It's Good to Get Outside

That is exactly what I did too...

My neighbor and I went to the food bank and stopped at his favorite convenience store. The food bank, which is open on Tuesdays and Thursday was not busy when we arrived. No lines, no waiting, just get in and back out again.

My neighbor has been a little more negligent about getting out than me. The problem with him is the vodka. Like me, when he has a few extra bucks, it goes toward his "medicine." That shit is gonna' kill him. He also is of the belief that trying to get vodka down my throat will cure me of smoking crack.

I don't think so, but that's another story for another time.

Our stop at the store consisted of shooting the breeze with the clerk. This was somewhat limited, as lunch time traffic hindered any real conversation. So after his buying a frozen pizza and my buying a scratch off, we get on our way and the clerk get's back to his real customers.

Besides, I don't want to be an impediment to commerce.

My neighbor, who I'll call Don is a long time resident of this part of town. He knows most of the people who live in our building. He also knows quite a few people who we pass on the street. Some of those folks seem to be the type of person that getting acquainted with would be a good idea for me. Others are not.

That's no different than any other neighborhood in any area in any town.

Stopping and chatting with the characters we pass gives Don a chance to rest. Both of our speed walking days are long behind us so I don't mind the frequent stops. I need the rest as much as Don. While our disabilities are vastly different our inability to go very far is similar. It takes us about 10 to 15 minutes to walk a freakin' block.

A healthier person would get inpatient and leave us in the dust. They could probably cover the same ground and accomplish the same tasks in 20 minutes to a half hour. It took us an hour and a half. With that in mind we seem to be a good match for these little excursions.

But there's no rush. We have no pending important appointments. There's no hot date waiting for us. No one is holding a watch against us and if there were, we wouldn't give a damned anyway.

Besides, it's good to get outside.