Blow out

Today I was well and truly back off vacation!

It all began when I was woken up at 4:20 a.m. instead of an hour later because....the marine weather had changed and the fisherman who was NOT getting ready to go out called on the shore captain's phone to advise him of this development. I had to go all CSI on it to discover this fact as he originally maintained that there was nothing unusual with his morning routine. I disagreed as he usually exits the house leaving me blissfully unaware of this event. So, I was showered, breakfasted, lunch packed, dressed and email checked by 5:30 a.m.and I was not particularly pleased with this situation.

I stopped, picked up the newspaper at the end of the driveway and pulled out onto the road and immediately felt and heard a loud thump. I pulled over to the side of the highway, ran back and picked up a large sharp piece of metal (a welded arm of a rack on the back of a pickup truck to keep the 4wheeler from going through the back window) which was lying in the road. I checked the passenger side tire (as that was where the metal was located) and headed off to pick up my friend for work. After about a kilometer I noticed a shake and then a roar. "Oh no, a flat and it's a doozy - well, if it happened this quickly the tire is history anyway so I might as well rim it". So I phoned the shore captain to advise him, pulled into my friend's yard with the smell of hot rubber wafting from the drivers side tire and explained she'd have to be the chauffeur. "No problem" she says "come in, I burnt my toast and I had to clean up cat barf off upholstery". Thus our days started.

We head up the main highway and wait for a while for a co-worker (who doesn't appear we discover when we arrive at work because she is ill) and head in. Shortly after arriving at our place of employment it becomes clear there is a staffing issue as we are overbooked and so my chauffeur (who has seniority) is offered the opportunity to take the day off. Not a lot of considering needed for this decision and she's off leaving me an orphan. I phone the shore captain to advise of this development (he's duck hunting in the middle of the harbour) and he agrees to deal with the tire issue. Which he apparently does in the afternoon - I don't want to think of what the tire cost - my fault for making brags of only paying $45 for the servicing last week.Apparently the metal tore the side right out of the tire. Good thing it wasn't someone going  the posted speed of 80 km/hr as I was only creeping as I was just starting out. The shore captain was surprised I hadn't done more underneath damage to the vehicle.

Today I wore devil horns and tail as my costume for Halloween and that was fitting as the environment suited. We started the day with a bang, got no lunch or supper and had a tough one by any descriptor.I catch a ride home with a co-worker passing my exit and pick up my car with the temporary (donut) spare in place and putt home. Shore captain promises to change the tire to the newly purchased one tomorrow before I head in for a night shift. I was met with a duck stew at 7:45 p.m. so hard to feel ungrateful with that spoiling.

Glad to not have to start the day that early tomorrow morning but rather sleep in before the night shift. Ahhh.