| Monday November 18th 2002 I've good reason to give CAA (that's the Canadian version of AAA for you Americaners out there) a hearty pat on the back this week. Sunday's events went something like this... This weekend the Ottawa region experienced extremely heavy snowfall - we were freakin' dumped on, is what I meant to say. I went to bed Saturday night with not a whiff of snow anywhere in sight and Sunday morning - whoomp, snow everywhere when I woke up. No big deal - Northern Ontarioite (not an officially santioned expression) that I am, I know when to drive slow and when other drivers are driving overly slow, etc. Like to think so, anyway. So, no problems there, made it to my friends and stayed the afternoon without incident. Half hour before he had to go to his curling game, I head out the door. This is the first day of this winter where I had just cause to get the van warmed up, and while it was doing that I was busy brushing two inches of snow off it. Then I went to get back in. That's when the trouble started. I went back up to my friend's to borrow his phone and call CAA to tell them I was locked out of my van, but they put me on hold ... for five minutes ... ten minutes ... fifteen minutes ... So I figured I could look after this problem myself. I went back out, armed with a coat hanger, and gave it a shot ... for five minutes ... ten minutes ... fifteen minutes ... When my friend left me his keys to get back into his apartment, I was frozen stiff, frustrated, and not looking foward to another long wait on the phone. Amazingly, they answered immediately this time. Within an hour the tow truck guy showed up and had my door open. I didn't think of tipping him til afterward and now I feel bad; he was fast arriving, and fast getting the job done. After that it was a long drive through a blizzard to find the curling rink where my friend was and return him his keys, then another long drive to get home. At one point I spotted a car accident where the vehicle had sheared off a traffic light pole, right to the ground. I had no such adventures, I'm thankful to say. Now to figure out how not to lock myself out of my van again... |