To serve as a warning

As one of the employees said to me at noon when I was relating how well my day had gone thus far “well if you can’t be a good example you’ll have to settle for being a horrible warning to the rest of us”. This morning I started out early, dropping daughter # 3 in town on the way to school and then on to an appointment. That’s when things started going down hill.

When I came out of the office after my appointment my car….wasn’t parked out front where I’d left it. In fact it wasn’t in sight anyway and I was thinking it had been stolen. But after some frantic phone calls it was revealed that a) the car had been parked in a no parking zone that wasn’t no parking the last time I was there and the sign was not facing where you park so not visible b) the car had been towed to a location about 15 minutes away, no it wasn’t in the pound 3) I would have to pay $91.25 to have it released by either cash or visa, no cheques 4) a cab would have to be summoned to get to the towing company and that would likely take the $10 cash which I had on me. I sat on the curb and waited for the Charlie’s Cab which arrived shortly.

Charlie says that he parked there on the day the no parking sign was put up while he was gone for the day and he got a courtesy call when he returned telling him next time he’d be towed. “It wasn’t a no parking zone when I left” he told them. He says everyone parks in this area and I’m the first one he’s ever seen towed, he thinks they’re trying to send a message to the masses. He filled me in on the details that the Parking Attendant was much too busy to be the cause of this and the By-law Officer had been made Project Manager of the new police station being planned “you know that plug goes here, that switch goes there” he says “so it must be the police”. He then expounds on his theory that this is how the police fund their department by harassment of ordinary folks with this nickel and dimeing. He tells me that they have been fining young couples found in vehicles on logging roads , if they are in a state of undress they are cited for public nudity, just sharing a burger and coffee then it’s trespassing. He says that if he owned a wood lot he’d cut paths everywhere and put up a sign saying ‘kids welcome’ as the whole thing is wrong! He phones to make sure of the location of the vehicle and drops me at the door. $8 he says but I tell him the information was worth making it an even $10 and head inside.

The tow company receptionist is flustered and says “I’m only going to charge you $60, it was only here in the yard for five minutes, I can’t believe they actually did this” I express profuse gratitude and pull out the visa. “They must’ve been waiting for you” she says. When I question about the parking ticket she suggests I check at the police station. I opt for the fact that they will know who I am and mail one if they are determined enough (thinking of the cabbie's fundraising theory) to add at least another $15 to my pain. We go through the formalities and I regain possession of the car and head back to work.

By the time I make my way through all those hurdles /crises to get through the door at work the cafeteria is getting ready to shut down. I make a sprint for the last of the corn chowder to give me strength for the remainder of the afternoon. I contribute to the infection control newsletter - it’s hazardous to write the travel health section as it makes me want to buy an air ticket online and escape. My latest project (due to a major mumps outbreak in the province) has been tracking employees born after 1970. I think this is the first time I’ve been pleased to find that the majority (¾ actually) of the staff are older rather than younger in our facility. Now finding out who’s had one or two measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) immunizations and who has/hasn’t had the mumps with in-depth staff health records being a relatively new phenomenon is a bigger challenge. Sigh.

Before I know it, daughter # 3 appears at the door to the office as school is out. She is trying to convince me that the limits placed on her freedom - driving only to school or work, no social activities this week (due to not acting responsibly by failing to advise of her ETA and turning off her cell phone on the way home from the city last weekend) should be lifted. We have an ‘in depth discussion’ about the situation and the end result is not to the offspring’s liking. Her huff arrives and she leaves in it. She calls back from her cell to try to further convince me, this succeeds only in angering me. She would do well to heed her father’s instructions to ‘not poke the bear’ if not necessary. Thus we have a quiet drive home while she steams and I read the newspaper.

The neighbourhood teenager arrives as I’m in the middle of putting bread on (thus have had to wait to see if I really did add all the ingredients in the excitement - happy to report yes I did) to excavate the area for the flower bed in front of the house. There is confusion with the phone ringing, door open and Gary escaping into the wilds of the trees beside the house. Retrieval becomes a three person 15 minute operation as this 14 lb. cat manages to evade capture by bobbing and weaving through the brush and brambles. Success - Gary is unceremoniously dumped in the house to clean the balsam off his feet.

The search for shovel, spade, rake and wheelbarrow begins. Both wheelbarrow tires are flat which means the obstacle course to the barn and thus the compressor must be navigated. By the time everyone is settled away and I walk the dog, the man of the house has finished with his chain saw (yes it is now operational I am pleased to advise) and headed off to put 800 lbs of lobsters in the pound. Since he is the BBQ chef, the burgers must wait until his return…another 7 p.m. supper.

In the midst of the confusion daughter #3 has convinced us that if her boyfriend’s mother will drive him down could she drive him home? The only explanation I have is… I am weak, she is the youngest of four and I just don’t have it in me to fight anymore. I remember how ticked this made me when my younger sister ‘got away’ with things I never would have but… I’m tired of fighting over the small stuff and this one is the most persistent of the bunch - she’ll make a fine nurse for sure - but I'm not sure I can be responsible for my actions until her departure date on Labour Day.

Now I must go review all the changes to the first aid course standards for the course I’m teaching on Monday. The revamping of the guidelines is one of the most major I remember in 33 years of practicing CPR so it’ll be a challenge to keep them all straight. Will have to watch the DVD for sure over the weekend.

Off to make lobster lunches for the morning. Although the catches are way down (69 lbs out of 250 traps is the high day in this household) the man of the house tells me he has to go every day now to pay for the $500 diesel mechanic bill of today to fix a ‘dead injector’ which sounds serious but means the engine was firing on 5 not 6 cylinders. Sounds kind of like me lately.