Beowabbit

So, I’ve had a lovely last week-and-some, involving all five elements (Water, Fire, Earth, Air, and of course Quintessence). plumtreeblossom and I have had some wonderful dates, including a trip to Waterfire in Providence with the wonderful lilbjorn and his partner and some friends, and my first (but not last) visit to Fire + Ice. (Waterfire was beautiful and romantic; Fire + Ice was yummy.) I got to get together with cathijosephine for the last in a series of free classical concerts outside by the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade. (I’m thinking that counts as Earth, Air, and since we were next to the river, more Water.) The concert included an excellent version of Beethoven’s Pastorale symphony, Handel’s Water Music, Respighi’s The Birds, and an interesting composition for orchestra and recorded whale song. And plumtreeblossom and I had a fabulous time at sunspiral and roozle’s always-awesome End of Summer party, where I discovered that somebody I work with plays guitar and piano. And I got to see merinslips and E. and elusiveat.

So I’d like to write a lot more about that, but what I’m going to write about instead is last night. My car has still been making funny noises when I turn the steering wheel since I took it in (for that and the brakes) a couple months ago. I called the garage up a few days ago and the person I spoke to said it almost certainly wasn’t anything to worry about since the mechanics wouldn’t have given it back to me without saying anything if it was a problem, but just to be sure I should bring it back for them to look at. Yesterday during the day that just wasn’t an errand I really felt like doing, and I almost skipped it. But I didn’t, sadly. I was delayed by Fenway game traffic near work, so I barely got there in time (they close at 7). The lot was very crowded, but I found a place to leave the car (blocking one of their gates, but that’s not a problem since they’re used to playing automotive Tetris) and filled out the paperwork, and they were nice enough to drive me to Davis so I didn’t have to walk the half hour to Porter.

As I was walking toward the taquería where I was meeting elusiveat, it occurred to me that I remembered thinking about giving them my car key, I even remembered taking it out of my pocket before having to put it back in so I could fill out paperwork, but I didn’t remember actually giving them my car key. Which was indeed in my pocket. And my car was blocking their access to many of the other cars they needed to work on. Oy. I called them, and the recommendation was to put the key in a tupperware container (which I didn’t have anywhere nearer than Quincy) and throw it over the fence and hope it lands near the office. So unfortunately I was a bit distracted while I was having dinner with elusiveat because I was worried about the key situation. (Sorry, elusiveat!) Had a lovely time catching up with her anyway. Then I discovered that the closest thing I could find to a tupperware container in Davis Square at that hour was a baby bottle. Took the T to Porter Square, and walked what turned out to be 35 minutes one way to the garage (talking a bit on the phone with plumtreeblossom on the way), tossed the key with its note in the baby bottle across the fence, and SCORE! it landed right by the office door, did not fall in a ditch, did not roll under a car, and did not break any windows! As I SMSed plumtreeblossom, I should join the NBA.

Then it was another 35min walk back to Porter Square for the train ride home. (Oh, did I mention that “due to switching problems at JFK/UMass, we are running with delays between JFK/UMass and Alewife”?)

An hour and a ten minutes’ extra walk is actually a really good thing, but maybe not when you’re not expecting it and you’d really rather be at home doing a little bit of cleaning and climbing into bed. I had other plans for that hour and ten minutes.

By the way, I really, really like my garage: ABJ Automotive in Somerville. They’re totally worth walking an hour for.