I often joke, and not in a very funny find of way, that I accidentally shroud myself in a cloak of invisibility when I walk into an electronics store. A person over a certain age is made to feel that they could not possibly have any knowledge of, or interest in, anything a gadget store has to offer and any offer to help would be useless, frustrating or time consuming. Perhaps all three. The best way for the staff to deal with such a person is to look right through them. The older you get the worse it gets and the more places this happens. I presume this is why the guests at Blue Care respite afternoon at Woolloongabba this afternoon were so happy to see a troupe of teenagers from Fame Theatre Company rock up this afternoon to perform. Because I'm always up for a chat, I sat myself at a table with guests and found myself talking photography with a woman in her 90s. We exchanged email addresses. They admired my necklace. I admired a two rings Grace was wearing. One, she confessed, was cubic zirconia. Her engagement ring was a diamond bought by her butcher husband on Brunswick Street Station. We had a lovely chat. I was told I was like a breath of Spring and having a child who would take time out on a Sunday to come and entertain senior citizens was a credit to my parenting. Now if that doesn't make your day, I don't know what would. They also said how lovely it was that all the volunteers were prepared to put in the hours to cook and serve. But that's the thing about volunteering. You really do get a huge amount back. Even if it's just a lesson that there are real people with really interesting stories to tell if you just stop pretending they borrowed Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility.
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