So today, your gimpy neighborhood Barwitch decided that it would not be too much trouble to take a bus to the local Zellers (six stops from my house, exactly) and purchase some mothers day cards for my mom, mother in law, and The Matriarch (Alpha Teens other gramma). I pondered the use of the wheelchair for a short while, then realized that there was no where safe to cross from the bus stop in a wheeled chair and i would have to go uphill into the plaza for about a hundred feet. Screw that, sez I, and remind myself they have those lovely electric wheelchair carts at the store. I made it there with very little problem, but by the time i crossed the road and fought my way up the short hill on crutches I nearly died. I then crossed what seemed an endless expanse of parking lot until I made it to the Zellers. I then stood painfully at the customer service desk for twenty minutes to get the key for the wheelchair. Finally, my turn arrives, and I politely ask for the key to the wheelchair. The CS rep says, “oh no dear, theres no key on the new ones,. you can just hop in.”
sigh.
So I hop in the grammy cart and toodle off towards the cards. My sister has purchased either a mothers day or birthday card ( i could not remember which, and my Beloved is possessed of my iphone for a time, so i could not call her) I purchased both, just in case, as well as cards for my daughter to give both her Grammas. I then got a gift card for some chain restaurants that my mother in law may like and packaged her card up nicely and sent it overnight so she may have a lovely mothers day treat. I picked up some pads for nail polish removal, and a bottle of diet coke, and a small backpack (as I was beginning to see the writing on the wall as to how this afternoon was going to go…) and motered back to customer service, expertly backing the granny cart into its spot. So expertly so, that a young man felt he needed to congratulate me on my ‘massive skillz, yo’.
O_o
Massive skillz aside, it was time to continue on my merry way. I put my purse and purchases into the backpack (much better) and hauled my ponderous bulk to a one footed standing position with the aid of my crutches. HOLY CRAP that hurt. Part of my original injury was a dislocated elbow which was now screaming at me from over use. The heels of my hands were painful from using the crutches and my shoulders and arms were in so much pain. While im toddling around about to head to the bus stop, the receptionist from my physiotherapy office walks in and starts a conversation. She asks after my daughter and husband, and chats with me all while looking sort of sideways at me. Finally she says, “um.. are your crutches high enough?” I said, I think so. She says, ” I really don’t think they are.. you should not be that bent over when you are using them…can you stand up straight?” And sure enough, I have been using my crutches with them almost two inches too short. I sit down and adjust them, and carry on…. just in time to see my bus leaving.
I sit down near the bus stop on a retaining wall for about twenty minutes waiting for the bus. In this time several of my coworkers see me and come to chat, and I figure, It wouldn’t hurt to go across the road and say hi, maybe use the loo before I continue. So I crossed the road again, then crossed our massive parking lot and made it to our lunch room before collapsing in exhaustion to chat with friends/coworkers. I used the loo, chatted with some supervisors by the office, and sat down with the spare drivers and watched the news until the mechanics started pouring into the room. At this point, I look up and go “its 12 already?? Jebus…”. I had gotten on the 10:24 bus leaving my house, and it arrives at the garage/plaza at 10:30. I know its half an hour til the next bus now, but knowing how long its going to take to make the trek across the parking lot, I leave the lunch room at about 12:15 and painfully lurch across the paved expanse to the bus stop, crossing the road yet again to take the north bound bus.
Three stops later, I bid my coworker goodbye and wish him a safe drive and lurch off the bus and into Sheridan Nurseries (one of the prettiest places you can be at this time of year. I used to work there and there are still a few coworkers there I enjoy talking too. They also sell a superior product, so when buying greenery of any sort, I make a point of going there if I can.) My former coworker Spencer says hi to me and I wander out into the greenhouse to find what I need. I find the desired tiny blueberry bushes for my mother’s birthday/mothers day pressies, and then realize the error of my reasoning. I have a teen slave carry them to the cash, and a second teen slave carry them to the bus stop ( in front of the building). As we approach the bus stop, the bus drives by.
Oh for fu…..
He puts the bags down at the bus stop, and we chat amiably for a moment before he is called to collect carts. I managed to lower myself to the grass without injuring myself and sat on the grass with my crutches beside me and my backpack off until I figured close to half an hour had passed. I then, SOMEHOW, managed to fit both bushs into the backpack without damaging them and the greenery sticking out, put the pack on, and hauled myself rather inelegantly to my feet. The bus arrives, and I get on to the full bus and am forced to stand as it is full of eldery and disabled and people with strollers. Most of them get off in a stop or two, so I decide not to risk trying to hop across the street from the opposite bus stop and ride the bus to the Forest Glen terminal and grab the 3 in the other direction that will stop directly outside my house. Finally, I get in the door, take the back pack off and take the bushes gently out while sitting on the stairs, and scramble up on my hands and knees to the bathroom dragging my crutches. By the time I sat and opened the computer at about 2:15 I had been out for almost four hours. Im not sure I could stand if I wanted to now, and my hands and arms are so sore that they are numb.
I got what I needed to get though. :)
