Saturday on the road

[rolanni]

We have twice purchased an item at Brookstone at the Maine Mall in South Portland which, when it was unboxed at home (2 hours up the road), was found to be in a Condition of Unworkingness. We have therefore vowed no more to buy things which might be Complicated Enough to Be Broken in the box from stores at a far remove from the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.

All well and good. But the second Broken Thing still had to go back to the store and we were running out of Grace Period.

The Original Plan had Sharon and Steve leaving for South Portland in the early-ish morning, Sharon driving, Steve with Theo on Haysus the Asus. This plan was Abruptly Altered when Steve found that his desktop was Behaving Strangely. Even Alarmingly. He therefore decided to stay home and deal with this crisis, while Sharon motored down to South Portland.

Datapoint: Two Abney Park CDs will see you from from the door of the Cat Farm safely into the parking lot at the Maine Mall.

I parked the car, grabbed my parcel and made like a Determined Woman into the mall. A strange thing -- as I was walking down the main hall past the so-called pushcart dealers, an attractive woman stepped up and took me by the hand. Startling, to say the least, as I consider myself well beyond the point of receiving passes. In any case, she wanted to "show me something" at the cart. I said no. She tugged my hand and insisted that she had "something to show me for my nails." I said no again, squeezed her fingers in what I fear may have been a painfully earnest grip, let go and kept going. A couple pushcarts up a young man who might have been my temptresses brother was importuning a blonde woman in essentially the same way -- he had "something to show her" at the cart. She said she didn't have time; that she was with her kids; he offered to show them, too. She said no and rushed off with her kids.

That hurdle passed, I arrived at Brookstone, did the return and returned to the car by another route.

Since I was so close, I went down to Old Orchard Beach, and walked along the ocean for bit. It was a fine day for it, with grey clouds roiling over the surface of a greenish-gray sea. After my visit, I walked up into town and stopped at JJ's Too for a quick lunch of turkey vegetable soup before saddling Argent for the drive home.

Datapoint: Two Abney Park CDs and an umpf will see you from Old Orchard Beach to the Cat Farm.

At home, I discovered Steve up to his elbows in outrigger hard-drive formatting, and repaired to my office where today's good deed was to catch up the Saltation database.

I am pleased to announce that we have placed 867 books; only 333 to go!

I'm still Terrifically Behind on my email. I ought to, but will not, answer it all tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'm finishing "Shadow Partner."

You heard it here first.

Comments

[spudsmom.livejournal.com]

Today I cleaned the bathroom grout with a toothbrush, upon reflection your day sounds better even given the importunities of push cart vendors. I am advised that impotunities is not a word, dictionaries have so little imagination.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid that my reaction to being grabbed like that by someone who wouldn't take 'no' would be to get out my mobile phone and start calling the police. Fortunately the British ones seem to accept 'no' quite easily, possibly because they know that they would be thrown off the premises by the owners if there were complaints.