August 2022

Heatwaves and other problems

I'm afraid that between one thing and another I was unable to post a chapter excerpt during July. If it wasn't vet visits, or family functions (if you can call an uncle's funeral a function) it was the heatwave that hit my area of BC and still has us in its grip. I don't handle heat very well, especially since 1987 when I suffered from heat stroke during a school excursion to one of the beaches in my town. I find it very difficult to concentrate, or even think, when the temperature goes over 25 degrees C. I also can't eat anything with milk or cream in it in those temperatures since that school trip, so I can't use ice cream to help me cool down like I used to as a small child. It's funny, if the temperature if warm but not hot, I can eat all the dairy I want, but once it gets hot out I can't. Cooked cheddar is something else that was taken away by that ill-fated trip. My doctor says such dietary issues are not unknown from heat stroke as it can leave permanent health issues in its wake, including brain damage, so I would advise everyone to avoid it at all costs!!! Be careful out there during the summer and keep hydrated. 

My severe allergies to tobacco smoke and alcohol were not caused by it, as far as I know, but they did help turn me into a writer. If a person couldn't go anywhere that even a hint of cigarette might be found, or was unable to consume alcoholic beverages during the 1990's, that person just could not go out...Period! Enforced isolation inevitably resulted in a passion for not only reading, but also living in one's own mind. I already had a very vivid imagination, and a habit of storytelling from a very young age, which naturally turned me in the direction of writing as opposed to brooding. It also made me very content with my own company and reluctant to leave the security of my writing desk, hence my reclusive tendencies.  The only true problem was making people understand that I didn't make these allergies up. My breathing automatically stops when I catch even the slightest hint of tobacco smoke, and I can neither swallow nor breathe if a drop of alcohol enters my mouth, yet practically every one of my peers ridiculed these issues. That was another reason for my reclusiveness. No one likes to be ridiculed for a health problem, no matter how severe it is, or how unlikely it may sound. It can be so easy to hurt a person emotionally, without even meaning to do it. Remember, it's not your body or your ailment, so when someone tells you of a health problem or allergy you've never heard of don't scoff, just be kind.