This Weekend
May. 5th, 2003 12:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinjunVery little RP - everyone just die of shock.
Saturday - went to visit my parents. I was thinking of going out to Coronation, after a coffee at my Mom and Dad's, but they reminded me that it was my cousin Adam's 6th birthday party. And since I'd skipped out on the family function the week before (by virtue of thinking I might well be contagious, which I wasn't, but never mind. I didn't know that at the time), I decided to go with Mom out to the birthday party. Saturday was really a kind of surreal day. Let me back up a bit.
First, you have to understand that this past weekend one of the major North - South arteries into Toronto was closed for construction. It just wasn't available. Now to get into the city in the morning, that was no problem at all.
I got to Mom and Dad's without a hitch, and wandered in. After the dog got his expected share of attention, I was free to pay attention to my parents. So I put the kettle on for coffee, and then asked Dad, who was sitting reading the Saturday newspaper, about the chocolate cake sitting on the table. Well, it was Dad's birthday April 28, so it seemed reasonable to me that he might have a birthday cake. But as it turns out, my Mom had volunteered to take the cake to a neighbourhood bake sale and flea market.
Well, all right then, I put my coffee in a travel mug (black) and went with my Mom. Now, it turns out that this neighbourhood flea market was being run by the Girl Guides, and the bake sale part by the Catholic Women's League, which my mother has just joined this year. It was interesting to see, since primarily it seems to consist of little old ladies who are very sweet and helpful, and my Mom is perhaps the youngest woman in the club. Still, it was nice to go and help out a bit, and people watch.
My old girl guide leader, Margaret Coppin, was there. She's still leading the pathfinders, though someone else leads the guides now. Actually, Sherry leads the guides. I had a nice long talk with Sherry. About half way through, it suddenly struck me. "I remember you, you were helping to run the Guides when I was there. Only, you looked a lot taller then." After we stopped laughing, we continued the conversation, in between selling things. Well, Sherry was selling things, I was just watching. But it's interesting. She lives in Oshawa, teaches Judo, and every Thursday goes down to Dundas and Leslie to run the girl guide meeting. I'm impressed at the dedication required. I know I haven't got such a drive to help that way.
I spent a whopping $15.00 Canadian, and came out with a loaf of bread, a small cake, some butter tarts and 2 muffins. The Game of Life, Yahtzee. 2 puzzles (one 1000 pieces and the other 1500 pieces). Mint Girl guide cookies and some Easter Creme Eggs, just cause. Oh, and 3 scarves I can use for juggling. *beams*
It was a fun couple of hours, even if I did lose Mom's plastic travel mug.
While we were gone, Dad went out. I know this cause when we got back, his jeep was no longer parked directly in front of my Saturn - it was halfway up the street, so if nothing else, he moved his vehicle. He went out - had some errands to run, it seems. And Mom and I grabbed some tuna sandwiches for lunch, cause Dad had already eaten. Then we went to meet my Aunt Jean and Jessica at Bayview and York Mills. Now, for those of you who don't know, Bayview is a North-South road, and York Mills is just a touch south of the 401. Yup. Can we say Parking Lot? Oy.
The other thing I forgot to mention - in their wisdom the two largest companies that sell gas for cars decided to help out in bringing tourism back to Toronto. It's the whole SARS thing that has scared everyone. Anyway, there were 5$ tickets to the CN Tower, there were theatre, baseball, and restaurant coupons galore. And there was gas for sale at 49.9 cents a litre. Gas hasn't been that cheap around here in years. Pandemonium struck. I think that people who haven't driven their vehicles since the last time gas was 49.9cents a litre brought them back out on the road again. It's over now, since it was only until Sunday night midnight. But let me tell you, it certainly added to the mayhem on the roads, especially with the major north-south artery closed for construction.
Timing is everything.
So, met up with Jean and Jess. I got a Bavarian Chocolate coffee from Second Cup, and we left Mom's car in the back parking lot of the mall there. All 4 of us jumped into Jean's van, and off we went. Or tried to. There was this man running through the parking lot. In fact, he was running directly at us. Jean was looking back at him, and all of a sudden, she said, "Well, why are you running into a truck you can see backing up?" Which caught all our attention. he actually shouted at us (and I do hope it's not any of you!) "Hey, watch out behind you." Which of course, we were. And then as he went by, he gave us the finger. Some people. We couldn't quite figure it out, but it did strike us as funny. After all, we were backing out of a parking spot, not exactly going at rocket speed. He noticed us laughing, and so he had to shout, "What are you laughing at?" Some people? I still don't get it. Anyway, we continued on our way, and then my mom shook her head. "I really don't understand," she said, "why he was in such a rush to get to the grocery store."
