This 'n' That

[raincitygirl]

You know you're getting old when your doctor, dentist and veterinarian all appear to be younger than you are. Which is another way of saying that Young Miss Weaver saw the new vet this afternoon. Oh man, this cat is going to cost me so much money! She needs her teeth cleaned again, which is going to cost a huge amount. And she's not speaking to me at the moment, probably because I grabbed her and shoved her in the carrier, then took her to a place where they perpetrated all sorts of indignities upon her person.

But I made friends with the cutest Jack Russell terrier in the waiting room. I assumed he was just out of puppyhood because he was so bouncy and energetic, but apparently he's 7. Someone once said to me, "Jack Russells are conveniently pocket-sized, but will happily walk your legs off." I think it was someone on LJ or Dreamwidth, but I forget who (or possibly whom? Grammar was never my strong suit). If it's your quote, please speak up and I will happily match your name to it.

Mini-break booked with BC Ferries Vacations, who are really very good. They prepared 3 separate quotes for us as we dithered over various options, without so much as a word of complaint or impatience. But I suppose they're used to dithery tourists. I would recommend them to BC folks who are looking for reasonably-priced vacations within the province, and indeed to tourists who are just planning to visit BC.

Uncle #1 has sent me a paperback copy of "Kim", and 2 handwritten pages (bearing in mind that he has small writing) all about the genius of Rudyard Kipling. So I will have to find something intelligent (and complimentary) to say about Kipling in my letter back.

Comments

[madripoor_rose]

Oh yeah. 'How are you an Authority Figure when you're obviously 12 years old?'

Oh, those travel packages look like quite the adventure! Hope you have a great time!

[raincitygirl]

'How are you an Authority Figure when you're obviously 12 years old?'

EXACTLY!!!!

Well, we're not going for one of the really adventurous packages, as Mum's plantar fasciitis (spelling?) has been very bad lately and she can't walk very far. But we got 3 nights in a 750 square foot suite complete with full kitchen AND the return ferry tickets to the Island AND all taxes and parking during during our stay for $678 Canadian. Which works out at $339 per person, which is not bad at all for May. I may think differently if our hotel turns out to be infested with bedbugs or something, but TripAdvisor gives the hotel 3.5 stars out of 5. We're going midweek, which may also help to keep the price down.

And the hotel doesn't have air-conditioning, we were warned, but we're going in May, not August. In Vancouver and the surrounding areas, you only really regret the lack of air-conditioning in your home for about 6 weeks during the height of summer, the rest of the year it's fine. So one just suffers for about 6 weeks. Although I do find I enjoy going to work more in July and August, because my office building IS air-conditioned.

[legionseagle]

I think it's perfectly fair to say that Kipling was probably ill-served by being seen as the poet laureate of empire, rather than as a pioneering modernist short story writer and the writer of the best dramatic monologues in verse since Browning.

There's also some very interesting homoerotic subtext (pretty close to text) in Kim.

[raincitygirl]

I will happily steal your first paragraph for the letter (well, not precisely word for word, but still, it will be kissing cousins with plagiarism) but I don't think my devoutly Roman Catholic, Daily Telegraph-reading uncle would appreciate me mentioning homoerotic subtext. However, I will make sure to put my slash goggles on before I re-read "Kim". I last read it when I was about 12, and my slash goggles were very imperfect back then.

Thanks!

[lexin]

Poor YMW, cats hate having their teeth cleaned, certainly Smokey did. And if you try to prevent this by cleaning their teeth with a toothbrush and cat toothpaste, they hate that too. I tried once with Smokey and there was blood. Mine.

[raincitygirl]

I don't think YMW will hate having her teeth cleaned, as she'll be under general anaesthesia for it. However, she will most certainly hate all the associated stuff such as getting stuffed in the carrier for the pre-anaesthesia consult, getting blood drawn at said consult, getting stuffed in the carrier the day of her cleaning, and waking up all groggy in the vet's office, then being stuck in her cage until she's medically cleared for me to take her home.

Yeah, I tried the cat toothbrush and cat toothpaste on her. ONCE. She was only 7 months old when I got her and I figured maybe she was young enough to be trained into not minding it. It worked out about as well as one might expect.