While not the day from hell, it certainly was the day from heck!
It started last night. My two daughters and my granddaughter met me at the train station. They had spent the day at the aquarium and wanted a lift home. It was one of those January thaws and the temperature was a balmy 62 degrees. There was some spitting of rain but nothing severe.
Well, by time we got to our stop, all that had changed. It was a monsoon! Heavy rain, lightning, thunder and high winds.
In the time it took to get downstairs from the platform I was drenched. My hair was soaked and dripping down my back and my hose was soaked too. I really should know better than to wear a skirt when there is a threat of rain. But it was such a nice day *up to then*!
I took the kids to dinner and then home. By time I got back I was still sodden and everything was sticking to me. I had a right fine chill and immediately changed and went to bed early. All the while the rain never let up.
This morning, it was still raining when I got up and looked like it would continue throughout the day.
I debated about driving in since I had a root canal to go to today and I thought I could go straight from the office to the clinic. Then I thought better of it. I was sure the rain would foul up traffic horrendously and I would spend a tedious amount of time on the road.
The trains are very reliable and rain rarely is any problem for them.
Well I drive to the train station and trot to the platform dodging the puddles that should now be fitted with diving boards and scurry under the nearly flooded bridge which the occasional fool thinks it's fun to splash the pedestrians. I hope there is karma to be paid for that stunt.
I get on the early train hoping to get in early so I can leave early for my dentist appointment. Well that isn't to be. About halfway downtown, the train stops. We find out that the power to the train was dropped because the train behind us *caught fire*! They dropped power so they could evacuate the passengers and put out the fire.
Now I've been riding the Metra Electric for over twenty years and I can there have only been a few times where the trains were over fifteen minutes late. And NEVER have any of the reasons been due to a fire!
We sat there for almost an hour! By the time we go moving again, I was sure I would have missed all the shuttle buses that pick up from the train stations. So I decided to go directly to the main bank building and catch the shuttle from there. They arrive every fifteen minutes and run throughout the day.
Except today. The shuttle is actually more like forty five minutes late as the traffic downtown is at a standstill from all the rain. That is something I'll never understand. Why traffic moves slower the longer it rains. When it snows, that is understandable, but rain?
So now instead of getting in about half an hour early, I'm actually almost two hours late! I am not a happy camper by that time at all!
And I still had my root canal to go to!
Whenever I have one of *those* days, I try not to do too much because I have the everything-I-touch-magically-turns-to-crap talent turned on.
I get through the day more or less uneventfully and get to the dentists office on time and fill out the paperwork for the procedure. The procedure goes uneventfully enough and I stupidly think to myself that maybe I'm getting out of the bad and into the not-so-bad.
Ha!
Just now I noticed that the temporary filling that the dentist put in had fallen out. I'll have to get in touch with my regular dentist to refill it! And it's starting to ache.
I shoulda stayed in bed!!!
-Sandy (maybe under the bed would be better!)
