Another in the ongoing series of sunsets from the porch, taken a few evenings ago
A small irritating thing can go wrong and it will drive me crazy, stressed out, yelly, snarly, not nice.
But a whole accumulation of stuff can happen, I lurch from one catastrophe to the next and I just laugh and say: OK, Universe, what else can you throw at me, see if I care. I will NOT surrender.
I was out and about yesterday taking some lovely shots as The Bay was at her best when I get back to the car and she starts up as she normally does but the gears don't engage, they slide slackly in their appointed track but nothing happens. Ends up I walk for miles in the blazing heat to the post office and call CAA who tell me they will have to send a flat-bed from the sounds of it. Which they do, several hours later, my being at the back of beyond 'n all. I wave bye-bye to Strawbella, who has never let me down quite this badly in all our years together. Today my new best friend Ed calls me to tell me not a part can be found in all of Newfoundland for my baby (a gear cable) so he arranged for it to be flown in tonight at a cost of $15, did I mind. The cable itself is, gulp, $470 + labour + taxes + air freight.
Soldier on, sez I.
One of our cast members did not show up at a crucial sound rehearsal on Sunday night (we now have a professional sound man but his time is limited as he is also involved in another ongoing production) and as our next venue is huge and just about sold out it was crucial she be there. Efforts to get hold of her have all come to naught and WE HAVE NO UNDERSTUDY. Performance is a few short days away with a final dress rehearsal the night before.
I heard Gordon-the-Gift was in town but has gone away again to his contract in Labrador and never came by to fix what he so badly effed up in The Tigeen.
Our theatrical troupe has also been asked to perform the play (with a deadline for answer of early this week) during the month of September for a festival and can't access the venue to assess it for space, sound, set placement, movement, etc. and THEY WANT AN ANSWER NOW.
A client downloaded one of her files to me and crashed my system here. Oh, six times. Eating my time and shovelling away at my temper.
Other clients drop in today and the lawn is overgrown, great imagery. Leo had been badly stung by a series of wasps and his reaction is to crawl under the covers and cry and forget the mowing. A reaction I totally respect, and well if the truth be known, envy, as what one of us out there wouldn't like to do the same thing if life ain't going our way but being grown-up we grin and bear it and carry on. More fools us.
And I haven't cracked. Here I am writing my blog and looking in the larder at all the hidden things we keep for emergencies when we can't access a grocery store.
Did I mention there isn't a car for rent anywhere on the island? Bloody selfish tourists.
If only I was nearer, I would take you to do your shopping and maybe cook your meal for you when we came back. hard to believe all those cars are taken up by tourists. Enjoy captivity.
ReplyDeleteJeez, what a gloomy scenario. But things can only get better. Weird that a cast member has simply disappeared. Is she going through some major personal crisis or what?
ReplyDeleteIt is pouring, isn't it. You must have some really sunny times coming to you.
ReplyDeleteOf course you have to soldier on, WWW. You have no other option. Going to bed and pulling the covers over your head is not one of them. It's not a luxury you can afford. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I hope it gets easier in a short time and that the missing cast member shows up again. Sorry that your car is so expensive to fix!
ReplyDeleteGM:
ReplyDeleteYou are so sweet and I would have loved that!!
Every summer the tourists here outnumber the entire population of Newfoundland (it is stunningly beautiful and enormous) so some can't even get cars!
Crazy, I know.
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Nick:
ReplyDeleteI have no idea - perhaps, we will have to make some tough decisions tomorrow! She is not responding to any contact and neither is her husband.
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Marcia:
ReplyDeleteI think I'm owed. Though I must say I have made a lot of lemonade out of this situation.
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Nora:
ReplyDeleteWell the car owes me nothing really, long bought and paid for so a little maintenance (a lot) she's entitled to, n'est pas?
As to the covers, I think it is brilliant...hide away for a while. It solves nothing but the fairy godmother will pop out and take care of everything....
