my evening walk

I went for my long evening walk for the first time in a while. It was a good time to check out what’s new in the ‘hood. I grew up here, the Altadore -Riverpark area of south Calgary, Canada, now lumped in with the Marda Loop shopping district. Two blocks away from my house, there used to be a Texaco gas station and a corner store. I’d buy penny candy in the shop when I was little and smokes when I was a teenager. They’re gone. Now there's a real estate agency and trendy coffee shop where the gas station and store used to be. And, very soon, a shiny new, friendly neighbourhood cannabis shop. I'm sure I was quite stoned several times when I walked into the corner store in my high school days. If you told me back then, they'd open a marijuana store there someday I would have been gobsmacked. Truth is, I haven't touched the stuff in years.