11 September 2008

A Few More


There are a few people I see just about every day who own my most well meant admiration. They are the old dearies I see following behind their walkers as far away from the fucking home as they dare wander. All they have left is their walks and happy hour before their evening meal unless they have managed to maintain a reliable dope connection.

I have always had a soft spot for the people my mom calls "moldies." I get to meet lots of them when I am with my dog. Some old people are afraid of or do not like dogs. Those that are not like that are inevitably lifted by an encounter with the Hammer, and that in turn lifts me too. We are here to lift one another up. Do it.

When I get home from walking my dog and watching old guys sneak a joint just out of sight of the old dears' home I have a beer and I feel pretty good about shit. Then I have a few more beer.

1 comment:

ib said...

I have a lot of time for a lot of old people too. Crusties or coffin-dodgers, as they are often called here. I like to stop and chat. My theory is that they have gotten to the stage where they are so consumed in achieving such simple tasks as just getting from a to b or following through on a bowel movement that they are surprised at the opportunity to pause and engage in small talk. The nature of the conversation is often not important. The act of exchanging pleasantries is its own reward.

On the other hand, there are a few who are just as consumed with rage. A lot of my immediate neighbours are elderly. Of course, I'm getting older too. The guy next door is a belligerent drunk most of the time. I have tolerated his ant-social behaviour and various pettinesses for longer than is decent. The kind of person who believes his misfortunes are cumulatively much worse than anyone else's, and who revels in creating needless irritation. A retired joiner, he refitted the lock to our communal refuse chute after breaking it in the first place; then he gets up in the middle of the night to remove it or 'reclaim' it, knowing the unjammed door is an open invitation to every passing junkie.

Fuck him. His day of reckoning is closer than he imagines.