Monday 5 December 2016

Moments of lucidity

The trouble with intelligent things is that they tend to go haywire when they get old.

The 'brain' on my car is beginning to do that now, as is the brain in my iPhone. Both are playing up and I don't really have the matching intelligence to cure them. All these things are wonderful when they work as intended, but they don't half drive you mad when they don't. I can see why people tend to get to breaking-point when their spouses develop Altzheimer's, and I dread the same thing happening to me or any of my loved ones. I would like to say, 'put me down if I get violent', but of course it is not as simple as that. You cannot scrap your husband because his wiring is falling to bits, even though you may already have said goodbye to him.

Last night at about 7.45, I managed to park the car strategically in a place where it can be accessed by a breakdown lorry if it refuses to start today. Everything is fine with the engine, it is just the electronic management system which is showing its age.

I went into the pub for the first time in a week, as I really wanted to have a beer or two and forget all about everything for an hour before going home. I chatted to a friend, who told me he had just been on a drugs-run for his father.

Amongst other terminal illnesses, his elderly dad has Altzheimer's Disease. My friend discovered that if he gave his father liquid cannabis to be inhaled in an electronic 'vape', he came 'back into the room' for a few hours and could conduct a perfectly ordinary conversation with him during the chemically induced window of lucidity. He used to be a keen smoker, so enjoys the vaping very much in any case. He also used to live in Haight Ashbury, USA, in the 1960s, so knows all about cannabis.

I wonder if I poured some into the tank of the Volvo, would rewire itself long enough to get to my destination?

28 comments:

  1. In the case of the iPhone, I think it is probably my wiring which has never been installed to cope with it. I have just found out how to upgrade the software on it, which I spent half an hour waiting for it to do - via iTunes of all things.

    Despite being lousy at Maths, I have always had a very good, instant memory for numbers. Since I was wired in 1951, I am very pleased to say that I remembered the passcode to unlock the phone after it had reset itself during the upgrade, so I could turn off the lock key in case I forget it in the future.

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  2. Replies
    1. Ian Dury lent me his flat in Canterbury in 1971. He was a very nice man.

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    2. I know he was a nice man although at this moment I cannot remember how I know.

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    3. Probably because I told you, or - more likely - you worked it out for yourself.

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  3. -next time I'm in the Haight, I'll think of the story of your friend's father & smile.

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  4. Please let us know if marijuana works for you car, of if you'll need hash. Pithy stuff.

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    1. The car worked perfectly this morning, in +2 temperature... the bastard...

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  5. Hope that you're back in the old routine and enjoying your beer at The Bell !!!! ... you can now look forward to doing rude things with the Christmas decorations on Christmas Day, as is you wont !!!!! XXXX

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    1. Yes, I had 3.5 pints in the pub today - For a long time in ages, I thought (probably wrongly) that I almost deserved it.

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    2. That's three point five, not thirty five.

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  6. My advice to you would be to get a bike.

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    1. You set the example Weave, and I will consider it. But tell me, where will I keep it in our compact but adorable city apartment?

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  7. I'm amazed at how many stories I've heard about the near-miraculous medical benefits of cannabis oil. And I know from others' first hand experiences how good smoking marijuana is for cancer patients. It decreases anxiety and increases appetite and I'm not ashamed to say that my husband used it during his chemotherapy treatments. It's a pity it's still illegal in most of the US. This past election did have 5 more states legalize it for recreational purposes....and Trump's giving us all reason to need it!

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    1. The legalization is good, especially for medical purposes, but Jeff Sessions as Trumps' Attorney General will probably enforce the federal ban on marijuana, over riding the states'. Sad. (as Trump would say)

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  8. I am glad to read that your car worked perfectly this morning. In Italian the noun car is feminine - I think that is why "she's" lunatic.
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. And "la luna" is feminine too - which is the right way to see it - or her brazen counterpart, the He-Sun - in Germany we are falsifying those facts of life :-)

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  9. While I read your post, my thoughts meandered to 'pipe dreams' - looked them up, learned that a "pipe" is a British measure for 478 liter. Now: how many liters would your Volvo need - and wouldn't it be easier to smoke that stuff yourself?

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    1. I've never heard of a 'pipe' as a measurement. I just drink petrol to feel better.

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