Friday 27 December 2013

My Day (Month?) of Impossible Luck

The photos in today's post come from my morning walk with Freddie (and have little to do with anything); the commentary pertains to a later outing.

Recipe for a Horrid Shopping Trip: 

Mix together for as much time as you can stand ...

2 parcels to be returned/exchanged, at least one of them heavy and/or cumbersome
3 random errands
infinite potential for Boxing Week madness
1 rainstorm
1 untried bus route
a dash (or more) of PMS
1 young & antsy service dog in training (optional)

All other ingredients considered, I decided to leave out the service dog. Still, I was quite confident as I left home that this recipe would "work" and that I would return home frazzled, pissed off, hungry, hypoglycemic, unsuccessful re. my objectives, or all of the above.


I know not what force was conspiring to sabotage the  recipe, but it spared nothing in its interventions ...

First of all, the rain stopped about ten seconds after I left home.
Whole Foods, where I went to pick up a gift card for Veronica (who has been cutting my hair for 16 years and is now my neighbour) was virtually EMPTY. I went straight up to the cashier and was out with my card in two minutes flat.

I spotted my bus about one block away. I crossed the street and dropped a letter I had to mail in a box that was right there. Seconds later, I was on the bus, which had its ticket machine covered up. "Happy birthday!" said the driver. "Enjoy the ride!" I sat down in my favourite seat.

(Oh, the moddish look of this building to the right reminds me of certain Montreal metro stations.)
I got off the bus at the Bay downtown, for the first of my gift exchanges, found the relevant department with nary a glimpse of anything that could remotely be called a crowd, found a lovely replacement item marked down by 50%, found a friendly cashier with no one to help but me, learned that the replacement item came to one dollar and ten cents more than the original item, then found a loonie and a dime in my wallet.


Outside the Bay, my bus was right there. I had to pay this time, but, as before, my favourite seat was available, and the ride was smooth. I returned to our old neighbourhood to exchange one of my birthday items for a different size. The ratio of sales staff to customers in the shop was about 3 to 1, and all items, including exchanges, were two for one (La Vie en Rose, FYI ;-)). I found my size and colour, picked out a freebie, chatted with the friendly sales people, then strolled down to the hair salon, not knowing whether or not Veronica was working today.


She was. Not only that — she wasn't doing anyone's hair at the time, so we were able to visit. I gave her a Christmas card containing the Whole Foods gift card. I checked my blood sugar, which was fine, and strolled home.


Back home, the brother and sister of our friend Jerry (he who, with his partner, Karin, packed up and reassembled our kitchen and book shelves) were visiting. Together Martin and Joanna expertly mounted/adjusted two heavy mirrors that needed mounting/adjusting and diagnosed the glitch in Paul's computer.

Add to this day the extraordinary stroke of luck that contributed (along with our real estate agent's skill and effort) to the quick sale of our old place, and I feel as if I've exhausted my karmic allotment for the next year, at least, and will be zapped by lightning at any moment.

If you're needing some luck of your own just now, please help yourself to this abundance while supplies last!


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