Alrighty then. From there, we had to search out a gas station. That took a few minutes because none of us are completely familiar with the area. We did find one, at Young and York Mills, I believe. Or somewhere round about there. The line up was just about out to the street, and there was one of those oil tanker trucks, having just filled up their tanks. So at least we knew the station had gas.
Got in line, and this fellow in a blue van pulled in behind us. Then he got out of the line and came up beside us. Then he zoomed over to try to steal someone else's gas pump, because he was in too much of a rush to wait. He got out, and his gas tank was on the other side, and he couldn't get the nozzle to reach. Someone yelled to him, so he got back in his van and backed up. Came about two inches from hitting us as he did so. Zoomed off to the other side of the gas station, out of our sight for a bit. Two cars in front of us gassed up, and we started forward. The van came back, went between us and the car in front, until he got stopped by the tanker truck that was also stuck, since people were blocking all the exits. Jean moved us forward, and effectively the fellow in the van was blocked in. He came 2 3 inches from hitting us as he turned around so he could at least head towards the tanks again. The poor tanker truck driver had to get out three times to ask folks to clear the exit so he could leave. Eventually, he got to go. We got to move up to the gas pump, and Jean started to fill the tank. About then the fellow in the blue van pulled up to the pump parallel to us, stealing someone else's spot, but well, he got his gas, a whole 3 minutes early.
Meanwhile, a fellow parked his car right where we wanted to go to get out. He was wearing grey sweatpants, black dress shoes, and a dress shirt. No tie. He wanted us to back out, and give him our pump, never mind the line up behind us. Jean didn't go for that, so she made sure that the fellow (who insisted he wasn't parked, even while he was out of his car) couldn't get to the pump. And once we got to the only available exit thanks to his blocking our way, we found we couldn't go the way we needed to. So, we had to go around the block to get back headed in the right direction. It was entertaining, but something about this weekend seems to have made everyone, including me, loony.
So, went to the relatives. Had appetizers, took a couple of pictures of Adam, Jessica and Katie. Chatted and relaxed. It was lots of fun. Then we headed home.
401 traffic jam. Jean accidentally exited off at Allen instead of Bayview. Why? Because there was an accident, and some fellow standing by the side of the road, looking like he was about to throw a bookcase at the cars driving by. It was very distracting, and it worked. So, headed south to Lawrence. This was where we saw the scary man who kept bumping the bumper of the car in front of him. In stop and go traffic. With no place for anyone to go. There was an accident on the off ramp to Lawrence, and the lady with the Mercedes wasn't moving, it seems, until the cops arrived. Hrmph. We did eventually make it home, though. Or to my parents' house.
The worst part of all this trouble is that it put us well behind schedule, and Jessica had a bowling birthday party to go to out in Ajax. She was very late, poor girl.
Spent a bit more time with the parents and then I dropped them off at the Legion, for a banquet. Took Kingston Road home, because I didn't want to fight to get to the 401 again. Gas prices ranged from 49.9 to 69.9 for a litre. It was amusing to see the vast differences in the price, even on two corners of the same intersection.
Once home, I read The Grey King by Susan Cooper. I'm now through 4 of the 5 books. Pam has read the first one, and is working on the second, well, last I heard. That might have changed. Val has the first one.
Sunday. (Are you bored yet? You don't have to read, honest.)
Tried rp. Really did. It was supposed to be the picnic in the park, but I was way off. Couldn't rp my way out of a paper bag. Yeesh. Eventually had to give it up, and go soak my head. So instead, we went to watch X2: X-Men United. Yup, I had fun. The movie probably is better if you watch with RP'ers, and those who are familiar with RW definitely helps. Mind you, Val enjoyed it too, and she has no clue about RW.
Back to my house, and chatted until 1:30am. (Sorry - for those who were looking to give me a call, I completely forgot until this morning, on my way to work.)
Which is where I am now, and lunch break is just about over.
Saturday - went to visit my parents. I was thinking of going out to Coronation, after a coffee at my Mom and Dad's, but they reminded me that it was my cousin Adam's 6th birthday party. And since I'd skipped out on the family function the week before (by virtue of thinking I might well be contagious, which I wasn't, but never mind. I didn't know that at the time), I decided to go with Mom out to the birthday party. Saturday was really a kind of surreal day. Let me back up a bit.
