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Sunday, November 05, 2006

As Predicted

Yes, I have already fallen short on my goals of posting each day and writing each day. Perhaps I set myself up for that?

Friday was an absolute nightmare. First off, in true Vancouver fashion, it was raining cats and dogs. We piled everyone into the van to take Thing 2 to preschool and Thing 3 to daycare. I had specifically gotten up at 5:30 in the morning to take a nice leisurely shower and get my makeup on uninterrupted because I wanted to go downtown and run several errands. I needed to get cash for my appointments later in the day, pick up bus tickets for myself and a monthly bus pass for Thing 1. I also wanted to hit the fabric store (the one with all of the nasty salesclerks) and I had a package to pick up at the post office. I wanted to achieve all of this in 3 hours. This was the reason I got up so early - so I didn't have to waste any of that precious time on my morning ablutions.

Arriving at preschool, I was informed in something barely above a mumble, that the preschool teacher had had a tooth extracted the afternoon before and would only be able to hang around until 10:30 because she wasn't supposed to talk much. Thus began the disintegration of my day. Hubby said he would try and come and do the transfer of Kes from preschool to daycare so I could do what I had to do, but only if his client did not show up. We dropped Hayden off at daycare and he took me over to the Skytrain (Vancouver's "rapid" transit - I use that term loosely) to save me some bus time. We agreed to make contact shortly by phone.

I got off at Granville Station because there is a VanCity bank machine right there. However, they have been constructing a new set of escalators and an elevator in that particular station and we were directed to the new ones as the old ones were closed off. (This station has never had an elevator before which was ridiculous because it is the one station that stops underneath the shopping centre downtown, so finally they have built one.) I figured that the bank machine would still be open if I went around to the old entrance, so off I went. No. So with a sigh I headed west off to the closest bank of ours, about four blocks away. Keep in mind: raining hard. I got to the bank to discover that BOTH of the bank machines were out of order and they had a notice with two other recommended banks that would do your transactions, presumably without charges. My time was limited so I just found any bank and got what I needed. Next, I headed off to the closest corner store that I had purchased transit fare from before. They had the tickets but did not sell the month passes. Sigh. I headed a few blocks over to the Pharmasave - sold out. The clerk suggested across the street at another corner store - they had none either. At this point I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Hubby called and said his client had showed up. Of course he had. I now had to hop a bus back to the preschool to retrieve Kes.

I got home a little before I had to get her and took a breather and formulated what I would be doing next. I figured if I took her over to daycare and headed back into downtown, I'd be able to get the last couple of things done. I made the drop, hopped a bus and got off at the fabric store, grateful that the bus stops right out front. The fabric shopping went swimmingly. The clerks were noticeably nicer and I realized there was some new blood there. Perhaps some of the old harpies have retired or died. I got what I wanted and headed out to catch the bus back towards the post office. Uh-oh. The buses were lined up at least twelve deep on either side of the street. Something bad had happened in transit land. I couldn't see what it was exaclty, all I know is that there were no ambulances or police, so I assume it was technical and not somebody getting hit by a bus, thank goodness! I decided that I could walk to the post office and stop at my friend's store halfway there for a short break. I was pretty wet by the time I got there (it wasn't that far, about three or four blocks), so tried to dry out for a few minutes. I had to keep going though, because I needed to stop at the post office and get home and then prepare for my appointment at 1:00.

I picked up my package and walked home. By the time I arrived, my jeans were literally running with water off the fronts of my pantlegs - it was horrible. My gloves were soaked, my boots were soaked, my entire body was soaked. Once home I realized that I may not be able to get a bus, so thought to call a taxi. Except that lunchtime here is like New York any time as far as taxis go. I couldn't get through to save my life. I took a chance and called hubby, who fortunately was headed home! Yay! My day started to look up. Of course, after the morning I'd had, it was only fitting that I went for a bikini wax! It was fine, by the way. Doug came and picked me up and we headed off for hair appointments. The day had restored itself and all was well after that. But man, was I EXHAUSTED!

By the way, this was in my package from the post office! It rocks!

1 comment:

nrp said...

All right, all right, you're off the hook just this one time.

 
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