Dialogue: An Outing

I receive a phone call from my son; “I understand, from my brother, that you need new glasses; I am coming round to take you to Specsave.”

I said, “But I need a proper eye test”.

“I’ll be there in 20 minutes; I will wheel you in the chair”. And he rang off.

I think, “He normally comes by bike and ferry. Is he going to wheel me in a chair from Milton to Commercial Road? Then I must quickly change into warm clothes.”

Then the doorbell rang, “We will go to town by car; and we will bring the wheelchair”.

In the car park, I alight to a shower of hailstones; “We should have brought an umbrella. Let’s get you to some shelter whilst I park the car”

I waited in the Cascades entrance; there were two young men also – they were kissing. And smoking. I took a chance; “Smoking is bad for you”, I ventured.

One said, “I only smoke two a day”.

“Give up”, I replied.

“Yes we will”, they said as we parted.

In the opticians, I enquired “Can I see the optician today?”

Even without an appointment, the assistant replied, “Yes, but you may have to wait half an hour.”

Whilst we waited I said, “Let’s go outside to get some lunch”

My son suggested, “We could try Cascades food hall”.

There, looking through the ceiling to floor window the lift, I thought, “This is a bit scary”, but I was very brave and said nothing.

“Let’s have fried fish for lunch”

“And a cup of tea” I added.

On the way back to the appointment, I said, “This is the first time I have seen the market stalls for many years. It is nice to think that some things don’t change.”

The optician was a young man called Adam from Armagh; I could tell he was Irish from his accent. Although he was not talkative, he said, “For your age, you have very healthy eyes. They are nearly good enough for the driving test”.

A good end to the outing.

Rose Lynch 16-Mar-2006