I gassed up at the Co-op last Monday, and was impressed at how well trained and well supervised some of the kids are that work there. A kid was up a ladder behind the counter, taping some balloons to a molding. The molding was very dusty, so he would carefully wipe off a little spot for his tape, with his fingers, then go on a few inches and do the same thing again. Apparently it didn’t occur to him to take a cloth with him and wipe off the whole molding. And, it didn’t occur to whoever was in charge to tell him.
We took possession of our new (to us) townhouse on Wednesday, and it sure looked good. We can haul some stuff over in the car, but the big move will be on the 24th when some movers are coming to do the job. If you ever need to get in touch with us, the new address will be: #9 – 80 Berini Drive, Saskatoon S7N 3P9. Phone number is the same, 955-2453.
We had carpet cleaners come in and do the whole house before the furniture is in, not because it looked dirty but because there were indentations where furniture had been sitting. Plus, the house had been vacant for months and needed freshening up.
Doreen caught a cold, in the form of a cough, when we were in Washington. A lot of others on the bus were coughing, too. That was on the first of October. It was just a nuisance for the rest of our bus trip, but as soon as we got home, it settled in seriously and knocked her flat. She was able to go to the house when we got the keys but has been pretty much bed-ridden ever since. All she can think of is the work that has to be done before our move, She thought she felt better this morning, so got up and had a shower, then had to lay down again. We have been taking Cold-fx since two weeks before we left on our tour, hoping to stave off any colds or flu while we were away, but she caught it in spite of the medication. So far, I have been on the edge of catching it with sniffles and some coughing. I guess it’s the luck of the draw.
Bus tours are funny things. Fifty people voluntarily jam themselves into a bus and spend hours and hours just travelling. We never get up before about 7:30 in the morning when at home, but on the bus we were up at 6:00 AM most days, and that equaled 4:00 AM back home. Stand in line for a continental breakfast that is not efficiently laid out. Half an hour for coffee mid-morning and mid-afternoon, an hour for lunch and then we have to listen to the women complain because they didn’t have time to shop. We were usually at our night stop by suppertime; most hotels don’t have a dining room so we would have to find an eating place for supper. Both Doreen and I do a lot of reading, but when you think of it, we could do that at home, and much cheaper. Yet we love it! I think it is the interaction with the others on the bus; we always seem to be in a group of cheerful, friendly people. The sights we see are icing on the cake; the trip is the thing.
One thing puzzles me about travelling – the poor bathroom facilities for women. Invariably at coffee time there would be a long lineup at the ladies’ yet the men’s would move pretty quickly. Sometimes, when the men are finished, the ladies will commandeer the men’s as well, with one person standing guard at the door. Often, there will be a single toilet in the ladies’, yet the men will have a commode and one or two urinals. In other words the women outnumber the men and necessarily need more time to go to the bathroom, yet the men get more facilities. It’s especially bad at duty-free stores, a necessary stop because we never know how long we are going to take going through Customs. Fast food places aren’t much for facilities, either. The bus has a toilet but only for the direst of emergencies.
Hope Doreen is feeling better tomorrow – we have a lot of packing to do and not much time left to do it. I don’t think she would be too happy if I packed up all her scrapbooking stuff for her!
|
