Flashback

I have spent the last two weeks in Beloeil (with a brief visit to Toronto).  Beloeil is where I grew up and where my mother still lives.  Though I can't imagine ever living there again, I do remember many good things about that younger time.  For instance ...

Aside from my Mum, I saw four of my siblings this trip ....

Mum, me and Pat 

Robbie

Lis

(I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of Ian!)

I saw two old school friends and neighbours ...

Mum, Cynthia, and Norm 

I went to McGill and visited the Arts Building cafeteria, where I spent much of my class time making friends and learning how to play bridge, to the detriment of my studies ...

In those days it was microwaved smoked meat sandwiches with soggy lettuce.

I found the quintessential Quebec desserts in the grocery store ...

... and I had haute cuisine (All Dressed pizza and St Hubert BBQ ) for dinner  ...

Aaaaahhhhhh  .... memories ....

Socialized medicine

I scratched my eye yesterday when I was out shopping.  By evening it was clear that I had a pretty substantial infection in it.  I went to the drugstore for some antibiotic eye drops and the druggist recommended that I go to Emerg instead.  After dithering for a couple of hours, I finally did just that.

At the hospital I was processed within 5 minutes and sent to the Ambulatory Waiting Room.  There was a TV in the waiting room showing the election results - just like home!  I waited there for just over an hour before seeing a nurse.  He did some preliminary diagnostics and sent me back to the waiting room until it was my turn to see a doc.  After a few minutes he was back, telling me that I might as well wait in the treatment room since I was the only person there with an eye infection.

I waited in the treatment room again for just over an hour.  Absent the TV, I eavesdropped on the doctor/nurse/patient interactions in the other treatment rooms.  How nice those medical professionals were to their sick and hurting patients!

When the doc finally arrived, he checked me out, told me I had conjunctivitis, put (better) antibiotic drops in my eye, gave me the rest of the bottle, and told me what to do and watch out for.

And the cost of this to me - $25 ... for the cab ride to and from the hospital.

 I'll not begrudge paying my Canadian taxes, thank you very much.

The cost of aging

Yikes!  I just renewed my annual travel insurance plan and it cost me me 40% more this year for exactly the same coverage.  It would appear that, since I passed my 65th birthday, I am more of a medical risk.

Good thing I now get a senior discount on one Tuesday a month at The Bay ...