flemmings | (no subject)

For decades I never bought facial tissues (was going to say Kleenex but I gather that's an Over Here term like Javex and Xerox.) I copped a box at the beginning of the pandemic because there was no toilet paper to be had that particular Friday, and now I can't live without it. Which bugs me for ecological reasons. But I can't for the life of me remember what I used instead, in the Before Times, to clean my glasses with. I keep trying to have handkerchiefs handy for that purpose, but the two things I can never find when I need them are bookmarks and handkerchiefs. I see them around when I don't need them but they vanish when I do. Equally I must conclude that I never used to blow my nose through all those decades of allergies and sinus infections. Or maybe I used toilet paper?

My doctor's office called at 9 this morning, ripping me from sleep. Fumbled for the phone with a hand that had gone to sleep, squinted at the screen through blind and crusty eyes, and saw that it was them and not scammers pretending to be Visa Security or Amazon or whatever, id est the only people who ever call me at 9 a.m. Doctor wants me to have bloodwork done because I'm supposed to do it every three months and haven't in the last ohh two years, I believe. Doctor's secretary says I need to use a new form because the old one expires after six months and she'll send it to me to print out--- 'I don't have a printer.' Then she'll fax it to the Dynacare lab-- 'I don't use them (because they're a forty minute bus ride away.)' Well she'll fax it to my lab, what's the lab's name-- 'Haven't a clue.' They're the lab at the bottom of my street, end story. None of this faffing about would be necessary if my doctor believed in old fashioned things like MAIL but of course it's all cutting edge technology with her, like faxes. Or indeed if the library system hadn't been hacked so I could print a .pdf from my phone, but it has and I can't. In the event I went down to the lab with my old form which they said was just fine, and if it isn't I shall Rube Goldberg something with friends' email or something.

It's possible I had a totally asymptomatic case of covid, or maybe it's just a factor of age, but my hair is falling out rather more than it used to. Not handfuls or anything, just single hairs on the tablet screen or my, invariably, dark tops or into my crocheting. And I know it used to do that, especially the crocheting part, but this is like having a cat.

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I hope your bloodwork's turn out fine and am glad you're getting it checked.

Feeling for you re the hair. Mine likes to abandon me in favour of nearby sinks.

I can already guess the results- high blood sugar and iffy cholesterol- because I haven't cut out starch and fats. But oh well, it is what it is.

I remember we used to call tissues "Kleenex" when I still lived at home, but the more generic "tissues" predominates now. I do use real handkerchiefs when out and about, but for a streaming cold, tissues are better.

Handkerchiefs require hot water to wash in while tissues in my city go into the green bin to be recycled. So it's kind of a toss-up ecology-wise. But with chronic post nasal drip here, definitely tissues.