Felt like winning the Lottery . . . for a day

Something that GeorgeF said on a recent comment



George hurt his shoulder a while ago which makes it painful to ride his Concours, but he went for a ride anyway. While he should be resting and doing nothing, he has chores to do and continually stresses his shoulder not giving it time to heal



Not many of us have the resources to pay someone else to do it, so we have to do the chores ourselves. I don't purchase very many lottery tickets so my chances of winning any kind of a windfall are close to NIL.

I try to schedule my chores during the week so I can have my weekends free to wander around but I get a guilty feeling when I notice my grass and flower beds badly overgrown



I have been handicapped for over a month and I wanted to give more time for my foot to heal. When the grass gets too high or thick, my lawnmower has problems cutting it, often clogging up and stalling the engine but for now I have no choice but to let it grow.

I had a free evening where I had to fend for myself, so I called my friend and invited him out for a simple dinner. I had to park over a block away but I managed to transport myself to the eatery by shuffling and resting a few times along the way. When I was nearly there I stopped to rest on one of the benches and saw a homeless/street person walking past with all of his worldly possessions



Most of our street people travel around the city pushing these food baskets full of recycle "stuff", they are nearly everywhere, even in this upscale area of town

My friend arrives and we go inside to have a meal



We have a lot of Asian fusion restaurants in Vancouver where North American meals are prepared with more traditional oriental items. We are at the Gloucester, in Cambie Village.

I met my friend Pat many years ago when we both belonged to a computer group. Computers were our hobbies and he went into computer consulting and cabling. He had motorcycles and we used to ride together until someone rear-ended him and he had problems with his back. Since then he sold his bikes and prefers not to ride anymore. We talked computer talk, ate and soon it was time to leave



I ordered a sort of Don-Buri, meat over rice mixed with onions and gravy . It came topped with an egg + nori. Our meal also included an Asian style drink, your choice of hot or cold.

Pat would have wanted to socialize longer but I told him I had to go home and cut my lawn, either the front or back. He knew that I could barely walk, so he offered to come over and give me a hand



We topped up the fuel and soon Pat was mowing the front lawn. I decided to start my gas weed trimmer and work on the flower beds



My trimmer is a professional Echo model with shaft drive. I purchase the filament on bulk reels and refill the cartridge myself with very heavy duty line. I haven't started this engine since last year sometime. It is a 2-stroke and after about a dozen pulls it coughed to life



Soon I was winning the battle against the grass and Pat was nearly finished the front. I was going to do the back myself, tomorrow. I like to spread the work over a few days as it feels like less of a chore.



I seem to tire more easily these days and it takes more effort to walk when one foot isn't working correctly so most of the load transfers to the right one. I decided to rest on my front stairs and watch Pat's progress

With the front completed I feel very satisfied but Pat suggests that he might as well do the back lawn too while he is here. I told him that I could do it tomorrow by myself and just hobble back and forth with the mower, but he insisted and I quickly relented . I started my trimmer and did my part



It was so satisfying watching someone else doing my work for me. It felt as if I had won the lottery, if only for a day.

Today I rode my V-strom to work and went downtown for dinner . Shifting took a little effort as I had problem getting my boot below the shifter to "lift" up as I accelerated. Pushing down was okay. It has to do with my stretched muscle and limited movement until it heals. Also I have to be careful when stopping to put my left foot down so as not to land "too hard"

I may have to abandon my Victoria trip if things don't improve by tomorrow.



In the meantime, I am proud to have a friend like Pat. It would have taken me 3 evenings to do what Pat did in two hours. Today was my lucky day