My Day

This morning began before 6 AM with a baby possum in a trap. Someone pulled it out of his trunk to show me and then proceeded to release it in the middle of downtown Reading.  I’m not a big fan of them but the poor thing was tiny enough to be adorable and clearly petrified. It scooted back and forth along a wall before being threatened by a third someone who was intent on killing it simply because it was there. The first someone was all for it. He had trapped it by accident when attempting to capture the squirrel who was feasting at his birdfeeder. Me, being me intervened and the terrified critter wound up hanging from the side of the building. In the end I embarrassed him into recapturing it and taking it somewhere green to release it.

This afternoon I sat around in the blazing sun waiting for the nice mechanic from Howie’s garage to come poke at him. Every other time he was towed in he started for them so this time I insisted they send someone to us first in order to give them a better idea of what is going on since it’s rather difficult to fix something that’s working. He poked and tested and listened and hmm’d until he determined the possible causes and then asked me to arrange a tow.

Today’s AAA woman was truly miserable. Rude and downright bitchy! By the time she finally got to the point of asking why I needed a tow I was very close to giving her a truly smartass response but stopped myself before it slipped out. It would have been wasted on her since it was very evident she had no sense of humor.

Howie was happy to see his favorite tow truck driver again.  For the third, and hopefully last, trip with him.  Yeah, I really don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing to be greeted by the man come to take away my car like we’re old friends although there are worse things that could happen. At least I know he will get him there via the shortest route and not cause me to incur extra towing costs like the last guy did.

And then I picked today’s gallon of strawberries.

Woohoo!

Sometimes...

I feel really, really dumb.

Howie is still non-functional.  With it being the very end of the month, the nice garage people are tied up with last minute inspections, people who had set appointments.  So they haven’t even started to figure out what’s going on with him.  Okay, I understand that.  When I have an inspection appointment I want my allotted time too.

My very wonderful friends have been letting me drive one of their cars the last few days.  Have I mentioned how wonderful they are?  Anyway me, being me, can’t allow myself to impose forever.  Which leaves me with several options.

Take next week off.  Not good.  I don’t want to use up that much vacation the first week of the year for such a silly reason.

Take a cab to and from work.  Not good.  Too expensive.

Hike.  Only a mile and a half or so.  It would be fine except it is dark.  Reading is really not the safest place to be hiking around alone after dark.  Not the neighborhoods I’d be going through.  I really prefer not to start out the year by getting shot.

Take a bus.  Perhaps.  I’ve never taken a city bus.  I have no clue how to go about it but I decided it couldn’t be that impossible.  So I went online and did some research.  As far as I can tell I need to take Route 4 to get to work and Route 3 to get home.  Fine.  Only thing is in all the buses I’ve seen throughout the years, none of them have a route number.  They all have a destination.  And several different buses go to the same destination so how exactly do I know which to hop on?

There’s a woman at work who I know rides the bus so I questioned her.  Apparently the things I am clueless about are common knowledge to everyone who has ever ridden a bus.  So much so that she didn’t understand what I was asking.  It ended up being a bizarre conversation.  Me, mounting frustration.  Her, hysterical laughter.

The schedule lists the beginning stop, the ending stop and two in between.  Only in Reading there is a bus stop on pretty much every corner of every full street.  The corner closest to me isn’t on the list.  If I stand there will the bus stop for me?  And how do I know which one to get on when more than one goes to the same place? 

Then there’s the problem with getting off the bus.  Do I need to ride all the way to the end or is there a way to disembark at the corner nearest to where I work, again not list on the set schedule?  If I can get off where I want, how do I tell the bus to stop?  Or doesn’t it?  Is the door left open and I leap out when it slows for the stop sign, ready to roll when I hit the ground?

Then there’s the paying of the fare.  There are passes available.  Only no where could I find where to purchase one.  At a sales outlet the website says.  Hmm.  Sure would be nice if they provided a list of them, wouldn’t it? 

That’s when I decided it would be better to take my chances and hike.  Or I could continue to inconvenience my friends who are beyond wonderful to help me as they so kindly do.  I have told you how absolutely wonderful they are, haven’t I?

Good Stuff/Bad Stuff

First the good - Last night was so much fun! But then an evening with the little girls always is. Can I still call them that? They're 14 so probably not. Anyway we had a great dinner and the show was awesome.

I have to confess I never saw the movie version of Footloose. For some reason I really didn't like Kevin Bacon at all back then and I wasn't into dancing so I skipped it. Never got around to it even though Kevin's grown on me. Riley however, has and in her opinion it's much better as a musical. Go see it if you have the chance. It's long but worth it.

Now the bad - My car. Remember when I was a good girl and went off and had the oil changed? A few days after that I noticed some oil on the street. It took a little while but I determined it was coming from my car. I called and was told to bring it back, perhaps the filter is defective. So at 5:45 this morning I scooted off to the garage.

I got to be there today when the mechanic put it up on the lift. Normally I have to wait in the waiting room but it was just the two of us so he let me in the garage with him. Actually it was because we got there at the same time and he hadn't even turned all the lights on before he pulled my car inside. Up it went and instantly he started shaking his head. Nope, not the filter. Or the drain plug. He suspects it may be the head gasket. Since it's a Saab you can't really tell without taking the top of the engine apart. If that's the cause, I'm well and truly screwed here. It'll cost more to fix than a) I paid for the car and b) the car is worth.

I have an appointment for next week, just in case it's the breather valve thingy malfunctioning. That's fairly cheap and easy so it's worth checking. In the mean time I am to drive as little as possible and always carry oil to add frequently as the leak will continue to get worse.


Yep, life really sucks some days with how it can go from fun to depressing in a flash.