A good day. Colleen was in good spirits, the day was sunny and her appointments with her team had gone well and were finished by the time I arrived at 10:30. So we went for a walk up to the main street and looked in the shops for Xmas stuff that could be used to build the decorations for the ward.
We went back to the Shook Store on Glen Huntly Road. They carried a wide range of imported products and food stuff. There were two older men working and I introduced myself and asked about the name of the store. I was told that the name meant shop or market in Arabic culture.
The Shook store opened in 2013 and has served the Caulfield community since then. One of the men I talked to was Jewish and he told me about his family and that he, his Dad, his family and his Uncles and Aunts had survived the Holocaust. He told me that after the war, his family wanted to get as far away from Europe as they could. Some of his family went to Western Canada, some the Western United States and some to Australia and New Zealand.
We talked about what he saw as a culture of intolerance that was building up in Australia against Muslims and Jews and thought that the political leaders were building up intolerance not harmony. He was worried about what would happen if the trend continued.
He asked me if the same thing was happening in Canada. I told him that I did not think so, but that the Conservative government did have a base that was racist and intolerant but my hope was that Canadians in the majority would prevail.
He was not sure as he and his family had seen the same kind and level of intolerance build up in Germany prior to the war. We had a good discussion but I noticed that Colleen was getting tired, so we made our excuses and walked back to the hospital.
I asked Colleen what she wanted for her birthday and as expected she wanted to leave the hospital, but since that was not going to happen, I asked here what else and she told me to bring her a strawberry cupcake.
I agreed and we talked about the idea of having a bigger celebration when she was discharged. She thought that was a good idea. I had brought her phone and her charger and so she had a small sense of freedom, in that she could phone people. In addition, the lounge area which had been flooded in the recent storm was open.
I was hopeful that Colleen would be discharged on the second and that we would be home for Christmas
We went back to the Shook Store on Glen Huntly Road. They carried a wide range of imported products and food stuff. There were two older men working and I introduced myself and asked about the name of the store. I was told that the name meant shop or market in Arabic culture.
The Shook store opened in 2013 and has served the Caulfield community since then. One of the men I talked to was Jewish and he told me about his family and that he, his Dad, his family and his Uncles and Aunts had survived the Holocaust. He told me that after the war, his family wanted to get as far away from Europe as they could. Some of his family went to Western Canada, some the Western United States and some to Australia and New Zealand.
We talked about what he saw as a culture of intolerance that was building up in Australia against Muslims and Jews and thought that the political leaders were building up intolerance not harmony. He was worried about what would happen if the trend continued.
He asked me if the same thing was happening in Canada. I told him that I did not think so, but that the Conservative government did have a base that was racist and intolerant but my hope was that Canadians in the majority would prevail.
He was not sure as he and his family had seen the same kind and level of intolerance build up in Germany prior to the war. We had a good discussion but I noticed that Colleen was getting tired, so we made our excuses and walked back to the hospital.
I asked Colleen what she wanted for her birthday and as expected she wanted to leave the hospital, but since that was not going to happen, I asked here what else and she told me to bring her a strawberry cupcake.
I agreed and we talked about the idea of having a bigger celebration when she was discharged. She thought that was a good idea. I had brought her phone and her charger and so she had a small sense of freedom, in that she could phone people. In addition, the lounge area which had been flooded in the recent storm was open.
I was hopeful that Colleen would be discharged on the second and that we would be home for Christmas
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