"Rear Window", classic Hitchcock, one of my faves. Jimmy Stewart, living in a second floor flat, looking out the rear window to the back of the apartments across the garden, has a camera, a housekeeper/nurse and Grace Kelly as his mind-blowing beautiful girl friend. He has a broken leg, spends his time gazing out the window and sees creepy things going on.
Me: not a broken leg, just a knifed knee, no second floor for me, looking out the front window at street level at the disjointed complex across the street. No camera, no nurse or housekeeper, no girlfriend. (I do have a physical therapist that stops by twice a week, perhaps I can get him involved in my life, other than making me do very painful maneuvers with my sad, pathetic, injured knee.)
I am sure you can see the similarities between me and "Rear Window".
In the living area of my front room, in front of the front window, there is an oak table that is normally used to collect mail and stuff that goes nowhere else, like the dog's leash (when he is here, which he is not, which makes me lonely for him) and library books. But that table now has a jigsaw puzzle happening on it, (please do not ask me why) and it affords the perfect place to sit and watch the goings on across the street at the once "Sober Living Housing" unit. (Now I am afraid, not so sober.)
I watched, three days ago, a really good operator of a backhoe loader picking up slabs of cement and loading them into a large dump truck. This guy made it look like he was picking up pieces of cardboard. He edged the loader under the corner of the cement and lifted a 50 square piece like it was nothing! It took him about 20 minutes to get about 200 square feet of concrete into that truck. It was fascinating to watch. Yes, I was bored, so it was great diversion.
Since there is work happening in the complex, the Sober Living people now sit on the curb and vape their ....tobacco, I guess, since it would stand to reason that if you are sober you don't smoke dope. But these peeps smoke All The Time. Seriously, they would be better off having a shot of bourbon and a beer, it would do a lot less damage to their lungs and heart and blood. If you smoke the equivalent of two packs a day, how is that Sober Living? How is that making you better?
But, I digress. Unlike Jimmy Stewart, I have not witnessed nefarious action across the street. But like Jimmy Stewart, sitting at the window now and then does spark one's imagination: what are they doing over there? Why is the sofa now on the front porch? Who is that woman wearing pajamas 24 hours a day? (Well, that could be me.) What is in that oversized coffee cup, is it really just coffee? Why does everyone look very, very pissed off? (I would attribute that to the lack of a shot and a beer.)
Sadly, I don't think there will be a murder to solve unless I end up killing someone, which is not what Jimmy Stewart would have done. But I am telling you, the boredom of being at home all the time has set in. Yesterday I walked, with my cane (!), down my block to the stop sign THREE TIMES! It was the first time I wore shoes since my knee surgery on January 29. It was amazing! Today Steve picked me up and drove me to the library and it was the first time I got to see my 'hood in two weeks! Trees and plants are blooming! I had shoes on and was in a car! What a life!
(Sorry for all the exclamation points but that's how it felt!)
OK. thanks for reading. I am a bit depressed at this moment simply because I am so tired of not being able to do anything. I have been out of work now for more than three months, it is boring. I have read so many books and so few good ones and watched really crappy TV and very little good TV. (However, last night I rented "How to Steal a Million" with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole because I needed something funny and old. It takes place in Paris and was totally charming.)
Sigh. Time to make dinner, time to have another glass of wine, time to stop feeling sorry for myself. My kids are coming over tomorrow and I will get to see my small dog Cooper for a couple of hours and all will be well. Stitches in my knee come out on Monday. YAY for that. More painful exercises ahead, lots of PT in my future, but at least no one is being buried under the plants across the street. Well, at least not that I have noticed.
Be happy.
xo.
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