Okay. This is my tale of woe…or how I was a prisoner in my home …or what I didn’t do for my summer vacation! I can almost unclench my teeth, now! It started with the computer. After several minutes of trying to get on the internet, I picked up the phone and discovered there was no dial tone but there was a buzzing. Not good. I think it was after 5 so I couldn’t get in touch with the phone company.
The next day, I got ready to run some errands, among them going to see the doctor about my infected foot. It was just a follow-up visit, but I also wanted to see if she could give me a different anti-biotic since what I was taking was making me queasy and I’d almost passed out one day. So, I get in the car, put the key in and..nothing! This is great–the car is dead and I have no phone! No, I don’t have a cell phone.
Here’s where it gets tricky. I only have one neighbor and he isn’t home all the time–plus he’s sorta new and I’d never done more than wave hello. My other neighbors have moved ’cause the area where we live is going to be turned into a new subdivision this fall. I did manage to catch him at home and ask if I could use his cell phone. I called Express Lube and the guy wanted me to have my car towed to his shop instead of him coming to jump my car off which I thought was unnecessary. I called a couple of other people to see if I could find some cables and had no luck! My neighbor was leaving but said he’d see if the relative where he was going had some cables. So okay, maybe I’ll eventially be able to use the car and find out what’s wrong with the phone! The phone began ringing and I thought I was about to be in touch with the outside world! But no, when I answered it, it just kept right on ringing! My teeth were starting to hurt!
So far, I had no computer, no phone, no car, no medicine, no air-conditioner and I was running out of food! Maybe someone would find us before we starved! I had been eating cheese sandwiches but all the bread was gone! Then I remembered the food I send to soldiers in care packages–we had chicken vienna sausage (can’t send pork), Chef Boyardee mini ravioli and the tuna Lunch to go that even tho the soldiers said was good, I’d never tried. I decided to try the tuna and even tho opening the box didn’t make the same sound as a pop top that the cats can hear no matter where they are, they were immediately interested in what I was doing! When they got the whiff of tuna I guess they assumed I was eating their food and I almost choked to death trying to tell them NO while eating! The soldiers were right, it is good!
I considered walking several blocks down the road to the library but the road doesn’t have much shoulder to it and some of the people drive like idiots. We have wrecks frequently because people don’t pay attention to others who are trying to turn! I had tried esp–nothing, I didn’t have tom-toms or carrier pigeons, and my talks with the cats about taking a note for help were met with WHAT?
I went across the busy road to use another neighbor’s phone and called the phone company which connected me with the phone tree that I hate! The robot didn’t understand why I didn’t have a phone where I could be reached and after several trys, I asked to speak to a human! I was informed that there were several problems in this area and they were working on it and might have mine fixed in several days! I explained my situayion and got an oh my goodness and she said she would note that on the repair list. I felt so special! My teeth were really hurting now!
My neighbor was outside when I came back and said his relative didn’t have cables. I said something about being out of food and he immediately offered to take me to the store. I ran thru the store but tried to linger in the froaen food section–it felt so good! Afterwards, we went over to the Express Lube to see if I could talk the guy into coming 5 mins away but he was still stuck on the towing thing, so we went back home.
Anout this time, a light bulb went off–since no one seemed to have the cables, go buy some! I borrowed my neighbor’s phone and called a taxi. He let me out at Wally World and after I had a fish sandwich, I went to the pharmacy to try to get my diabetic medicine and BP medicine that I had been out of all week! Sufferin’ succotash! You’d think I was trying to get dope! I know there are rules and regulations but for heavens sake–either I need them or I don’t! I finally got 2 or 3 pills of each with a hope that I’d soon have the car running! I went to the automotive dept and got the prized cables and went to the cell phone area and got a phone!! Then I went to get groceries–YAY GROCERIES!! By the time I called the taxi to pick me up, I’d been in WW 3 hrs and my foot was hurting but, at least, I had cables and a phone–life was looking up!
I called my cousin with my new phone–we had just talked before this special week started–and she said she’d be up the next day. Those were welcomed words!
The next day, we had someone look at the a/c and get it going, and we got the car started. We went back to the pharmacy and got a few more pills and a promise to get the dr to call in a new prescription so I wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. We did run into a problem, though. We took my car to WW thinking I needed a new battery and the guy that was checking it said the battery was okay but my brake lights were staying on. Now this was a problem I’d had about a year ago and I had a new gizmo put under the dash and it worked for awhile then I had to drive one very hot day to Sears and a man there said he could fix it and taped a penny under the dash which had worked just fine until that day. My cousin had followed me to WW and my brake lights were not on but he had managed to dislodge the penny and now they’re on! We went down 280 to Goodyear and they said it was an electrical problem and gave me the name of a shop downtown that should be able to fix it. It was 5 and we were tired so we decided to go home and get something to eat before my cousin drove home.
We were outside and my neighbor came over and we told him what had happened to the car. He showed me how I could disconnect the battery so it wouldn’t be dead in the morning and so far, that’s what I’m doing when I use it! But it is alittle harder to do than it looked like it was with him doing it!
That was the week that was….a nightmare!
On the good side, we found our missing dvd remote!
