Bittersweet Symphony
Weekend Report (Belated) - Well, only Sunday really.
I was planning on heading home from gf's to get some stuff done, but since it was a nice day we decided to make the most of it and go enjoy the sunshine somewhere. There were a couple of things to take care of first. Gf and son had to go to Mass, since they are of that persuasion, which runs from 10am to 11am. This was working out fine since gf's car had to go to the garage to get some clunking checked out. So, the solution was there for all to see. I would take the car to the garage while she was attending the Karaoke event. She would have my car, and pick me up shortly after 11. All was right with the world.
Off I went, pretty early, to the garage. Dropped off the car, was to be finished by 2pm. As the time was quite early still, only 10:20 or so, I decided to walk to the nearby park. This was a 15 minute walk and I wasn't sure of directions, but managed to get there okay. There's a pond in the park, so I sat on a bench beside that admiring the surroundings. As I looked over, there were a couple of footbridges painted in a pale blue, and behind that was an area filled with half a dozen different types of trees in various colours. A pretty neat situation to be in really, very picturesque. A couple of ducks flew overhead, and then a couple of pigeons landed mere feet in front of me and proceeded to go into some mating ritual which involved a rotating dance with necks entwined, followed by touching beaks in what only can be described as a kiss. The male (presumably) then jumped on the female's back, at which point they flew away together. Although this was probably the female changing her mind, I was quite pleased since this avoided watching the sordid business and allowed me to just concentrate on the beauty of nature.
I realized at this point that I was a victim of the Playstation generation. Us 80's kids have been indoctrinated into requiring constant sensory input to avoid boredom. As I was watching the scene unfold, I was thinking how much better it would be if the ducks were fighting, and when a duck won a fight they would get an weapon upgrade, and you'd see the hardest duck that had been there for years, with it's laser beam generator attached to the side. And the ducks could shoot bigger animals and steal their bodies.
Anyway, I decided to walk to the edge of the park in anticipation of gf arriving. It was just after 11 now, so she was going to phone and see if I'd maybe got finished at the garage and headed home. So, near the exit, phone went. "Hello", said I, in my cheerful, fulfilled mood, "How are ya?". Tears were the response. As all sorts of things were in my mind for what could be wrong, and the feeling of dread hit the pit of my stomach, I gently but firmly asked what was wrong. Apparently my car had been broken into whilst parked outside the Chapel. Some junkie monkey had smashed the passenger window, ripped out the stereo, damaging the dashboard as much as possible in the process.
As I tried to tell her everything was okay and figure out how to get back, given that two cars were now effectively off the road, the phone was going. She was calmed down a bit now, and I'd organised a lift, so took the other call. "We've got a system down" was the message waiting, "Can you do something about it?".
Sometimes you wonder if real life has realized you're enjoying yourself and decided to kick you in the nuts.