Dinner Out - Sigh

I should enjoy going out to dinner.  It's a chance to see friends and socialize.  After all the isolation of the last couple of years I should be glad of the company.  And I am- to a degree - but, due to the pandemic or not, I find I have to make myself do social things.  I have always been quite happy being on my own but in the past I generally looked forward to spending at least some time with others.

As I get older I find I prefer going out to lunch.  Going out to dinner is more expensive, the food choices are usually fancier and more likely to cause stomach troubles, people drink more at dinner (and I don't drink and don't enjoy being around people after they have had enough to drink that it shows), people tend to linger longer over dinner (and I only want to spend so much time with people, I get anxious to be by myself ),  and it means that I have to go home after dark and at my age I just feel vulnerable navigating the evening world.

Changing World?

I went shopping to pick up a box of assorted chocolates as a gift.

Two grocery stores and two drug stores later and no luck.

Lots of Hallowe'en candy on the shelves though.  It's only Sept 2!

I finally found  few boxes on a bottom shelf at the third drug store.  I hope they're not stale!

So I'm wondering if this is something that has changed in the world, boxes of chocolates no longer being desirable, and I have missed it happening?

 

Shopping

 

I went to buy a battery for my(very old - it may be the first version) -  Apple TV remote, which I thought was a straightforward task.

I ended up going to four places before I found one and that involved walking down to the Eaton Centre.  Schools have started up, the downtown is full of students on top of all the people who are normally out. (This includes the high schoolers from the nearby high school and they are overall an obnoxious bunch, rude and loud and totally self-involved, and oh so very brave when in groups.  Such a contrast to the university students and who are at least beginning to behave like adults.)

It amazes me that I live in downtown Toronto and it can be so hard to find something as simple as a battery.  I find myself doing more online shopping - not necessarily for delivery but to order online and then pickup.

This is another way in which I am withdrawing from the world.  I gave up going to theatre, ballet, opera. concerts a long time ago but it has been years (even before the pandemic) since I even went to a movie.

This is not just age I think.  I have always thrived on time alone and as a retired person it has become easier and easier to just stay home.  And in the internet age not as isolating as it would have been before.

I go out for walks mainly because my cardiologist, and my family doctor, have urged me to keep moving.  I try to find routes where I don't meet too many people, but also where there are some people and some traffic - I don't feel safe walking in basically deserted areas on my own.  I never wander down into the ravine system anymore.

Netflix: Persuasion (2022)

 

The fact that this film is a mess is NOT Dakota Johnson's fault.

The fault lies with the script and the direction.

I am a Jane Austen fan.  There have been multiple filmed versions of Persuasion and I found things to like in all of them.  Except this one.

Movie: Mary, Mary (1963)

 

Debbie Reynolds, Barry Nelson, Michael Rennie, Diane McBain

This is one of my favourite movies. I watch it whenever I get the chance.  Unfortunately it does not seem to be available on DVD, BlueRay or the iTunes store.  The last time I saw it was a few years ago when I was visiting a friend who has cable and it was on TCM.

I first saw this film on TV as a teenager.  It made a huge impression on me.  The wit of the script, the apartment they lived in, the sophisticated New York life.  And I was sure this was the life I was headed for with wit, a nice apartment, my own Barry Nelson, intelligent friends and bagels (which I had never heard of before).

I got the bagels.  And a nice enough condo. And some great friends. 

But not the lifestyle.  Or a Barry Nelson.

Age

 

When I was younger

I looked at old people

doing this and that

and said,

Never, I will never...

But now, here I am,

and I do.

And smile.

Aug 15, 2022

 

I've pretty much given up writing this blog.

No one seems to read it anyway and while I have ideas of topics to write about when it comes to sitting down and doing it I just don't see the point.

Blogs used to be fun.  But with the loss of the "Next Blog" button I haven't found a new blog to read in years.