After lunch Mom went to play her Friday afternoon bridge game; I caught up on my E-mail and blog down in the lobby (wifi in all apartments at Riderwood should be functional by my next visit) and then headed downstairs to check out the Fall Festival craft show. A very nice selection by residents, but nothing I needed to buy. Then it was off to Target to buy what I did need: underwear! Pretty nippy out, so I was very glad to find a parking spot not too far away.
SATURDAY I was thrilled to wake up feeling fine. Hallelujah!!! It's been a long week of feeling crappy, but I finally seem to be back-to-normal (no comments from the Peanut Gallary, please!) Mom and I spent a delightfully lazy day around the apartment. I enjoyed reading the Washington Post (wish the Arizona Republic would get with their program) and once I get back I will be sharing some of the articles. In the afternoon Mom and I finally got in some games of Rummikub and then watched several taped episodes of Jeopardy.
In the morning I had looked into possibility of accessing Uber via the computer, but at this point I'd still need a smart phone to do that. (Of course I have enough trouble with my dumb phone...) So in the morning I called Sun Cab and arranged for a cab to pick us up at 6:30 and take us to tonight's pre-wedding dinner. Let the celebrations begin!
UNDERSTATEMENT WARNING: things did not go 'quite as planned'... We, of course, were seated by the door by 6:20, awaiting the arrival of our transport. When it had not appeared by 6:40, I called Sun Cab to get an ETA. That's when I found out that they "did not have a cab in our area" and that a driver had "not yet been assigned" to us. When I inquired when they had planned to call us and let us know, the woman on the other end of the phone said, "Oh, we don't do that." After more unproductive conversation about what 'making a reservation' means, I asked to speak with a supervisor. She said she'd she if she 'could get permission' to transfer my call! Though I was on the phone with the supervisor until close to 7:00, I made no progress with her. She refused to answer my actual questions, and merely answered with patronizing statements like "I can tell you're frustrated." No shit Sherlock!
With limited options (like checking back with Sun Cab every 15 minutes for an update of the situation) I tried plans B (seeing if Riderwood's transportation service had a driver available: no), C (calling another cab company, which also had no cabs in the area), and even D (accosting visitors who were leaving and offering to pay them to drive us to Chevy Chase; the first woman was off to the theater, second one's sister had just had brain surgery today old and had been with her 92-year-old mother all day, etc.)
I tried calling Rachelle (the bride) to let her know we'd been unavoidably detained, but she didn't answer; when it went to voicemail I sent a text. I was unable to call the hosts because there was no phone number on the invite, only an e-mail address; even got a phone book at the front desk and tried looking them up, but they weren't listed.
When I made my final check to Sun Cab at 7:30, there was still no cab in our area, so Mom and I were discussing our options. All the dining venues at Riderwood were closed by then so we discussed where we could drive to nearby. But by then I was so aggravated I'd pretty much lost my appetite and figured we might as well just head back upstairs and rummage around in the freezer for something. As we were standing up to leave the cab pulled up.
We weren't more than a mile or two down the road when Rachelle called in response to my text. When it had gotten to be 7:30 and we weren't there yet (dinner was set for 7:00) she knew something must be wrong since Mom and I are always prompt. Everyone (about 20 people) was waiting on us, but we told them to go ahead and start without us. Which was a wise plan, because on the way we got hung up in a massive traffic jam. Apparently there was an accident on the beltway (we saw the tow truck heading there) and traffic was stop and 'go' the whole way.
Debbie & Jamie's house turned out to be on a hill with a steep driveway, and then a walkway to a flight of steps (with no railing) leading into the house. I was helping Mom up the stairs when her walker started rolling back down the walkway, but in order to grab it I would have had to let go of Mom, so we watched it pick up speed and then go careening down the hill. Which by that point was actually pretty funny, even then.
Dinner (once we finally got there) was delightful; I got to meet Bob's family, and also see some folks I hadn't seen since my brother's wedding in 1983! Afterwards Rachelle and Bob, and his teenage son Jonathan, drove us home; if we'd waited for a cab we would no doubt have ended up spending the night at Jamie and Debbie's. Before we could actually leave there was a slight snafu with the seatbelts, but eventually we were on our way, getting home shortly before midnight.
SUNDAY We leave for the actual wedding in a couple of hours. At least we don't have to deal with a cab today; Andy and Sandy will be picking us up. When asked this morning if he would arrive in a more timely fashion than last night's cab, Andy said we'll just have to wait and see. LOL
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