What a thoroughly, completely aggravating day.
Voting was fine, took all of 15 minutes. Had the usual delay in getting back out the door to head into the city to do my errands, and even that was ok.
The rest, though...pure annoyance. In the seven months since staying housebound, I think I forgot about city traffic, so by the time I got to the cookware shop, I was ready to use my knives to do some serious damage to 2/3rds of the people I encountered.
I was pulling into a parking spot when an a-hole in an F350 SuperDuty duelie environment crusher damn near smacked into me trying to pull into the same spot. Being the nice bastard I am, I let him have the spot, then damn near got knocked in the front by an overzealous soccer mom tearing around the corner, driving like one of the Duke boys.
Into the shop, no one else in there, so the two women working weren't in any hurry to help out, and I had to stick my head in the back to find someone. Mind, this is a posh shop that prides itself on its personal service, so having to get one of the Chatty Cathys out of the break room wasn't improving my mood any.
Back out, then down to the giant alcohol shop. Now this is going to sound really specific, but once the world starts getting up your nose, everything becomes a point of frustration.
I wear self-tinting progressives, and during their transition period, they're impossible to see out of. Everything is distorted and blurry. Usually, it's just a couple of minutes to clear up, but if it's really bright in a place, it can take a lot longer.
Of course, the store was lit up like a supernova, so I was effectively blind in a place about the size of a city block, trying to find some kirsch and a specific bottle of wine, and wouldn't you just know, they <bleeping> reconfigured the layout since I was there last.
After wandering and wandering with zero luck, I finally threw in the towel and tried to find some help. The first wine guy I saw, he's brilliant, I've talked to him before, but he was helping someone else, and god love him, when he starts talking, he can't shut up. You ask for a wine recommendation, next thing you know, he's telling you about his neighbor's cat from 1974.
So I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, since he was technically no longer actually helping the couple he was talking to and just blabbing, I interrupted and asked about the wine, which he said, "Oh yeah, that's over here boy that's a good one isn't it really flinty at the finish and if you like that one you'll like this one and it's two dollars cheaper same vineyard too and I think it's just as good so why not save the money and it pairs really well too reminds me of the time I first had this wine we'd gone to France you know they send us over sometimes to sample and check out vineyards and we had the best time had a great meal that the family cooked for us and they had this crazy old dog that would collect the corks animals sure our strange that way when I was a kid I had this cat about 1973 or 1974 and that cat would walk backwards more than he'd walk frontwards and-"
At that point, he was following me around the store! Get back to your wine section! Get! Get!
Found the kirsch, and I just wanted the moderately-priced stuff I used to be able to get in Ohio, but of course, all they had was proper imported German kirsch at about three times the price. I guess that's a good problem to have, but still...
Finally out the door, and this place is a real pain to get out of, busy intersection, no signal lights or anything, and if you want to turn left out of the lot, you're doomed.
After a solid 10 minutes of waiting and cussing, cussing and waiting, I gave up and turned right, which tripled my time back onto the interstate, but at least I was moving.
We'd noticed construction on the way down so decided to take surface streets for half the way up and stop for food. Almost got T-boned at a light when a guy in a flash Audi ran a red light right into cross traffic, namely me, and had the nerve to give
me the finger. It wasn't even close. It was a steady red light he had, he just got tired of waiting and decided he'd go. I refused to let him by once we stopped, though, and he finally gave up and backed out of the way.
Now, I'm used to eating around noon. It's now 1PM. I was pretty hungry. MrsT wasn't, so I asked her what she'd like since she was pickier than me. That was a mistake.
McD's...no. Popeye's...no. Wendy's...no. And on and on and on like that. 1PM...1:30PM...and I'm diabetic and getting some pretty low blood sugar signs coming on, and it's still Arby's...no. Captain D's...no. Subway...no.
Finally, at 2PM, I said tough sh!t, it was either I eat or I pass out, and I pulled into White Castle, because I know she'll eat their chicken sliders, ordered the food at the drive-through and waited...and waited...and waited...and shut the car off and waited...and waited...
Eventually, the nimrod only front of me got his food, we got ours, pulled into a spot to eat, stuck the straw in my pop, and the girl had overfilled it, so it all shot out all over my shirt and my lap. I swear, I was about three seconds from plowing the car right into the drive-through window and grinding her noggin under the wheels.
All that made the fact that my first slider came completely undone and deposited meat, pickle, and fried onion all over my lap and the seat almost inconsequential.
Finished eating, started the car to leave, and MrsT said, "Don't go out that way, go out over there, because you can catch the light and turn left and get right back on the highway."
I disagreed, because I used to work in the area, but she insisted, saying they'd changed it when they redid the on/off ramps.
Ok...went that way, and nope. I was right, she was wrong, highway on-ramp so close I could almost touch it...but no left turn allowed, and impossible anyway because of traffic. Had to turn right, drive down to the next light, into a busy parking lot, turn around, wait for a light change, then back out again. Oh, FFS!
Completely, utterly frustrating day, and with my eating schedule thrown off, I have no desire to make supper tonight at all.
