It’s the beginning of Pride weekend and I’m smack in the middle of it with work and where I live. In the afternoon it was a pop up festival that was being set up. The street was closed to traffic and it was stalls and padestrans that dominated the landscape. 

  
My morning was spent puttering around finishing off my induction package for work. It’s a bit late but it’s better late then never. I wrote out my name and birthdate many many times and with each time the number had an impact insofar as to emphasize my supposed maturity. I was under the mistaken illusion that there was less paperwork to fill out on this side of the pond. My bad. 

  
I had a relaxed afternoon and that quickly dissipated when work began. The slate was full and behind due to many reasons not the least of which is the need to get some scans done ASAP. This is the life of a tech in a busy inner city acute care hospital. We managed to stabilize it and towards the end of the night with so many no shows the slate became manageable and almost a breeze. 

  
This night I had company. It’s not often I get to sit and talk to an old friend and colleague. There have been many intervening changes that have happened since my departure and the departure of people from the department is one of them. The way the system has been managed and shaped has put a strain on the system and on the people that make it work. There has been a lot of movement a lot of transfers have happened. I was partially filled in to all these goings on. It has given me a clearer picture of what is actually going on. I’m not amused by it and some things have surprised me. 

  
Those few precious minutes before midnight gave us a chance to experience the nightlife on the closed off street. Security is a bit tight wife one never knows what will pop into a persons mind with the opportunity of people congregating together like this. It’s the 37th year of the Pride parade. That’s a lot longer than many out there in the world. This is the first night of it with a few more nights to go. Today this celebration will be coupled with the Celebration of Light and the hoards of people that this brings to this part of the city.

It was good to talk and see each other tonight. It was good to see a part of the cardiology group and I’m sure I’ll be seeing a bit more of them over the next months. They all keep telling me how I lost a lot of weight. Well I guess there has been some but it’s also a change in shape that gives it that appearance. Most of me is still within the shell of my skin firmly attached to my bones. We talked late into the night with the day and hour starting to wear on my attention and enthusiasm. There is a source of energy though that helped keep it all going. All I know is that there are going to be a lot more visits with all those I haven’t seen in a while.