Can you imagine that it got even worse????
I started off with the 100 K bike ride that was supporting 'The Healing Cycle for Palliative Care at Credit Valley Hospital. Did an amazing time - the 100 K (well 98K) in just over four hours total time.
Healing Cycle Stats
When I get a chance to load the data, I will be able to see the ride time. (Just tried to load the data and the laptop is NOT recognizing the GPS. Hmmmmm - got to play around with that later. - and to get used to this tiny little keyboard again - thanks Sharon - works like a charm)
(NOTE - had to buy a NEW cord for the GPS to be recognized by the computer - that was acquired on our trip to the mall and had to fly across the mall to The Source in order to get one as Zeller's did not have any left in stock)
Once that was done, I hung around - had lunch and listened to the speeches and waited for the draws - had to be present to win. I did win a prize - a RUG and then DISASTER struck and the day went downhill from there.
I checked my phone and saw that M had called me. What did she want? Just confirming that I would give her a ride to work? Oh no - nothing as simple as that. The upstairs bathroom had FLOODED!!!!! How much water - about TWO INCHES. In the car and on the way IMMEDIATELY.
By this time - it was about 3:30 PM and I was planning on leaving at 4:00 for the airport. Oh yes - fortunately she had actually got ahold of DH and he told her to shut off the valve on the toilet that had been overflowing about 20 minutes. I arrive to find the bathroom floor swathed in towels. Oh those towels that I had so carefully washed just two days before. Soaking wet. Oh well....... The downstairs bath had a bit of water that came through the ceiling vent, nothing in any other rooms.
DH comes home - drives M to work - says he will take care of the mess. I have a quick shower, throw the rest of my stuff in the bag and get ready to leave. Oh shoot - I left my sunglasses in the car. I had better take those. Where are the car keys? Ooops - my phone is in the car? Now WHERE did I put those car keys. OH MY GOD - my wallet is in the car - NOW WHERE DID I PUT THOSE CAR KEYS??????? By this time - I am FREAKING out - I have no idea where the keys are and we searched the house up and down MANY times. I finally called CAA (after a desperate call to Marian for the number) and they would be 1/2 hour. I don't have 1/2 hour but what could I do?
During all this, DH puts my bike in the garage and says there is a BIT of water in the garage. The door is open and I wander in - HOLY COW - there is a LOT of water in the garage. There was a box of fabric (don't worry - wasn't good quilting fabric) but stuff that could have been used for pet mats and such - well saturated with water. I told him to just leave it and I will dump in the trash when I get home. It is HUGE - that is going to be fun. A few other things that were designated to be given away - they will be trashed when I get home. Ah well - lesson learned here - MAKE SURE YOUR KID has basic knowledge about household stuff - like how to shut off a running toilet. Well that would not have prevented the flood - I think a lesson in plunging would work as well, although she didn't even know there was a problem right away.
Back to the keys - DH finally found a spare key (and I always thought that was from a previous car - who knew) and I was in no state by this point to make sense of anything. Cancelled CAA and we were off.
We arrive at the airport around 5 - my flight is at 6. Of course can't get the bar code on my phone to load so in a differnt line to check in again!!! While in line - I get the bar code up and when I arrive at the desk, the lady tells me that while I paid the HANDLING fee for the bike, I have not actually paid for the extra bag. Good grief - but then it took her a LONG time to get the fee processed and printed.
Dump the bike at oversized baggage and then get into the LONG security line. It used to be a secret that going to the security line on the ground floor was quick, but everyone knows that now so everyone goes there. They actually came downstairs and took people back upstairs. It is finally my turn (did you notice that the security guys WILL NOT even push your bins through the machine - you have to do that yourself). Anyway when I walked through the machine - it beeps - oh oh - what does that mean????? Hey lady you have been selected for a secondary search. What the hell does that mean????? Oh a pat down or THE SCANNER. I opt for the scanner. How long could that take? Mere seconds - thank god.
And then off to the gate -which is the farthest away from the security - of course. By this time - I know my flight is DELAYED. Thank goodness as it was now 5:45. Anna had got us something to eat at Tim's which was good, because the line was LONG. When isn't the line long?????
Hop on the plane - after the day's events - I was afraid to check in my luggage or get on the plane and Anna was getting worried about flying with me!!! It was an uneventful flight - except that it was long and I couldn't reallly sleep. Couldn't read - just restless. From all that pent up stress I suppose. But we arrived in Vancouver - no problem - about one hour late.
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| There is a LOT of snow on those mountains!!!! |
Then we waited forever for the luggage and while we waited we had to laugh at how the oversized luggage came in. There was a HOLE IN THE WALL with a big metal roll up door. The door would roll up - ONE piece came out and then the door closed. At one point - TWO BICYCLES came out completely intact - no boxes or bags. Anna remarked what good service as they had assembled OUR BIKES!!!! The water bottles were still on the bikes. But no they were not our bikes. Ours were in boxes. They were too quick - by the time I got the camera out - they had retrieved their bikes!!!!
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| Pre assembled bikes!!!! Actually they were on a short haul from Kelowna and the bikes flew intact!!!!! The owners were very BRAVE!!! |
At last all of our stuff arrived intact. As I taking my bike off the excess baggage HOLE IN THE WALL, one of the baggage handlers yells at me - is that your box?? Yes. Is that YOUR STRAP???? Yes. You see when I was in Europe last year, the baggage handlers put a large strap around my two paniers that had come unattached from each other. The strap came through with my luggage so I kept it. I mean - what would you do??? Say to someone (who????) - this strap came with my luggage - what should I do with it?? I thought it would be a good support for my bike box. Anyway - the baggage handler from hell (complete with wild red hair) says I need to give that strap back. It belongs to the Airlines??? Well - yeah - maybe - but not Air Canada. It belongs to Scandinavian Airlines. Duh!!!!! He went on and on - and I made a FEEBLE attempt to take it off since I had attached it well and then said - screw this and said I was keeping the strap. He asked my name - I told him (I know - I should have made something up!!!!) Well if there is a big red flag attached to my name when I get on the plane home - I'll know where it originated from!!!!! I mean if he wanted that strap so badly, he could have taken it off BEFORE he put the box on the shute. Good grief!!!!
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| THE strap!!!! |
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| Our bike boxes |
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| The rest of our luggage!! |
Have a great day!!!!!
Ciao!!!!!
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