You could have knocked me down........

...........with the proverbial feather!

On Monday afternoon I had a phone call from the manager of the local breast screen centre about my recent complaint.  She apologised that I wasn't given the use of a change room, said that is not their normal procedure, and staff have been spoken to so that it won't happen again.  Every woman who goes through there will now be offered one of their four change rooms.  Four!  And I wasn't even given one!  It seems that the technician thought I was anxious about the test (and so I was, but it was because I had to bare my unlovely body to the gaze of a stranger) and took it upon herself to take me straight into the screening room where I had to undress and dress in her presence without being asked if I would like privacy.  The manager noted that I had removed myself from the list for future tests, apologised once again, and asked if I would reconsider.  No, I said.  Is there anything which would make you change your mind, she asked.  Yes, I said.....when there is a machine or test which does not require me to remove one stitch of my clothing I will put my name back on the list, but until that happy day comes I am staying off.  They can name that change room in memory of me, because I won't be back.

It was a surprise to be contacted just a week after I sent in my email, and even more of a surprise to get an apology and an assurance that procedures had changed as a result.  It pays to complain, doesn't it?

You probably all think I am a pampered princess, but I'm not.....just a woman who is struggling to come to terms with changes brought about by the ageing process, and failing miserably.

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Until we visited the region we had no idea that the east coast of Lake Huron in Canada was called the Sunset Coast.

If one is so inclined one can enjoy the sunset from the beach in Goderich, then race madly up the hill to watch it again from the top.  We settled for the top only.  It's a lovely town, parts of which were badly damaged when a tornado came ashore almost two years ago, on August 21, 2011, but which has kept its spirits up.  We would love to return in a couple of years to see it again......perhaps we may be able to, who knows?  It has a very nice quilt shop (I did help the local economy a trifle) and what looked like an interesting music shop which, due to our visit being on a weekend, wasn't open when we walked past.  The owner of a local restaurant where we had dinner has a son living in Australia, and when he found out we were Aussies he sat down and talked to us for a while; he really misses his son which we can relate to, as we miss our Canaussian son too.

But just think.....if said son hadn't gone adventuring off to Canada all those years ago we probably wouldn't have visited either, and we would never have seen even one Goderich sunset......let alone three!

* * * * * *

Last night we spent some time working on Hotel California for this weekend's upcoming concert, and we - all of us in the advanced group - decided that Anne (who has a strong voice and knows the song very well) would sing the verses with the rest of us joining in the choruses.  It's a song which sounds best when sung by one voice rather than by several, so now the rest of us can plink away merrily and concentrate on those tricky chords instead of the words, which is quite a relief.  There are many other songs I can do much better, including the others we have been practising for Sunday's performance.

"During the performance complete quiet should be preserved, that the audience may not be prevented from seeing or hearing.  Between the acts it is perfectly proper to converse, but it should be done in a low tone, so as not to attract attention.  Neither should one whisper.  There should be no loud talking, boisterous laughter, violent gestures, lover-like demonstrations or anything in manners or speech to attract the attention of others."

Indeed.

Enjoy your days!