Night Craziness

While darling husband and I like to delude ourselves into believing that we experience lives full of non-stop adventure, the truth is that we spend a great deal of time at home pretending we are vegetables.

Last night began as a vegetable night. At 11:30pm I was upstairs brushing my teeth and darling husband was falling asleep on the floor in our living room. A very loud thump outside our window lured my husband out of the house and me down the stairs. The same thump lured a good number of our neighbors out of their homes as well.

Across and down the street, halfway into a yard sat a car, the remains of a truck and a stack of kindling that was once a fence. A presumably drunk driver (innocent until proved guilty in spite of the open container on the passenger seat) was lying face down in a deployed airbag. Her puppy, set loose when a neighbor opened the driver-side door, was running in the street.

The only thing that prevented her from hitting the house was that the truck was in the way. She careened into the truck, hit the fence and stopped halfway into the neighbor's yard. She never once used her brakes.

Several people called 911 immediately upon hearing the initial impact. Most of us were waiting out in the street for the ambulance to come.

Except that three tow trucks, a fire truck and a city police officer made it to the accident scene well before the first ambulance arrived. The firemen got lost on the way to our street, even though the station is a mile and a half away, and the directions were make a right onto street A, take it out to the end and turn left onto street B.

My neighbor, her daughter and I walked to the top of the street to flag drivers to turn around. Driver 1 came to a complete stop, ignored our attempts to talk to him, and nearly drove into the accident scene. Driver 2 ran the stop sign at high speed, tore around the corner and came to a sudden halt only when he saw the police car. Driver 2 was very drunk.

Eventually, the woman was removed from the car, a Breathalyzer was administered and she was taken to the hospital and hopefully jail. I headed back inside to a night of revenge dreams.

The puppy, as far as I know, is still loose.

The Pigeon Feeder - Latin Quarter

Another Suitcase in Another Hall

Well, maybe not that dramatic.

I took my lunch half-hour and signed up for the YMCA. Aside from the frustration in competing for the attention of the membership representative against five retired women, it went smoothly. I was able to pick up some soup for lunch.

This afternoon was my last workout at the YWCA. I spent 35 minutes in an empty pool and had an excellent workout. I finished with the butterfly.

I love doing the butterfly stroke. I love the way the water flows from one end of the pool to other. I love the sensation of air bubbles underneath my arms. I love the feel of my body coming up out of the water.

The locker room was completely empty. There were still a ton of rental lockers in use, but even those will be cleaned out by Friday. Either the renters will empty them or the locks will be cut off and the contents placed in lost and found.

I did not go up to the fitness center. Too depressing.

Next week I'll begin lifting again.

Hockey!

The Penguins are back on the ice and life is good.

J and I went to a pre-season game on Sunday night. We parked in a Port Authority garage down and made the trek up to Mellon Arena to watch the Penguins beat up on the Capitals.

It was not even close to a fair match. The Capitals goalie, Maxime Ouellet, took a puck on the helmet early in the second period and spent the rest of the game trying to get his focus back. His movements were slow and he looked as if he was having an enormous amount of difficulty concentrating.

It was a long year and a half. Come Saturday, I'll be in front of the television for the Penguins home opener.

Milan Malpensa

In an attempt to save a few dollars on our Paris adventure, I booked our flights through Air Aitalia. I did this with the full and conscious knowledge that it is not the most reputable of airlines. It meant an additional layover in Milan's Malpensa airport and a longer travel time. But it also meant some extra money for a decent meal or a cheesy souvenir (we brought back a corkscrew/can opener combination with an etching of the Eiffel Tower and the word "Paris" in case you were wondering).

Never, ever again. While our flights on Aitalia went smoothly, our two trips through Malpensa were enough to put us off Italy, let alone Milan. Which is a depressing thought, because who wants to think badly of Italy? After all the art, culture and food they have contributed to the world through the ages?

Putting aside, for a moment, that it is a minor miracle that native speakers are able to navigate the airport, and I'm pretty certain I saw multiple Italians get lost. Signage was poor at best, and incredibly confusing. There are no maps displaying the layout of the airport. Add ongoing construction and surly employees (possibly because of the ongoing construction noise?) After dashing madly through several terminals and going through customs twice, we managed to make it to our flight to Paris.

It was on the way back through Malpensa that my dislike was confirmed. J and I had purchased leather jackets and had arranged all the forms necessary to have the VAT Tax refunded to us.

The customs official (a woman) in Malpensa refused to honor the refund because J and I had worn the jackets while still in Paris. In her opinion, this made the goods "used" and not eligible for the refund. When I protested her decision, based on the fact that we had not been informed that the goods could not be worn, she proceeded to unleash an invective in Italian to her partner, calling me a liar. Even the other customs official, a male was horrified by her behavior.

I left the customs office shaking and in tears.

Next time, we will fly Air France.