I was awoken by my alarm this morning – which today opted to tune in some talk radio station in its random selection – and found myself thinking, “Huh? It’s not the weekend.”
Shortly after that I realized that I had to be at the car dealership at 7:30 for my oil change and to get my tire fixed, so I got up.
Once I got outside I was surprised to see that the light snow was heavier than had been forecast, and that it didn’t seem as though it was going to turn to rain anytime soon, despite the fact that it was above freezing.
I got to the dealership a bit before 7:30, and as I always do, wondered just when you need to show up to avoid being the tenth car in line. Rather than wait in line, though, I just pulled into a parking space and waited for the pace to actually open.
Eventually I turned my keys over and headed to the waiting area. I sat and read an e-book on my PDA and tried to tune out the conversation that two of the other people waiting were having (It was about the pervasiveness of technology, IT security, outsourcing, and about a dozen other topics. They bounced willy-nilly from subject to subject, and though the tenor of the conversation was amiable enough, the man seemed to have very little interest in hearing what the woman had to say, often cutting her off and preventing her from making whatever point she tried to make.)
After a little over an hour everyone else started to clear out one by one, and one of the service guys came in and said my name. I started to get up and he walked over say, “Might as well sit back down.”
He explained that they’d changed the oil and fixed my tire, but that something in my brake system was leaking (which, in addition to the leaky tire, goes a long way towards explaining why the car has felt “off” for a while), and that it could lead to the brake line leaking. They needed a part that won’t be delivered until tomorrow, it wasn’t safe to drive the car thanks to the potential for the brakes to go out, and they didn’t have any available cars for me to drive home.
That meant I had to call Brian to ask for a ride. I would have walked (it would only be a few miles) but it was still snowing fairly heavily, so a walk wouldn’t have been especially pleasant.
Standing outside after having called Brian, someone – not sure if he worked there or what – commented on how hard it was snowing despite the fact that it was relatively warm. He likened it first to when it rains while the sun is shining, and then said, “It’s like the Devil beating his wife.”
I’m really not sure what that means, but he was extremely pleased at the sound of it, so much so that, laughing, he said it again. “Snowing when it’s warm’s like the Devil beating his wife.”
A bit after that I heard a bunch of sirens sounding off in the distance, which I assumed were responding to an accident caused by the “snow storm.” As it had been a while since I’d called Brian, I thought, “Hmm…I really hope he didn’t respond to a call and forget about me,” but he hadn’t, and soon arrived and we stopped for breakfast, as it was just a bit after nine by this point.
Supposedly they’ll have a car ready for me by this evening, so I’ll have to ping Brian for a ride over.
As we got up from our table after our breakfast (I had two eggs, home fries, sausage links, and two ginormous hot cakes) I saw the guy at the table next to ours reading USA Today, which featured a big picture of Sasha Cohen bent forward and gliding along on her left leg while holding onto her skate and bending her right leg so that her foot was right next to her head. I pointed this out to Brian and said, “See? That’s what I’m talking about.”
He responded, “Oh, I know what you’re talking about.”
Apparently she’s in the lead now, though from what I’ve seen everyone is pretty much concluding that she’ll blow it – without actually coming right out and saying that. They’re doing it in this passive-aggressive manner, asking things like, “Will she make it this time?” Or simply pointing out that she’s been in the lead before and blown it.
As for me, I don’t think it matters if she wins or not because, well, just look at her in action and read my description of the photo in USA Today again.
In any case, 7 am was a bit too early of a start to such a dreary day, so I believe I will answer the siren call of my bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment