Categories: news-from-depressionland
Tags: Mennonites, therapist, retirement, reunion
Date: 09 November 2009 21:15:42
This afternoon after what will in all likelihood be my last appointment with the Terribly Tenacious Therapist (since I think she is actually making things worse), I took myself off to Brent Cross Shopping Centre to look for a handbag and have some lunch. In the Italian café I chose, I queued up to pay for my food and after telling me the cost, the girl serving me apparently said 'Are you really tired?'. Somewhat touched by her concern, I answered 'Well, yes I am actually', hoping I wouldn't have to explain that actually I was not just tired but depressed. 'That'll be £X, then', she said, naming a smaller sum. It was only at this point I realized that what she had actually said was 'Are you retired?'. Apparently there was a reduction for pensioners. Now I don't generally tell people that I will be eligible for my pension in four years, but people generally tell me that I look much younger (when I was 40 and expecting my son, a neighbour said she thought I was 28), so if the girl in the Italian café thought I was retired, I must have been looking particularly rough. Not so nice as when I innocently thought she was expressing a concern for my welfare.
In other news, I have just read that Pleasant Oaks Mennonite Church and First Mennonite Church of Middlebury, Indiana, are reuniting, having split in 1923 (over women's clothing, would you believe?). It's taken 86 years, but hey, reconciliation can take a while. The proposed name for the reunited congregation is First Pleasant Mennonite Church. They don't seem to have noticed that this implies that all Mennonite churches heretofore have been unpleasant. Sigh...