First, you have to understand that this past weekend one of the major North - South arteries into Toronto was closed for construction. It just wasn't available. Now to get into the city in the morning, that was no problem at all.
I got to Mom and Dad's without a hitch, and wandered in. After the dog got his expected share of attention, I was free to pay attention to my parents. So I put the kettle on for coffee, and then asked Dad, who was sitting reading the Saturday newspaper, about the chocolate cake sitting on the table. Well, it was Dad's birthday April 28, so it seemed reasonable to me that he might have a birthday cake. But as it turns out, my Mom had volunteered to take the cake to a neighbourhood bake sale and flea market.
Well, all right then, I put my coffee in a travel mug (black) and went with my Mom. Now, it turns out that this neighbourhood flea market was being run by the Girl Guides, and the bake sale part by the Catholic Women's League, which my mother has just joined this year. It was interesting to see, since primarily it seems to consist of little old ladies who are very sweet and helpful, and my Mom is perhaps the youngest woman in the club. Still, it was nice to go and help out a bit, and people watch.
My old girl guide leader, Margaret Coppin, was there. She's still leading the pathfinders, though someone else leads the guides now. Actually, Sherry leads the guides. I had a nice long talk with Sherry. About half way through, it suddenly struck me. "I remember you, you were helping to run the Guides when I was there. Only, you looked a lot taller then." After we stopped laughing, we continued the conversation, in between selling things. Well, Sherry was selling things, I was just watching. But it's interesting. She lives in Oshawa, teaches Judo, and every Thursday goes down to Dundas and Leslie to run the girl guide meeting. I'm impressed at the dedication required. I know I haven't got such a drive to help that way.
I spent a whopping $15.00 Canadian, and came out with a loaf of bread, a small cake, some butter tarts and 2 muffins. The Game of Life, Yahtzee. 2 puzzles (one 1000 pieces and the other 1500 pieces). Mint Girl guide cookies and some Easter Creme Eggs, just cause. Oh, and 3 scarves I can use for juggling. *beams*
It was a fun couple of hours, even if I did lose Mom's plastic travel mug.
While we were gone, Dad went out. I know this cause when we got back, his jeep was no longer parked directly in front of my Saturn - it was halfway up the street, so if nothing else, he moved his vehicle. He went out - had some errands to run, it seems. And Mom and I grabbed some tuna sandwiches for lunch, cause Dad had already eaten. Then we went to meet my Aunt Jean and Jessica at Bayview and York Mills. Now, for those of you who don't know, Bayview is a North-South road, and York Mills is just a touch south of the 401. Yup. Can we say Parking Lot? Oy.
The other thing I forgot to mention - in their wisdom the two largest companies that sell gas for cars decided to help out in bringing tourism back to Toronto. It's the whole SARS thing that has scared everyone. Anyway, there were 5$ tickets to the CN Tower, there were theatre, baseball, and restaurant coupons galore. And there was gas for sale at 49.9 cents a litre. Gas hasn't been that cheap around here in years. Pandemonium struck. I think that people who haven't driven their vehicles since the last time gas was 49.9cents a litre brought them back out on the road again. It's over now, since it was only until Sunday night midnight. But let me tell you, it certainly added to the mayhem on the roads, especially with the major north-south artery closed for construction.
Timing is everything.
So, met up with Jean and Jess. I got a Bavarian Chocolate coffee from Second Cup, and we left Mom's car in the back parking lot of the mall there. All 4 of us jumped into Jean's van, and off we went. Or tried to. There was this man running through the parking lot. In fact, he was running directly at us. Jean was looking back at him, and all of a sudden, she said, "Well, why are you running into a truck you can see backing up?" Which caught all our attention. he actually shouted at us (and I do hope it's not any of you!) "Hey, watch out behind you." Which of course, we were. And then as he went by, he gave us the finger. Some people. We couldn't quite figure it out, but it did strike us as funny. After all, we were backing out of a parking spot, not exactly going at rocket speed. He noticed us laughing, and so he had to shout, "What are you laughing at?" Some people? I still don't get it. Anyway, we continued on our way, and then my mom shook her head. "I really don't understand," she said, "why he was in such a rush to get to the grocery store."
Alrighty then. From there, we had to search out a gas station. That took a few minutes because none of us are completely familiar with the area. We did find one, at Young and York Mills, I believe. Or somewhere round about there. The line up was just about out to the street, and there was one of those oil tanker trucks, having just filled up their tanks. So at least we knew the station had gas.
