Beautiful Weather, Not so Beautiful Experiences, How Does Bill Handle London So Often?

Tuesday, May 8th

Bill and I were up and out of bed by 6:15 this morning after playing footsies in that king bed for the last 45 minutes. Time to get up. Again, our sleepyhead pooch slept on under the covers. Bill had an appointment this morning in London for a stress test at 11:15. We’d had a hot drink and a bowl of cereal and fruit/yogourt before nudging Clemson to move.

It started out to be a good morning

“Ah, Dad, I’m still tired!” After letting him out for a piddle, we had to break the news to him that he would have to look after the house today for us. It would not be pleasant for him with all we had going on. Yesterday, we asked Pat and Rob if they would mind driving out to let him out around noon or 1 pm and then again out to feed him at 5 and take him out. Of course, they readily agreed to do that.

Nice day for a drive

We were on the road by 7:20 am and had an uneventful drive through Durham, Varney, Milverton, Stratford, Embro and Thamesford, naming a few. 

The farmers were taking full advantage

We pulled into the parking lot at Hi-Tech Auto Care on Trafalgar St. at 9:45 and swapped out our Corolla for a loaner Mazda. Dan knew we were coming so he could replace the exhaust system. We’ve been terrorizing the Grey-Bruce county with my hot rod since we got home.

 We drove from there to the clinic on Oxford St. and because we were an hour early, walked into the mall next door and had a coffee and donut with all the other seniors. Talk about feeling young! The placed called The Terrace was packed! We walked across the lot and I went in with Bill to wait for the doctor. Almost right on time, the nurse came and collected Bill and that was my cue to go for a walk. I explored the Dollar-like store in the mall just to kill time and went back outside.

Bill and Dan pass the time

5 years ago Hi-Tech celebrated 30 years in business
I wrote them this poem and Dan framed it
It isn't that great, really, but I did write it in the 5 minutes before I went
I was touched that it was still there, un-graffitied!

I returned to the waiting room and it wasn’t long my sweetie came out smiling. Phew! You always wonder, you know? So, he did well but because of his family history, they will be making an appointment for a later test. 

The next door mall where we joined the seniors

And I had a French Vanilla cappuccino and a Boston cream
Oh my, I got a high from the sweetness but I still enjoyed it

These tests, so far, are all related to the history and as much of a pain it is and no matter how much Bill hates it, it is all preventative. It is for his own good! At least that is what we tell ourselves when we get sent here and there.

The clinic Bill had to report to

The little Mazda was about the same size as our Corolla

A selfie while waiting for Bill

We left there and headed back to our mechanic’s across the city. We figured we’d wait for the car, even after hearing that the exhaust manifold also was badly rusted. It just seemed to be one thing after another and the parts required were adding up. This little car owes us nothing and at 12 years old, we will continue to look after the shell that surrounds the good little engine. (that could) I think my Dad used to say "it is only money".😊 

Sitting in Al's office, we both admired this picture

There was a part that they needed to wait an hour for so just after 1:30, Dan handed us the keys to the loaner again and said “go get something to eat, go to Mt. Brydges, do you running around and I’ll let you know when it is ready”. 

Another fast food meal
We each had the Son of the Baconator combo

So, we drove first to Wendy’s on Wellington (obviously a junk food day) and then hi-tailed it to see Al at Ford. Sitting with Al, all he could do was apologize that they (the girl in ‘accounts’) screwed up.

It isn't as if he had nothing else on his plate

We don’t always know what the sales people have to deal with in their offices. He drove to Strathroy  to get our ownership while we waited in his office and he pushed to get us a new cheque cut for a payment withdrawn in error days ago. What a mess! After an hour and a half, he walked in and counted out the cash to Bill. 

I couldn't resist taking this picture

None of this is on him, he has worked hard at pleasing us, valuing his customers. We opted to cancel our stop at Costco, Bill can do that at another time. We were running out of time.

Flowers in bloom at McCarthy Place where Dad and Marilynne live

We swapped our loaner for the Toyota at 4:30 and paid our much larger than expected bill. "What a quiet car"  Bill said, so at least Hi-Tech did a good job and Ptooties is happy. We headed immediately out of the city to Stratford for a short visit with Dad and Marilynne. I had yet to see them and we wanted to give them a gift we’d brought back from Arizona. It was nice and we took Marilynne up on having subs from Subway for supper. After a couple of hours, we said our goodbyes and hit the road.

It doesn't look too bad here but I'm so happy not to be driving these streets on a regular basis
Take me back to the country!

It was 'junk' pick up in the Embro area

I didn't realize what this was until I downloaded the pictures!
A patio table, chairs and a crapper!

Arriving home by 9 pm meant I was on track when conferring with our friends, Clem's sitters for the day. Clemson was at the door to greet us and there were no ‘surprises’ on the carpet but he was anxious to go out for a piddle. We didn’t sit long but we did watch Bull instead of recording it. It was the season finale and was a cliff hanger to say the least. By 10:30 I was in bed and I’m sure when NCIS New Orleans ended, Bill followed.

The fire that was reported on CTV news last night involving 2 residential homes
We witnessed the smoke and saw the flames as we drove Trafalgar St.
Within 2 minutes, the fire trucks responded

This hasn’t been the best day, delays, extra costs and wasted time sitting waiting, but there were enough positive things that made up for those upsets. I hope you enjoyed your Tuesday even more.

Thank you for stopping in to read my late post. I love hearing from you if you wish to leave a comment.