hey buddy, can you spare a mask?

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spare masks

So this happened today. I was out having a Cold Beer with Peter (sitting by an open door, as always) when an old guy came in and asked if I happened to have a mask. Well, I always have a couple of spare masks in my bag in case of emergency, like if mine breaks, or even for the times I’ve walked out of the house without one on and don’t realise until I’m in the street. So of course I said sure, and gave him one of my extras. And THEN he asked me how much I wanted for it. Like, whaaat? I said it was on the house and that the important thing was that he had one. He thanked me and walked away.

Later it struck me that this was a bit odd because there is (sadly) no longer an indoor mask mandate and I wondered why he needed one. I mean, they are easy enough to find in health centres and pharmacies (where they are still required) and then I wondered if maybe it was to get into a soup kitchen or other help centre since he did look a bit down on his luck. Guess I’ll never know now.

Meanwhile Spain has the dubious honour of reporting the first two deaths in Europe related to monkeypox. The only other one outside of Africa (so far) has been in Brazil. Suddenly it feels like February 2020 all over again.

new glasses!

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glasses22

Yeah I know… I shouldn’t be BUYING STUFF when I’m broke and off work all summer thanks to fucking Covid and Monkeypox. But… it turns out I lost my TV-watching glasses, I think when I went to Barcelona in May. Though of course I can’t be sure where I lost them or they wouldn’t still be lost. Anyhoodle, I was more or less getting by without them okay but then I saw that my neighbourhood optician was having a 2-for-1 sale so I not only got another pair of normal glasses but also some new sunglasses as my old ones are now 6 years old and looking a bit worse for wear. Okay, they’re not the most stylish or posh (my previous sunglasses cost three times what this two-fer cost me) but they are doing the job and I quite like that my “at home” ones have the clear frames since I really only use them for watching TV. It’s like not having glasses on at all.

Weird thing about getting tested again is that my prescription hasn’t changed in 40 years. It’s still a slight miopia, not even enough that I’d be required to wear glasses if I still had a driving license. But it’s just a bit more comfortable for TV, especially when reading subtitles. I notice it more when I’m outside because things “pop” a bit more with the prescription sunglasses. They also tested me for reading glasses and decided what I have, at least for now, is what they call “tired vision”, which basically means I couldn’t read the smallest row of eensy weensy text. And so! New glasses bitches! 😎

dammit!

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cat bowl (1)

So this happened today and it made me much sadder than breaking a bowl should have done. It’s just that I’ve had this bowl for so long and it’s been at times a water bowl, at other times a food dish, for the cats. Since way before I even had my present threesome, so it’s gone through two generations.

At the time I was still recovering from my hysterectomy over Christmas-New Year 1999-2000 and Pablo had gone away on a trip to Portugal… and he brought this back for me. Because, cats. Then this morning Morcilla lept off her little table and knocked the bowl off and… smash! Dammit.

cat bowl (2)