Got in line, and this fellow in a blue van pulled in behind us. Then he got out of the line and came up beside us. Then he zoomed over to try to steal someone else's gas pump, because he was in too much of a rush to wait. He got out, and his gas tank was on the other side, and he couldn't get the nozzle to reach. Someone yelled to him, so he got back in his van and backed up. Came about two inches from hitting us as he did so. Zoomed off to the other side of the gas station, out of our sight for a bit. Two cars in front of us gassed up, and we started forward. The van came back, went between us and the car in front, until he got stopped by the tanker truck that was also stuck, since people were blocking all the exits. Jean moved us forward, and effectively the fellow in the van was blocked in. He came 2 3 inches from hitting us as he turned around so he could at least head towards the tanks again. The poor tanker truck driver had to get out three times to ask folks to clear the exit so he could leave. Eventually, he got to go. We got to move up to the gas pump, and Jean started to fill the tank. About then the fellow in the blue van pulled up to the pump parallel to us, stealing someone else's spot, but well, he got his gas, a whole 3 minutes early.
Meanwhile, a fellow parked his car right where we wanted to go to get out. He was wearing grey sweatpants, black dress shoes, and a dress shirt. No tie. He wanted us to back out, and give him our pump, never mind the line up behind us. Jean didn't go for that, so she made sure that the fellow (who insisted he wasn't parked, even while he was out of his car) couldn't get to the pump. And once we got to the only available exit thanks to his blocking our way, we found we couldn't go the way we needed to. So, we had to go around the block to get back headed in the right direction. It was entertaining, but something about this weekend seems to have made everyone, including me, loony.
So, went to the relatives. Had appetizers, took a couple of pictures of Adam, Jessica and Katie. Chatted and relaxed. It was lots of fun. Then we headed home.
401 traffic jam. Jean accidentally exited off at Allen instead of Bayview. Why? Because there was an accident, and some fellow standing by the side of the road, looking like he was about to throw a bookcase at the cars driving by. It was very distracting, and it worked. So, headed south to Lawrence. This was where we saw the scary man who kept bumping the bumper of the car in front of him. In stop and go traffic. With no place for anyone to go. There was an accident on the off ramp to Lawrence, and the lady with the Mercedes wasn't moving, it seems, until the cops arrived. Hrmph. We did eventually make it home, though. Or to my parents' house.
The worst part of all this trouble is that it put us well behind schedule, and Jessica had a bowling birthday party to go to out in Ajax. She was very late, poor girl.
Spent a bit more time with the parents and then I dropped them off at the Legion, for a banquet. Took Kingston Road home, because I didn't want to fight to get to the 401 again. Gas prices ranged from 49.9 to 69.9 for a litre. It was amusing to see the vast differences in the price, even on two corners of the same intersection.
Once home, I read The Grey King by Susan Cooper. I'm now through 4 of the 5 books. Pam has read the first one, and is working on the second, well, last I heard. That might have changed. Val has the first one.
Sunday. (Are you bored yet? You don't have to read, honest.)
Tried rp. Really did. It was supposed to be the picnic in the park, but I was way off. Couldn't rp my way out of a paper bag. Yeesh. Eventually had to give it up, and go soak my head. So instead, we went to watch X2: X-Men United. Yup, I had fun. The movie probably is better if you watch with RP'ers, and those who are familiar with RW definitely helps. Mind you, Val enjoyed it too, and she has no clue about RW.
Back to my house, and chatted until 1:30am. (Sorry - for those who were looking to give me a call, I completely forgot until this morning, on my way to work.)
Which is where I am now, and lunch break is just about over.
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Ah. This, now, explains entirely the problem. That particular gas station is crazy on a GOOD DAY, when there isn't a gaz frenzie happening. (I know. I used to frequent it.) And York Mills in that section is useless, anyway. My sympathy. You didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of anything different.
...went to watch X2: X-Men United. Yup, I had fun. The movie probably is better if you watch with RP'ers, and those who are familiar with RW definitely helps. Mind you, Val enjoyed it too, and she has no clue about RW.
Back to my house, and chatted until 1:30am.
I'm pretty convinced the movie is better with RPers — particularly those familiar with RW. I had fun, too. I'm glad we went.
And, I still maintain, seeing real people — people I like, even more so! — after so long in confinement was probably the best gift I've gotten in a while. Particularly for a birthday. *beam*
Re:
Date: 2003-05-05 04:21 pm (UTC)