Goings and Comings

Noticed a lot of activity on the grounds recently ─ residents moving out/residents moving into the complex.

We only had one death that I know of ─ a woman who’s been here some 20+ years, so no idea why so many other openings, which appear to be quickly filled from the waiting list.

I’ll have to catch up with Apache and the Baker for an update as to why people are leaving/where are they going. LOL.

I do know the woman I saw moving out on Friday wasn’t happy here and had talked about getting out for some time. When speaking of her discontent, she never really explained to me WHY she didn’t like it here but, judging from her bourgeois appearance, and the way she tried to make us bourgeois, I think we were too slow for her, too normal ─ much like the complaints my next-door neighbor had the first few years.

How did she try to make us bourgeois you ask? 

Back in the day when we had Rummage Sales in the community room, she'd set up her table with fancy expensive purses, jewelry and dresses no one here could afford or would wear. That having failed, she set up a nail salon in a corner of the Game Room.

I myself never frequented her short-lived nail salon because, judging from the appearance of some of my neighbors ─ and I know that’s wrong to judge a book by it’s cover, but it’s also a safe way to live .... at any rate, I didn’t feel comfortable with the hygiene factor involved in her doing nails of other residents then doing mine. Others gave the salon a try but didn’t go back because her work was just too fancy, too ghetto fabulous for us common folks.

So she’s gone and hopefully management will at least paint and put in new carpeting before a new resident is pulled from the waiting list.

I question their doing so because, the unit where the long time resident died is visible from my bedroom window, and I never saw paint and carpeting happen before the new resident moved in a few days ago.

The February calendar shows a Residents/Management meeting on the 24th. If this is a session where we can ask questions, I might ask if they paint and newly carpet.

As for Next Door Neighbor, who also tried to bourgeois us up and, as a result got herself impeached as President of the Volunteer Residents Activity Committee, she’s still here and seems to have settled in nicely because she’s made a social life for herself elsewhere.

Next Door Neighbor (NDN) is socially conscious, has gotten herself involved in local politics and has turned out to be a far better neighbor than I.

The resident living downstairs across the quad, next door to Nosey, has declined considerably since moving in ─ bad luck and whiskey. First hit by a car requiring hip surgery, recovering, then breaking an arm due to a fall in her unit. When I saw her at the market last month, trying to juggle a grocery bag, her walker and with a cast on her arm, I gave her a ride back and noticed her shopping bag looked extremely light on food but heavy with bottles of whiskey.

She was having her groceries delivered, but I don’t know if the market won’t deliver whiskey and that was the reason she’d struggled to get there that day.

On Friday, I saw neighbor across the quad being helped out of NDN’s car.

”Where are you two ladies coming from?”, asked I.

”The market. I drove _____ to the market. I’m her uber”, said NDN.

That’s a nice thing to do, a nice way to be ─ better than I. Neighbor across the quad can call NDN when she needs a ride to the market.

When Nosey could get around, but appeared to be having difficulty, I’d stop by her place to see if she wanted to ride with me to the market, but I’d have felt put upon if I wasn’t planning to go and she’d called for a ride.

I’m feeling a little guilty at not being a better neighbor. I could ask Neighbor Across the Quad if she wants to ride to the store with me next time I go, but she’s got NDN to help with her whiskey runs, so I’ll stay out of it and live with the guilt. Should she ever ask, however, I don't believe I have the heart to say no. I'd suck up feeling imposed upon and give her the ride.