Nuts (and Dairy and Gluten. and Smoke)

 Matt drove Eve back to Hamilton yesterday preparatory to flying out of Toronto to Korea today. He's feeling much better and neither Eve or I have gotten Covid. I did go to the doctor to address the apparent lung inflammation still hanging on from when I did get Covid a year and a half ago. I think I may have gotten a cold at the beginning of September when school started and the cough is really wearing on me - it's merely annoying for a few days and then suddenly it is extremely exhausting and aggravating. Let's go, little orange inhaler. 

They're supposed to be rolling out a flu-shot/new Covid shot combo here for high-risk populations so I went online to see what I could book for my parents. I found it extremely confusing to figure out exactly who was eligible, and nowhere seemed to have the combo appointments available, so I booked them for flu shots at Walmart this morning and Covid shots a half hour away at the end of October. Then my mom emailed that they went for their flu shots and also got Covid shots. Which is a bit loony, but the rollout was bound to be a bit wonky, and I'm not mad at the result. 

So last week-end, before the newest super-fun Covid fuckery, on Thursday morning I drove my mom out to a neighbouring town's legion to do her over-eighty driver's license renewal, which means watching a video and doing a desultory vision and dementia test. My dad was going to follow us because he wasn't confident he could find the place easily but he was going to drive her home afterward so I wouldn't be late for work.

The drive went great, but the sign for the parking lot was ambiguous so I overshot, which resulted in driving up a very narrow drive that dropped off precipitously on one edge and had nowhere obvious to turn around. And naturally my dad followed me. I was torn between hysteria and dread, but he managed to turn around (just as another senior was driving in behind us doing the exact same thing, seriously Stittsville Legion, get better signage). We got to the correct parking lot and I walked her in the back entrance which felt like a murder hallway and reeked of stale smoke. I made sure they were good and went to work. After work I drove nearly to Hamilton so I would be ready to drive Eve home after her midterm Friday.

Not to bang on yet again about my exalted hotel status, but stay with me, it makes a good story. I checked in and read for a bit and then fell asleep around one a.m. At about two-thirty a.m. the fire alarm went off, and I was so confused and so unable to figure out where I was or what was happening I just laid there for a bit. Then I opened my door and people were leaving, so I grabbed my purse and a bottle of water and found the stairs. 

It was rainy and dark and people were bleary-eyed and bewildered, but everyone - even the kids - was well-behaved. A fire truck pulled up, so it seemed like it wasn't a false alarm, which meant this could suck hard, but there was no obvious fire. At some point I heard the receptionist say there was smoke on the first floor but no fire, so they were just trying to clear it. It was about half an hour all in, and it took me an annoyingly long time to get back to sleep, but could have been much worse. 

When I went to check out, I grabbed a diet pepsi for the drive and asked if I could sign it to the room and then check out. The receptionist asked how my stay was. I said the fire alarm wasn't fun, but it was well handled. She said the hotel is attached to apartments and someone had burned something on the stove so there was smoke. Then she asked if she could add some points to my account 'for my inconvenience'. I think I looked kind of horrified and said no, it wasn't anyone' fault, but she said "Thank-you for being so patient, but I will anyway - and just take the Diet Pepsi". I got the feeling people with status are typically more entitled, and it was one of those 'god, it's such a low bar' moments. 

So then I drove into Hamilton and ambled around the university bookstore and then ambled around the little bookstore down the street from Eve's house in an unhurried fashion, and it was lovely, and then I met my professor and we walked around the Westdale shops and then sat outside to have tea because the weather was beautiful. We talked about work and books and Eve right up until Eve texted that she was done her midterm, so I told Jean to just jump in the car and we'd pick up Eve and she could say hi, and then I'd drop Jean at her house on our way to grab Eve's stuff and hit the road.

We drove to campus (literally one minute down the road), but had gotten our signals crossed so Eve had started walking home, so we turned back and started driving up the road. We saw Eve just as her housemate was running across the road to join her. Eve and Jaden got in the car, which meant it became apparent that I had been collecting beverages on my double drive - Diet Pepsi, orange juice, water, green juice - and I felt like I was in one of those bizarre dreams: "and then I was in the car with my old Comp Lit professor and my daughter and another random girl, and everyone had to hold bottles of liquid because all the seats were full of drinks". And as we were driving her home Jean started talking about all the black walnuts her trees had been dropping - "two thousand, eight hundred and fifty" - and Jayden, who is never shy about voicing her thoughts, yelped "WHY DID YOU COUNT THEM?" and it was hilarious. We dropped Jean off and by the time we got back to Eve's house Jean had already texted a picture of the yard waste bags full of walnuts. She is such a funny, brilliant, eccentric little woman.

We went back to Eve's house and got her stuff and started driving. Just before we got on the highway we saw this. So many questions. University towns are such a chaotic trip.