CARRIERS: GERM WARFARE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

My next door neighbor told me there was another family in the neighborhood that was sick for 2 weeks with the same symptoms as mine. I had absolutely no contact with these people. I've never even met them! In fact I had been cocooning and it's a mystery how I caught the virus in the first place. I told my friend Rose about this.

"Perhaps it was the mail carrier who spread it," she said.

Oh, I suspect it was a carrier all right! But I doubt it was her. I watch mail deliveries carefully. I've never been comfortable with my box being out by the street where everyone has access. The carrier has never looked sick.

"But funny you should say that," I told Rose. The person who crossed my mind was my newspaper carrier! She's probably pissed at me because I'm always complaining about my Sunday paper being late. She may have had her sick kid sneeze on it before placing it into the baggie. The neighbor's paper was probably infected in the fallout and they were just collateral damage.  -- I'm not saying this happened for sure; it's only a THEORY... Hey, people are disgusting creatures and they do horrible things!!!   

It's common knowledge that you should never send anything back in a restaurant. If you do, you're liable to receive it back with spit or snot from either the chef or waitress, perhaps both! Recently, I read about a teacher who sabotaged a child's birthday party by smearing feces all over the tables where the event was to take place. These are just a few examples, so it's not outside the realm of possibility!

If my newspaper carrier is reading this, (which I seriously doubt) and I'm wrong, I apologize. That said, I have a name for you that is far too obscene to print. Perhaps you have one for me, too. And I will continue to complain unless you deliver my Sunday paper BEFORE 7:00 AM the time supposedly guaranteed with my subscription, -- NOT 7:10, 7:15, 7:20, or 7:30! At the last time change my paper was 45 minutes late!

A newspaper has become an expensive luxury. I am not just paying for that paper; I'm also paying for it to be in my driveway when I wake up!

I'm an early riser; usually I'm up before the roosters. If there's one day a week that I want my paper on time it's Sunday when there's a lot to read!

Back when I lived in a municipality an hour south of here, the Palm Beach Post & the Miami Herald were in my driveway every morning at 5:00 AM. And delivery complaints were rare! Unfortunately, you cannot get a big city newspaper delivered here in Vero Beach. We're stuck with the local rag and that's why they can get away with this!

Yes, I know there's news online but it drives me up the walls trying to decipher it! There are too many distractions popping up and either the page jumps around or it freezes.

Also I watch network news but they waste too much time on what is called human interest stories. Yes I think it's sweet that some handicapped teenager was crowned queen of her prom, but unless she parachuted out of a plane in her wheelchair that's not really news. Also it's touching when relatives separated at birth are finally reunited, but unless one of them is a serial killer I'm not interested!

Last Sunday (Jan 20) I gave this carrier a break because it was raining, (although not that hard) and it's not an excuse! But I waited until 7:30 to call and complain. As always, I got the same recording. A live person is needed! A few times, I tolerated the death hold until I got one. However nothing changes, but I will keep trying.

This has been going on for far too long. From what I can see, she's never received the swift kick in the rump that she deserves! Now she needs to get her ass fired! It's far over due.

BACK TO REAL LIFE

There was an entirely different energy right after Christmas; a sluggish moroseness filled the air. New Years have always held an element of sadness rather than celebration for me. Plus I was suffering a bad case of flu with a bug that wouldn't let go!

Every New Year's I can't help but think of all the people who didn't make it that far. I've reached the age where I know more people who are dead than alive. After I hit 50; friends, relatives, & acquaintances seemed to drop in droves right and left! I miss my friends Margaret & Pat to this day!

Nowadays I'm not as socially active as during the previous decade. Most of the groups to which I belonged (or attended regularly as a guest) have since disbanded. And the ones remaining have changed to the point that I no longer have an interest.

Fortunately, I love and enjoy my alone time in my beautiful home. But sadly, my holiday vacation from real life is over, now. The new year always brings new problems along with old ones and they always seem to be expensive. I don't need a crystal ball to see several that are already headed my way!  

Add to this, I am furious that the price of postage is going up this month! That means the cost of everything shoots up! Why don't they just eliminate Saturday deliveries, they're a nuisance anyway!

Despite all of this, I haven't given up on another big trip while I still have the health. Getting ripped off by that unqualified repairman for $5,500 sure set me back! That was money down a rat hole and the work must be redone at a higher price! Still, I want something to look forward to in my old age besides illness and death. I'm determined that my last exotic trip won't be the final one.

On the other hand, I've already enjoyed multiple trips of a lifetime.

I always knew that someday I would visit Paris, Rome, London, and all the major European capitals. But I never imagined that I would travel behind the Iron Curtain and see Russia & the Crimean up close. Or sail from the Spanish Costa del Sol past the Rock of Gibraltar to Tangier & spend a week in North Africa; or kiss the Blarney Stone; or climb ancient ruins at Tikal in the jungles of Guatemala; or go snorkeling in the Galapagos Islands; or ride an elephant thru a stream and mountain jungle in Thailand. Or ever set foot in Dubai even if it was just to change planes. But I've done all of those things and many, many, many more!

However, I long to make new memories in other faraway places! 

But even if I don't, I'm grateful for everything I have right now. I am proud that I didn't allow age to turn me into an overweight frump. And I rock gray hair the way few women can! -- Go ahead and hate me, see if I care! I'm always good to myself because others are not.

I really have no right to feel sorry for myself! I should be downright ashamed in doing so. I've been indeed blessed in all sorts of ways!

A COLD NEW YEAR'S

Actually the weather was comfortably warm. I don't know how this cold managed to catch me! I've read that temperature is not a factor. A cold is caused by a virus. Still a mystery how I was infected! The Thursday before New Year's I went to the movies and saw Mary Queen of Scots. There were about 20 others there, but I sat far apart from everyone, and heard no sneezing or coughing in the crowd. I went right home afterward and have been here ever since.

Now I'm sneezing my brains out and my nose is running like a hose! My abdomen aches from coughing. Because of this I am unable to sleep these nights. I'm tired all the time. I want to go back to bed and sleep for a thousand years, but sleep is impossible. I haven't suffered a cold this nasty in years.

I've plenty of cold medication but it's not working. Finally I looked at the box and found it expired in 2008. Gadzooks! I hope I haven't been poisoning myself!

2019 is starting out sucky!!!