long story, as a post, about a trip I took years ago and sent it to a blogger this week as a guest post. It wasn’t very good, so I told her to trash it. I need to replace it this weekend.

How’s things going with you? I didn’t follow you to Facebook today because my little computer freezes up every time I try to get on Facebook. I think it uses a lot of memory or something.

Anyway, I wish you fulfillment, health and happiness – and your family as well. Say “Hi” to Bill for me. Tell him that his fans are clamoring for more videos.

Paul

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On that note, that’s about all we have room for this week, so it’s time to settle in with another cuppa and watch the fire. Sweets anyone? Please join me in thanking Willow for her invitation to tea. We are all honored that you dropped by today to visit. I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and the conversation and please look around at Willow’s other posts while you’re here. Willow is over there serving her guests and chatting it up. Let’s go see how she is today. Have a great week. We look forward to seeing you back here for sweets and beverages of your choice again next week.

 If we were having Coffee  Original idea  from  http://parttimemonster.wordpress.com/

And of course  the

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE:  WEEKEND COFFEE SHARE

over at Part Time  Monster  and Gene’O’s

Everyone Needs A Friend