the worst day to expect to keep your sanity

Yesterday was one of those grossly hot days. I heard something like +34 with a humidex factor that made it feel like +44. Blech! I smugly thought I had cheated the system when I went for a midwife appointment an hour or so away. A/C'd van hooray! I mean, it really was a good theory. I even planned a whole bunch of not-quite necessary stops just to take advantage of the time I didn't have to spend in our boiling house.

What I did not consider was that Thursday comes before Friday and that Friday is CANADA DAY and therefore a HOLIDAY which means stores will be CLOSED the next day, highways will be PACKED, people will be all ROAD-RAGEY, and shopping will be a NIGHTMARE.

I left at the normal time for the appointment, which usually leaves me with 10-15 minutes to spare - perfect for this single-parent-travel business. I ended up getting there 10 minutes late due to the crazy traffic, running out of gas, and people thinking that road rules don't apply on the day before a holiday. (They so totally do.)

Sidenote: the appointment went well, it seems. Everything's right on track and baby's going to come some time in the future. Ha.

I then made the foolish decision to start my shopping at Superstore. Superstore, of all places! People had CART RAGE in there, I tell you. I had to make some quick decisions because OH MY IF I DON'T GRAB THAT LAST CARTON OF MUSHROOMS NOW THEY ARE GOING TO DISAPPEAR AND WHAT ARE STEAKS WITHOUT MUSHROOOOOOOOMS?

Check-out line with four rude little boys and parking lot frogger navigated, I made a hugely satisfying decision: to NOT visit the three other stores I had intended to peruse and get home ASAP. Except ASAP turned into 25 minutes extra stuck in traffic. You get the point, though.

To reward myself for my excellent handling of unnecessary stresses, I made a beeline to the McDonald's along the highway to get a milkshake (because it was either sugar or caffeine and seeing as caffeine is not good for settling nerves and I apparently lost a pound last week, sugar was totally justified).

The McDonald's. Was. Closed... or something like it. The entrance was completely gated off and by the time I had realized the timid girl in a safety vest was actually there to direct traffic into the previous entrance, I had already been herded out the exit ramp and was signalling left to get onto the highway.

So ends my day of frustrations - and I didn't even mention the person who was parked across the entrance to the clinic's parking lot.