- We are home... four weeks/one month after we left, and two weeks later than we'd originally planned.
- I still have to (mostly) unpack.
- There are 20 gazillion things on my to-do list.
- I am exhausted.
- The original plan was for my sister and her partner to come out from the city on Friday night, and for her & me to spend Saturday clearing our our mother's drawers and at least some of her closets, then head into the city on Sunday morning before our early afternoon flight back to Toronto.
- Those plans were somewhat derailed when high winds and blowing snow reduced visibility to nil in many areas of southern Manitoba and closed several highways leading to & from the city, including both routes to the small town where my dad lives. (What can I say? -- it's winter -- in Manitoba... snow happens, lol.)
- Saturday was much better, and they arrived late that morning -- BUT, the forecast called for more blowing snow overnight, into Sunday morning, including blizzard conditions in some rural areas. (Not to mention extreme wind chill values that could lead to frostbite within minutes, if stranded.)
- So we decided that we'd head back into the city after supper, spend the night at my sister's house, and she'd take us to the airport the next morning. (Dh frets about getting to the airport in plenty of time, even in the best weather conditions, so he was much relieved.)
- Our plans to do some closet cleaning went by the wayside as we wrapped up some loose ends, packed, ran a few errands for Dad and rounded up some dinner.
- It was very hard to leave our newly widowed 86-year-old dad alone for the first time since Mom died (barring a few times when we'd been out briefly, shopping and running errands). :( His neighbour was coming over that evening after we left to watch the hockey game with him, thank goodness. Knowing he has great neighbours who will look out for him and help him out made it a little easier to go. My sister will be taking some long weekends and working remotely from time to time over the next while as well, so that she can spend time with him (and time working on the big house clearout...!). And I promised him we'd be back in the spring to help; sooner, if needed.
- We watched "Wicked" that night at my sister's house before heading to bed, exhausted. Dh actually did go to bed before it was over -- he was exhausted (and later confessed to me that he was bored stiff by it). I thought it was OK -- Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo can certainly sing! -- but it didn't thrill me. (I've never seen the play.)(Perhaps the movie played better on the big screen??) Your mileage may vary, of course...!
- The roads in the city were far worse than the highways outside had been. At the airport on Sunday morning, the visibility was so poor we could hardly see the airplanes parked at the gates! But things were running relatively on time, and visibility began to improve while we sat in the waiting area. Our flight touched down in Toronto just six minutes later than scheduled!
- In the waiting area outside our gate at the airport, they made the standard request to have a piece of government-issued photo ID ready, along with your boarding pass. Unusually this time, they emphasized that it must be a valid piece of ID. (I don't remember them saying that before.)
- "Uh oh," I said to dh, as it dawned on me: my driver's license and health card had expired on Jan. 12th (my birthday) while we were still in Manitoba. I've always just used my driver's license as photo ID when travelling within Canada, and had not brought our passports with us (which are only required when travelling to the U.S. and other destinations outside the country).
- I could not just renew and pay my fee online, because it's been 10 years since my last photo was taken, and I was required to have a new one taken at a Service Ontario office. (The same photo is used on my Ontario health card, which also expired on my birthday.)
- I had received a reminder to renew about a month before my birthday, but of course we were busy with pre-Christmas stuff (and behind schedule after recuperating from the nasty cold I'd had in late November/early December), and I assumed I'd have time (a full week!) to renew when I returned home. (The best-laid plans...!)
- I called Service Ontario (would I have to do a road test again??), and they'd assured me that I could simply show up at one of their offices once I was back in Ontario, pay my fee and have a new photo taken. BUT, until then, my license/health card would be invalid,
- Sure enough, when I presented my boarding pass and driver's license at the gate, the flight attendant did a slight double-take as he scrutinized my card. "Your license expired on January 12th," he pointed out. I explained that we'd originally been booked to return on Jan. 4th, but had to rebook and extend our stay because of a death in the family. He beckoned dh (who'd already been cleared to board) back and looked at HIS ID, and then looked at my profile on his screen. "You arrived here on Dec. 21st?" he asked me and I said yes. He made a few more clicks and then said, "Okay," handed me back my ID, and turned to the next person in line. Whew!
- (Moral of the story: renew your ID as soon as possible, even if it's not a convenient time and you think you will have plenty of time later before the deadline...!)
- Here at our condo, one of the building's two hot water boilers is on the fritz. A part has been ordered, but until it's fixed, the property manager is asking residents to conserve hot water and try to use it during off-peak hours. Oh dear...!
- The Christmas tree and other decorations are still up. I have the tree lights plugged in today (because, why not??). We will take it down later this week, before we clean.
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
No comments:
Post a Comment