sproing!

Ever have one of those days when all day long it feels like you're slogging through molasses, up hill both ways, and never quite getting where you're trying to go?

I usually swim on Tuesday mornings. Sometimes I dawdle a little at home. This morning, I was in my car exactly at the time I had hoped to be. When I turned the key, the car just made sad little noises. Oh sigh.

By this time, Robert had woken up and made an appearance in his bathrobe. After a brief chat, we decided that if he could help me jump start the car, I'd immediately drive to the mechanic. So I called the car shop, they said they'd be happy to take a look, we successfully jump-started the car, and I drove over, followed by a now-dressed Robert.

Then back home, out of my swim suit and into the shower, and an hour after I'd first started out, we started driving to Robert's work together. The idea was that I'd take his car, run an errand during the day, and he'd find a ride home.

The ride to work was filled with delays and many many construction projects. There was even a project going on at the gas station where we had to stop to fill up and on a back road that never has delays. Finally, we got to his work, dropped him off, I got in the driver's seat, and started the slow slog back to my office (nearly all the way back home).

I finally heard back from my mechanic that I just needed a new (and expensive) battery. Fine. I called my neighbor, thinking I'd drive Robert's car home, and my neighbor could drop me off at the repair place. We were all set. I went to start Robert's car. There's a little trick to backing up -- you have to lift the ring under the gear shift knob while easing the car into reverse.

And SPROING! off came the knob, two springs, the casing around the stick, and the panel at the bottom. They flew around the car. And there I was dreading calling Robert to tell him what I'd done. His response? Oh yeah, that happens. He'd just never seen *two* springs. With his coaching, I tried to put the thing back together, but I still couldn't get the car into reverse.

So I called my neighbor, who sweetly agreed to come pick me up at work and drive me to the mechanic's. We left Robert's car at work.

Of course, I was supposed to be getting work done today, but when I was in my office, it was happening in 15-second intervals in between massive (work-related) interruptions. D'oh.

Robert got a ride home from his boss. We'd agreed that he'd come to work where I'd wait for him. Somehow, that got confused with his getting a ride home, but fortunately the boss brought him back to my office. Robert somehow managed to put his gear shift back together and even got his car into reverse. I convinced him to take his car to his mechanic.

So off we went, with me following. We arrived at the dealer's and at that late hour even found someone to talk to who said he'd text the service manager tonight on our behalf. Robert wrote a note about the repair and then ... couldn't find his key. Somehow, between arriving and writing, the key had dematerialized. We finally gave up searching for it. Robert brought me home, got his spare key, and drove it back to the dealer. (He later found the key buried underneath archaeological layers in his tote bag. At least his tote bag is now cleaned out.)

We finally sat down to dinner around 8pm. I had thought that tomorrow, Robert could drop me off at work and just take my car. But now a new complication: he has a dentist appointment tomorrow morning. We'll work it out, I'm sure.