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Amazing how quickly a trickle turns to a deluge! I say go for the covers for a bit, until the zeal to be doing something, anything! about all those issues drives you up and out.
ReplyDeleteThe glass is half full.
ReplyDeleteStart with the larder and give thanks for the hidden things. Then, you work your way up out of the pits from there.
At least the garage guy is able to find the part and get it shipped in. It’s going to be expensive but if you have few repairs and a paid-for car, then it’s not as bad as it could have been.
Having a cast member not sure up is a pain-on-the-boards, but hey … the invitations mean folks think it’s a pretty good production. Bask in the glow. Take Tylenol for the headache.
This is a stretch, but if it wasn’t for those clients, you might not be able to afford the car repair or the hidden things in the larder. Yes, it is a p-i-t-a but the alternative is not much fun.
As for Leo … oh well, his glass is half empty! LOL
Forward, ho!
Gosh that is along list of dismal things WWW.
ReplyDeleteTherefore I will forget about telling you that Santa Clause doesn't exist.
We get them bloody tourists here also.
Just remember that its always the darkest before a walloping big hurricane blows over the biffy. :)
Don't know whether to laugh or cry or both. Great post, sorry you're in the soup right now.
ReplyDeleteIf it's any help to you, in like situations I would tell myself that we are given multiple problems simultaneously so that we are too distracted to be overwhelmed by just one awful one. I also have been know to say "God, if this is a test, give me my 'F' and let's move on!"
Tough. There are days when it does not rain but pours. Happens every now and then to remind us that we must have some negatives so that we can better appreciate the positives when they happen. This is one of the reasons that I have now started a weekly recap of the week gone by in my blog, listing the good things that happened and mentioning the bad things at the end. I feel that on balance I have a great deal more to be thankful for than resent.
ReplyDeleteOh dear WWW!
ReplyDelete"Some days are diamonds, some days are stones" as John denver sang...you seem to have hit a stony patch - but have the stones nicely lined up and under control.
I hope you have a string of diamond days coming up next!
:-)
Pauline,
ReplyDeletealas and alack no covers are in my immediate future - and things are a bit worse, my internet connection is sporsdic at best, absent at worse....
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Veep:
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether your post makes me feel better or worse!
I felt worse today then went off to check out new venue for another performance and picked up dogfood (the most important food item!)and assorted fresh fruit and veg so life ain't so bad when one has Friends with Cars. No news on Strawbella, part not in yet....
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GFB:
ReplyDeleteYou stop it now or I'll tell your momma on you!
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GFB:
ReplyDeleteYou stop it now or I'll tell your momma on you!
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ReplyDeleteOh Sharon, you made me laugh as there were even more problems today!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, my focus is completely one, too many holes in the dyke!!!
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Ramana:
ReplyDeleteA brilliant idea, my friend! Do you mind if I copy it?
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Not but yet, T, but fingers and toes crossed, I still have so much to be grateful for!!
ReplyDeleteXO
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Not but yet, T, but fingers and toes crossed, I still have so much to be grateful for!!
ReplyDeleteXO
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Sounds like one of those days where you are the statue rather than the pigeon...
ReplyDeleteFantastic news on the invitation to perform the play at the festival - I hope that you have managed to access the venue now?
I hope you have managed to locate your missing cast member, and that it was just slipping her mind rather than something more dire in her life.
And oh dear on Strawbella - when cars break down they never do it at a convenient point when you are purely planning to veg for a week, do they? I hope that the part arrives quickly and that you get your wheels back very soon,
Ups and downs Jo, the part still not here, the cast member showed up just after I started rehearsing an understudy, and we approved the venue only for the organizers telling us they want a CONDENSED version of our performance, not good at all.....
ReplyDeletesoldiering on, of course!
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Aw Shit! Lovely writing as usual. Wise do get yourself an iphone or maybe a 3G ipad which is online no matter where you are. You could have emailed CAA from it or even phoned from it.
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