Transportation

I'm a huge fan of public transportation.  I use it every day to get to work and home again.  Walk to the bus, take the bus to the train, take the train to the office.  That means 30-40 minutes of unintrupped knitting time, and I don't have to worry about traffic, accidents and the like (although sometimes I do worry about the skill of the bus driver).

Yesterday I had a blip in my morning and ended up driving to the subway - because I'm NOT driving into town, not only is parking hard to come by, but it is not less than $20 a day.   So, not a problem, found a parking space at the metro and hopped on my train, helped some tourists and knitted.   Sun is shining, la la la la la.

Last night, I remembered that I needed to take a different train out of town in order to get my truck, I changed trains at the proper location, happily sat down and planned to knit for 20 minutes.   All was moving along as it should.   Then we pulled into a station, the driver announced Eisenhower and everyone one of us stopped.  Still.   Eisenhower?   That's the yellow line.   We are on a blue line train.   Huh?    Then the driver said as we left the last stop, apparently Central switched us to the wrong track  Duh.  So then he says, we're going to go back to King  and turn around.   Well, okay.  Fine.   Then he said  everyone needs to get off the train because this train is out of service.   Crap.   I was in the middle of a row and decided to finish it before moving.   As I stood up, he announced everyone on the blue line train who got off can get back on, we're going to King .   I sat back down.    Kept knitting because I knew that this was going to take another 15 minutes.   We got to King, he stopped, opened the doors and said this train is going out of service everyone needs to get off, cross the platform and get on the next blue line train.

Well okay,  fine.   Fortunately a train was pulling into the station and even better I got a seat.   Got to the correct train station, actually remembered where I had parked, and (this is where I should have gotten suspicious) got out of the parking garage and on my way with no trouble and little time.

I made a stop on my way home, about 5 minutes from the train station and 20 minutes from home.   But I knew what I wanted, knew I probably wouldn't be on this side of town again this weekend and figured it would save me a trip on Saturday.   Got what I wanted, used a 40% off coupon and was in and out of the store in 5 minutes.   (I should have gotten more suspisious) but life has been pretty good lately.  I was patting myself on the back for not getting stressed about the train problem, I knew that things were in order at home.  I scheduled a walk that evening with my daughter and then was going to work for a few hours.

Hopped in the truck, turned the key.  click.  click.  click.  click.  Hmmm, okay.  well, I'll just call home.   Of course my phone was on it's last little battery thingy, which I knew but was going to charge while driving home.   Called, and rescue is on the way.   Not a problem, opened the door because it was a little warm, I had my water and knitting.   I have for the time being found my zen in my little world.   Not letting things I can't control bother me for more than an instant, and just moving on.

DH arrived in quick time, looked at my battery and was dismayed to see the green crud, and then gave me the look of why didn't you take care of this?   WELL, I don't do cars.  I can, and I have ,but I don't anymore.  That is what I have him for.   And my son is a mechanic.   But if you don't have a family member who is a mechanic, you wouldn't know that mechanics cars run worse than anyone elses cars.  They work on cars all day, why would they want to do that at home?

Okay, so I'll buy a battery on the way home, just get me started.   Hooked everything up.   Nothing.  click, click, click.  Damn.  So after a few minutes of thought, well guess it is the starter.  Then I remembered when I started the truck that morning, there was a little bit of wheezing.   I thought to myself will have to let the boys know tonight.    So, okay.  It's been awhile since we've had to fix a car on the side of the road (or in a parking lot) but it can be done.   Went and bought a new starter, went home and changed because I was going to end up being the helper on this job since son was in school, grabbed tools and flashlights because now it is dark and off we went to get my truck going.

DH crawled under truck.   Hmmmm, that starter isn't coming out tonight.   Pipes have to be dropped.   So, we packed it all up, and figured in the morning we'd go back with another truck and just tow it home.   I was a little worried that the shopping center management would tow it, but slept anyway.  4 AM DH is awake, worried about truck being towed.   Decided that he didn't want to tow it with our truck so he called tow company.  Fine.  Whatever.   I just need it fixed.    So he met the tow truck guy at 6:15 and got my baby home.  $120 later.   

In the meantime, I left at my normal time, was almost to the bus stop when the stinkin' bus came.  Three minutes early.  And what really peeved me is that the neighbor two doors down from me, saw me coming and didn't tell the driver to wait.   I really dislike that family more and more.   And we've been neighbors for almost 25 years.  That's pretty pathetic and guess I'll have to work on my 'tude huh?    Hmmm, do I wait for DH to come home and drive me down to the main road?   No, don't be lazy.  You have time.  So I walked to another bus stop that is served by a different bus.    That is the nice thing about my neighborhood, I have bus options.  Of course traffic was horrible.   Got some good quality knitting done, and was actually to work 2 minutes early.   Yeah me!

This is going to be a great weekend.