The Lost Purse, My New Car (!), and the Flood
Well, my last post was on my 50th, so I guess its time for some news. Certainly lots has happened since then. My grade 1 class this year has 13 students. One little fella is aggressive and starting to lean towards violence (I wonder what goes on in his house), and another little fella is hyperactive, spoiled, and thinks he can do whatever he wants. These are the two key players this year that may or may not give me a nervous breakdown.
Yes, I broke down and bought a car. It's a new 2009 Honda Civic. I bought it the month before the 2010 models came out, so got a good deal. It was traumatic. When I finally got to the car dealership, I was shaking and felt sick about buying the thing.
But that was just after I LOST MY PURSE!! I flew down to Vancouver to buy the car on the Friday before Thanksgiving weekend, and dropped my purse on the bus! There I was, in Vancouver to buy a car, and all of a sudden, I had no money, no credit, no cheques, no driver's license, and no ID! What a nightmare! After freezing my accounts and making a police report and reporting it to the transit lost and found, I had no idea what was going to happen? Would I be able to buy a car with no access to $$ and no driver's license? Amazingly, I found a photocopy of my passport tucked into the back pocket of my travel pack, so at least I had some ID. Well, it did all work out, but it was INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL. The next day, my friend Ian came over with his truck, and along with my friend Jane, we first went to a branch of my credit union (my regular branch was closed because of the long weekend), and after meeting with the manager I managed to work out (1) getting enough cash to get me from Vancouver back to Bella Coola (2) arranging a point-of-sale debit when I was ready to pay for the car, after which my account was frozen again. Then, it was off to the only motor vehicle branch that was open on the long weekend, at a big mall in Richmond. They gave me a temporary license. Then back to the car dealer - I was three hours late for my appointment, but everything worked out with them - I phoned the bank manager who unfroze my account and paid for the car with my debit. I didn't have enough cash to buy insurance, so had to buy a three-day permit to get me back to Bella Coola via Pemberton and Williams Lake. Luckily, my purse was found and turned into the transit lost and found, and everything was intact! I flew it back up here, COD with Coastal Pacific. What an adventure.
The flood happened a few weekends ago. Actually, the old-timers say it was just a high water, but four feet of water in the basement was a flood as far as I was concerned. The landlord had tons of junk stored down there, and everything was floating. The freezer was floating, back up, with the lid flopped open. Fortunately, I managed to rescue a lot of my food. I had brought in a lot of firewood in and had it stacked in the basement, and all that was all floating as well.
What a MESS! The chicken coop was floating, and I waded out to it in hip waders through water up to my crotch and rescued the poor little chickens who were still sitting on their roost while the rest of the coop was under water. They lived in the woodshed for a few days. I got home from work at 12:30 the day of the flood, and decided to abandon my house at 2:00. I had to get my NEW CAR to higher ground, and couldn't bear to listen to the water pouring into the basement. Lots of people on my road were flooded, a local bridge had water coming over it, and there were lots of washouts along the highway. It was scary. I went to a friend's house and stayed overnight with her. The next day, the water had receede somewhat, but what a MUCKY MESS! There was silt all over my year, garden and driveway. It took a few days for all the water to drain out of the basement.
Sunday, I got my car stuck in the mud, and a friend had to come over and tow me out! Fortunately, the landlord paid a couple of people to clean up the basement. A lot of my firewood floated away into the bush, so it took me a while to collect it all up and restack it. There's is still cleanup to do, but that will have to wait until spring.
Report cards are done, the Christmas concert is coming up, and then its two weeks to recover. Bye for now faithful blogsters.
Well, my last post was on my 50th, so I guess its time for some news. Certainly lots has happened since then. My grade 1 class this year has 13 students. One little fella is aggressive and starting to lean towards violence (I wonder what goes on in his house), and another little fella is hyperactive, spoiled, and thinks he can do whatever he wants. These are the two key players this year that may or may not give me a nervous breakdown.
Yes, I broke down and bought a car. It's a new 2009 Honda Civic. I bought it the month before the 2010 models came out, so got a good deal. It was traumatic. When I finally got to the car dealership, I was shaking and felt sick about buying the thing.
But that was just after I LOST MY PURSE!! I flew down to Vancouver to buy the car on the Friday before Thanksgiving weekend, and dropped my purse on the bus! There I was, in Vancouver to buy a car, and all of a sudden, I had no money, no credit, no cheques, no driver's license, and no ID! What a nightmare! After freezing my accounts and making a police report and reporting it to the transit lost and found, I had no idea what was going to happen? Would I be able to buy a car with no access to $$ and no driver's license? Amazingly, I found a photocopy of my passport tucked into the back pocket of my travel pack, so at least I had some ID. Well, it did all work out, but it was INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL. The next day, my friend Ian came over with his truck, and along with my friend Jane, we first went to a branch of my credit union (my regular branch was closed because of the long weekend), and after meeting with the manager I managed to work out (1) getting enough cash to get me from Vancouver back to Bella Coola (2) arranging a point-of-sale debit when I was ready to pay for the car, after which my account was frozen again. Then, it was off to the only motor vehicle branch that was open on the long weekend, at a big mall in Richmond. They gave me a temporary license. Then back to the car dealer - I was three hours late for my appointment, but everything worked out with them - I phoned the bank manager who unfroze my account and paid for the car with my debit. I didn't have enough cash to buy insurance, so had to buy a three-day permit to get me back to Bella Coola via Pemberton and Williams Lake. Luckily, my purse was found and turned into the transit lost and found, and everything was intact! I flew it back up here, COD with Coastal Pacific. What an adventure.
The flood happened a few weekends ago. Actually, the old-timers say it was just a high water, but four feet of water in the basement was a flood as far as I was concerned. The landlord had tons of junk stored down there, and everything was floating. The freezer was floating, back up, with the lid flopped open. Fortunately, I managed to rescue a lot of my food. I had brought in a lot of firewood in and had it stacked in the basement, and all that was all floating as well.
What a MESS! The chicken coop was floating, and I waded out to it in hip waders through water up to my crotch and rescued the poor little chickens who were still sitting on their roost while the rest of the coop was under water. They lived in the woodshed for a few days. I got home from work at 12:30 the day of the flood, and decided to abandon my house at 2:00. I had to get my NEW CAR to higher ground, and couldn't bear to listen to the water pouring into the basement. Lots of people on my road were flooded, a local bridge had water coming over it, and there were lots of washouts along the highway. It was scary. I went to a friend's house and stayed overnight with her. The next day, the water had receede somewhat, but what a MUCKY MESS! There was silt all over my year, garden and driveway. It took a few days for all the water to drain out of the basement.
Sunday, I got my car stuck in the mud, and a friend had to come over and tow me out! Fortunately, the landlord paid a couple of people to clean up the basement. A lot of my firewood floated away into the bush, so it took me a while to collect it all up and restack it. There's is still cleanup to do, but that will have to wait until spring.
Report cards are done, the Christmas concert is coming up, and then its two weeks to recover. Bye for now faithful blogsters.
posted by Beth Jay at 6:54 PM
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