An Unusual Day

As I mentioned in the long ago previous post, after the opera marathon, I took to my bed – sick as a dog.  (Question to self – why dogs? Margaret is never sick.)  I had the worst cold ever, and even, for a short while, actually considered going to the doctor.  And it went on and on, seemingly about to last forever.  I was almost out of provisions, and the only one of my nearest and dearest who wasn't working and has a car is Dakki.  She would be willing (happy even,) to shop for me, but she always manages to buy the wrong thing, no matter how specific my instructions.  Last time she shopped for me, all I needed was plain non-fat yogurt.  She got low fat vanilla.  Rachael pointed out that to Dakki, vanilla would be plain, and anything other than full fat would be the equivalent of non-fat – i.e. totally unacceptable to her. So sending Dakki to the store was a no-go.  

On Rebecca’s first day off, she volunteered to cycle over and shop for me, but by that time, I was ready to venture forth, at least as far as the grocery store. So we decided that I would drive to the grocery store, and she would come along for moral support (to me), and also support (to her) with her watermelon, watermelons being cumbersome to carry on a bicycle.   I also needed to pick up books waiting for me at the library. I told her about needing to go to my library on the way, and she said that no, we should go to her library, as she too, had books waiting. Given that I was the driver, and therefore in charge, we decided to go to my library. Suddenly, however, she brightened up, and pointed out that neither library was open yet, and by the time we had done our grocery shopping, we would be near hers, which would then be open.  Hmmmm.  She had a point, so we went to her library.  As we approached it, a huge truck was blocking the street we had planned to turn onto.  The car in front of us had the same idea, and after turning onto the blocked street, decided to back out of it.  Right into our car.  I gaped, frozen, and thought, “My Gosh!  That car is going to run into us!”  Rebecca too stared agape for a moment, and then said, “My Gosh! That car is going to run into us!”  Thunk!!!!  It did.  The poor woman driving it was horrifieded, while we just sat there in stunned amazement.  Fortunately, no damage was done to either car.  Just a few shattered nerves.  Minutes later, after I had dropped Becca, her groceries, and her books off at her house, I was driving up a narrow, quiet, tree lined street, and as I crested the hill I saw a gigantic  truck looming right in front of me, on my side of the street.  Once again, I gaped for a second and then slammed on my brakes.  A block later, I was about to go through a four way stop when it was my turn, and some car did not even slow down, but sped into the intersection, forcing me to slam on my brakes again.  Yikes!  What was going on today?  Was it mad driver Tuesday?  What a relief to arrive home.  I didn’t even consider taking a detour past my library.  The books would still be waiting when I had more fully recovered.  Anyway, Rebecca had leant me the new JK Rowling mystery (the one with 600 other library patrons on the waiting list) which she had somehow managed to check out, and which was not due at her library yet. It was super!

The pictures have nothing to do with this post, but depict my first real day out.  I helped Samos and Michelle paint Michelle’s kitchen, and then we all helped initiate Samos’s new canoe on its maiden voyage.  Such fun!  (Both painting and canoeing.)