So That Happened

Labour Day has come and gone. The days are getting shorter. The air is getting cooler. The end of summer is finally upon us. Can I get an “Amen”?
For most, at the first sign of summer’s end, around the world you can hear a hear a resounding ,”no,no, no…say it ain’t so”. Not this girl! I couldn’t be happier to see the back end of this summer that never was.

To be honest I almost wish I was young so I could go back to school.  The first assignment of the semester would be “How I Spent My Summer Vacation“.

My summer started out with the spider bite that wouldn’t quit.  I’ve already told the tale here (Bite Me) so I will just remind you with this.

I know. Gross!

By the time our 1st of  July, Canada Day long weekend rolled around, I was able to use my hand well enough to shift gears in my car again.  I decided to head home to Niagara Falls to have some fun. Long weekends are not fun on the highways in Southern Ontario.  A drive that normally would take two hours can turn into four, six or even an eight hour drive.

I would like to say this was Holiday traffic but the reality is this is pretty much every day on the 401.

The truth of the matter is that any journey that uses the Ontario 400 series of Highways is… well…hell!  At the best of times you are in for a situation that is much more like  a parking lot than a highway. Having conquered the 401 West and maneuvered my way through most of the 403 all I saw were break lights and more cars stopped as I approached the QEW to Niagara route,  which I consider my halfway point.  As I often do, I got off the highway looking for an alternative way to reach the QEW. Dundas Street across the top of Oakville was clear sailing all the way. Do not ask me why but there were few cars on the road.  All I can say is thank God!  As I approached the stop lights at Dundas and  Neyagawa Boulevard they turned yellow and I hit the brakes. Except…there were no brakes.  My foot went right to the floor and my car went right through a red light.  As I approached the next set of lights they were green and I was in the left lane.  Somehow I had to get off this road.  I made a left hand turn in front of cars approaching the intersection with my heart pumping and horns blaring in my ears. I was able to gear down and use my hand brake to come to a full stop. May I just say, “That was one of the scariest things that has ever happened in my life!”.  I was stranded half-way between here and there on a long weekend.  CAA came to the rescue. I was towed back to Pickering to a garage someone recommended.  The good news was that no one died. The bad news was that the brake lines did and the cost of fixing them was more than the car was worth.  Yes, that’s right folks. The girl who spends most of her spare time driving to Niagara Falls on both sides of the border no longer has a vehicle.

These are now my wheels.

It was time to practice my big sad eyes with He-Who now every time he wasn’t using his car so I could still cruise.  For the record, my big sad eyes have never worked on He-Who, I don’t know why I thought they would now.  It seemed there would be a lot of walking in my future.

Near the end of July I was happily starting training on a job I would be doing for a few weeks while someone was on vacation in Ireland.  The location of the job had their parking lot under construction so you had to park on the street and walk in.  I drove in with the woman training me  and we both walked from her vehicle . And then this happened…

Just be grateful I cleaned up all the blood before this shot.

I don’t remember a lot. Walking. Something catching my foot. S-l-o-w  m-o-t-i-o-n as I try to right myself a few times and then being surrounded by a lot of people.  As I lay on the ground trying to figure out what happened I could see the bent pole sticking out that had interrupted my stroll into work.  I was carrying files in my right hand and a camera bag over my shoulder so I wasn’t able to put my hands out to break my fall and I landed flat on the right side of my face.  A three-point face-plant,  if you will.  There have been x-rays and CT scans, Doctors and hospitals since then.  Broken glasses, chipped teeth, nerve trauma to my face and a pretty severe concussion.  Most have been fixed or healed or at least they will in time I’m told,  with the exception of the head injury. My memory is toying with me right now.  Concentration is difficult. Words are not my friend when I am talking, reading or writing. This  post has taken me a little over a month to sort out.  I’ve been having a really hard time keeping up with the blogs I follow. I have started commenting again and hopefully there aren’t too many mistakes.  He-Who has had to write some for me so I don’t miss a deadline. Fortunately, he is a better writer than I will ever be so that works. He will also look at this and edit it so I don’t embarrass myself too much with grammar, spelling or thought process.

It’s October now and everything seems so alive with colour.  We went for a wonderful drive yesterday and I took some pictures.  A sure sign that summer is over and I for one am glad of it.