03:36 - 24.02.08
Travel
I caught an early morning bus so I could go over to number four son's home. That is why he had called me late Friday night. His wife would be working when the sign up for his rugby league was supposed to occur. Would I look after my grandson when he was out. With bells on, of course. I didn't notice any police on the train despite all the publicity about their new mandate to do so. However, there was a really big, intimidating-looking security guard standing at the bus loop of the station where I had to catch the feeder bus to my son's house. I don't know if he was waiting for his own transportation to work or if he was stationed at that position for a reason, but really it was only people going to work at that time of day who were travelling anyway.
I was more concerned with my hip at that point in time, if you really want to know. As I stepped down off the last riser of the stairway that leads from the train to the bus loop, it was as though the hyper-extension of the joint combined with an unexpectedly strong dose of gravity pulled it out of alignment. This is the hip where all the muscles were torn when I did that unexpected aerial about five years ago. As I put my foot on the ground it seemed as though those muscles - the ones that bind the ischial tuberosity, otherwise known as the "sit bones" to the femur - might not hold the joint together. Owwww. I wondered if it could be that the over-extension had finally released old adhesions that had been impairing full range of motion in the muscles, given that I have been working specifically on that joint daily both through yoga and accupressure for that purpose. Whatever the reason, it really hurt at that point in time. I hobbled past that security guard and thankfully climbed onto the bus hoping that the time spent travelling the next leg of the journey would be enough for the muscles to recuperate. There is about a 15 minute walk from the bus stop nearest my son's home that did allow me to work out some of the soreness after the journey to his part of the city. When I arrived home mid-afternoon I sat on an ice pack while reading to the cats. That did seem to take most of the soreness out, although the joint still feels "odd". Hopefully my guess about the reason for the soreness is correct, but I imagine I'll know for certain in a few days.
My grandson was in a happy mood when I arrived and my son seemed quite excited about getting back into the competitive sports again. He was one of my sons who was always on one team or another or competing in events such as wrestling or track and field during his junior and senior high terms. He has always been quite physical by nature. Not long after I arrived, some of his buddies swung by so they could travel cross town together - seems as though the league is made up of teams from different offices/worksites. Their training time will be late in the evenings on weekdays, because the school gyms are fairly heavily booked with other activities early in the evening. Naturally, priority is given to school events and those that cater to children first.
My grandson and I played together with his toys for a while, then I was able to get nearly a chapter of that first Harry Potter book read when his little motor began to run down. By the end of that time he was ready to go back to bed for a nap. His teeth were bothering him you see; that pain is what was tiring him out. His Dad arrived back home at about that time, so he tucked him into bed, while I tried to figure out how to make their DVD remote work for next visit. I hate that technology. Just let me at the knobs on the unit itself like in the "old days" please.
My son asked if I would be willing to babysit for some of the days when both he and his wife were working, now that it isn't so profoundly cold. It is nearly a two hour journey by bus/train/bus, in addition to the 15 minute walk to their home. Don't mind the "in transit" time, but the walking is mostly through wide-open fields where there are no barriers to protect one from the bitter arctic winds and blowing snow, you see. I'm good with that, since it will give me some quality time with my grandson. Wish I could afford to do it full time.
I decided that since I might be spending more time travelling as a result, that I would try some alternate routes to their home, just in case. Caught a different bus at my regular bus stop, going south to downtown rather than the one that travels east and south. A really colourful crowd of travellers slowly filled the seats from the various stopping points, as we neared our destination. I was having a great time people watching with a mix of the very young mingling with teens, young adults as well as a large contingent of seniors. By the end of the journey I found that I had saved about half an hour, even with poor connections between busses and trains. On a regular weekday I might even have a better trip, timewise. Bonus. What saves the time, even though the route is longer, is the increased travelling distance on the train. Because the train doesn't need to stop for traffic lights and has a dedicated track/route, it can do the trip much faster than the feeder bus. Counter-intuitive, but that doesn't matter. When I arrived home, the puzzle presenting itself was the second call in a week's span from a telephone number listed as arising from New York city. There are more than 8 million people living there, but I don't know any one of those residents - or maybe I do. Shifted my focus rather quickly from the logistics of daily life to the mysteries of human behaviour/relationships though.
That theme continued when my youngest called from his visit over at my oldest son's home tonight, after the end of his workday. A good part of the evening was spent talking with my oldest son's partner about her family history. I was keying the information into that on-line genealogy database as she was trying to untangle the threads from a very complicated and very large family grouping for me. I'm still trying to figure out how to properly represent things such as divorces/remarriages/adoptions and such that occur in almost any family lineage. To add into the mix now is trying to figure out how to accurately reflect a matrilineal society in a database that only recognizes patriarchal lineages. One has to enter the Key person - the male parent - before the spouse and children can be listed, you see. I have managed to hard enter some of my own family's anomalous members, but this new configuration also requires listing clan affiliations. Oh well, anthropology is one of my avocations. This is an opportunity to learn a great deal more about how this other culture inter-relates. I suspect a lot of the misunderstandings between European-based cultures and those that are matrilineal, stem from this very basic difference in how essential intra-cultural relationships are defined and thus operating on a primary level. Hmmm.
Anyway that's my story for today. Good night dear diary.
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