Evening stroll to the Victoria Promenade...
That actually was only my intention tonight because I kept getting distracted meeting and talking to people and just ended up 5 minutes away at Shoppers Drug Mart to get water.
But on the way I met some fabulous people...because well when Laz and I walk out the door God has a way of putting honestly some of the most wonderful people right in our path.
First, just around the corner from our apartment, we ran into a very handsome young man with absolutely gorgeous hair and I actually did tell him this so if he is reading this he already knows I thought that of him.
His name is Jade. But he pronounced it like Jiad because he is from Lebanon, I know what is it with me and the men from Lebanon these days, but raised in Montreal so he actually had a lovely French Canadian accent.
And a lovely girlfriend too named OJ, that actually stands for something that there was no hope in hell I was going to remember so she said to just call her OJ because her boyfriend even does.
So turns out Jade knew me from the Oliver Place Community meeting for the dog park we want to put in. He is actually a board member so my gosh did we have quite the natter about that and all things having to do with this amazing community we just so happened to fall right smack dab in.
He loved my ideas and told me to shoot him off an email and as a professional writer he would make sure they actually made sense and got to all of the right people.
I stopped so long to talk to him I was kind of thirsty, so I decided to stop off at the shop and grab some water before we hit the Promenade. But then we ran into Robin who is a lovely woman I just know from around the neighbourhood who has the most gorgeous red hair, and yes I always tell her this as well.
I personally have horrible hair, just so utterly jipped in the hair department, I tend to really notice people's hair and even my dog has gorgeous hair and spends more time at a beauty parlour in his 2 1/2 years we have been together than I have in my entire lifetime.
My father used to always tell me that my hair looked like I just got out of bed and kept on going...which truth be told happens more often than not but I have just learned in 53 years any effort is wasted effort and it will still look like I never even bothered to brush it.
So turns out Robin of course didn't notice my crappy hair but did notice the heart monitor around my neck. My new doctor is so wonderful and clearly seems to love me or has entirely too much time on his hands but he does seem to want what is best for me so when I told him the other day my heart was really having some issues lately he immediately said "don't worry I will put a monitor on your heart for a week and I will see what is going on".
So I am walking around wired for sound...quite literally and it is really rather comforting knowing my whacko heart is being supervised by someone who cares.
The discussion of the heart monitor lead to finding out Robin works in the medical field and well...quite a few hours later I even thought I heard Laz snoring at one point, I finally made it into the shop to get my water.
But this did not go as planned because I was immediately hassled by the security guard there for me having my SERVICE DOG in the store where I pretty much go everyday, so this is not exactly a news flash to see us there.
I explained my rights to him, which by the way no disabled person should ever have to do as long as their dog is clearly vested, well mannered and obviously exceptionally well public access trained like my dog is.
He told me he had to get the manager and I suddenly went all American on his ass and told him to get the police and I would be happy to stand there until they arrived and explain to THEM what my rights were and then maybe they would stop hassling me.
Well here's the thing about the heart monitor, it picked up the HUGE spike in my heart rate as I was getting ready for service dog version of bully beat down and I was getting very upset when the manager came around the corner and basically told the security guard to back off of me. She explained that we were always welcome in the store and that Laz was beautifully behaved and they had no issues with either of us.
I almost started to cry, I told her I get nervous now every time I come in here, which is a lot and that nobody has the right to make me feel that way and for God's sake I am on a heart monitor this kind of crap is not good for me and one of the reasons I even have the service dog to begin with.
She told me not to worry and she would deal with the other people in the store who honestly don't seem like they have anything better to do that hassle someone who is minding their own business and has a very well trained and mannered service dog with her.
So we never made it to the Promenade...
I was now carrying in my backpack 8 litres of water and now I had to remember to go back to the apartment and write in my little "event recording booklet" what spiked my heart rate so fast and caused it to misfire..jpg)
It is much easier for dogs to learn spoken commands if they are given in conjunction with hand signals or gestures.
My dog is trained in two languages and completely voice and hand signal trained.