Date: 2009-09-18 19:51 Security: Public Mood: exhausted Tags: big posts Subject: What a day.

Well, today was a comedy of errors. I'm going to copy and paste from a monologue I made in an IRC channel about it; it really needs to be seen in detail and I don't feel like rehashing what I already hashed out in IRC. ;p

17:57:32 < Sophie> Okay, so, for the entertainment of everybody here, and for Nall's information, I will now explain why today was a total comedy of errors.
17:59:07 < Sophie> So, my car needed its MOT done today. Yesterday I booked it in at a place called Spratley's of Mortimer, which is, as one might expect, in Mortimer.
17:59:13 < Sophie> http://www.spratleys.co.uk/
17:59:43 < Sophie> I chose it because it was the nearest place listed on the Vauxhall site to do services and MOTs.
18:00:23 < Sophie> It's still nearly 10 miles away, however.
18:01:51 < Sophie> Anyway, I was late getting it in today. They normally need it in by 11am - today I got it in at about 1pm or something like that.
18:02:07 < Sophie> That was the first error.
18:04:17 < Sophie> It would come out at 5pm-5:30pm or so, and I was offered a free courtesy car, so I took that up. I then remembered, after I was in the car but before I had taken off, that Reading was 10 miles away, that I had never driven in this car before, and that Mortimer had absolutely nothing of note to boast for itself, so no way of passing the time unless I wanted to waste the time in the pub all day, which I didn't.
18:05:12 < Sophie> I decided not to take the car; I didn't want to risk getting it damaged for the sake of a few hours.
18:05:50 < Sophie> So I gave the keys back and went to the nearest bus stop, and waited for the next bus, which came in less than half an hour.
18:06:25 < Sophie> Asked for a return to Reading; it turned out to be £5.00 - which of course, I didn't have.
18:06:45 < Sophie> So I left the bus and pondered.
18:07:22 < Sophie> As the bus was pulling away, I remembered that although I didn't have £5.00 in change in my pocket, I *did* have a £20 note in my wallet. My hearsank as the bus drove away.
18:07:36 < Sophie> ^heart sank
18:08:41 < Sophie> I waited for the next bus. I passed the time by walking idly around with my GPS directing me. The next bus came half an hour later, I got on, asked for a return to Reading, presented the £20 note.
18:08:51 < Sophie> Turns out you need exact change.
18:08:54 < Sophie> *headdesk*
18:09:55 < Sophie> They said that a single to Reading would cost £3.20. I had that in change, so I just thought I'd do that and get change for the £20 in Reading by grabbing something to eat, which I needed anyway.
18:10:19 < Sophie> So I paid the single.
18:11:23 < Sophie> By this time it was just after 3pm. The bus was empty, but as it stopped at more places, it filled up with schoolkids coming home from school. Luckily none of them commented on or laughed at my appearance.
18:13:16 < Sophie> I got out at Reading, and located the bus stop I would need to go to to get *back* to Mortimer, and the time the buses would be leaving - 4:22pm and 4:52pm being the next two. It was about 4pm by then, so I went to grab a Burger King, being the nearest place that would be quick.
18:14:22 < Sophie> I had decided I could miss the first bus easily, since the ride took 36 minutes and catching the 4:52pm would make it 5:28pm when I got to Mortimer - which was just fine for me given the time it'd be ready.
18:14:57 < Sophie> Good thing, because I did miss the first bus - but that was okay. I got to the bus stop in plenty of time for the second bus, waited until it came up, and got in.
18:15:21 < Sophie> £3.20 again. And... after looking at my newfound change, the most I had was £3.15. Arrrgggghhh.
18:15:51 < Sophie> I was holding people up looking for money, so the driver said just to put £3 in and that'd be okay. I did so gratefully.
18:18:14 < Sophie> So I was going back to Mortimer. About 15 minutes in, Spratley's called. I missed the call, but they left a message on my voicemail to call them back. I did so, and they told me it had failed its MOT test, and that it'd cost nearly £200 to get it all fixed up. I didn't really have a choice, of course, sinceit'd be illegal to drive it. So I authorised it, realising that I wouldn't be able to drive the car as I'd been hoping - which is what I'd been catching the bus for.
18:18:37 < Sophie> Hmm, that may have cut off - I'll repeat the last sentence. "So I authorised it, realising that I wouldn't be able to drive the car as I'd been hoping - which is what I'd been catching the bus for."
18:19:29 < Sophie> So, given that there was no point in going any further, I signalled to the bus driver that I wanted off at the next stop, and got off.
18:20:05 < Sophie> After the bus had left, two things struck me.
18:21:12 < Sophie> First, the guy had said that it was too late to do anything more today so it'd have to be picked up either tomorrow if I was lucky, or Monday more likely.
18:21:31 < Sophie> Second, I had left the courtesy car at Spratley's.
18:21:49 < Sophie> I called them back to ask when they shut. They shut at 6pm.
18:22:08 < Sophie> By now it was about 5:12pm.
18:22:59 < Sophie> The next bus I could catch from the bus stop would, I calculated, arrive in Reading at 5:58pm. That was way too close, so I gave up on the idea of getting a bus there.
18:23:32 < Sophie> Besides, the bus had been late getting to that bus stop I got off at - about 5 minutes late. And the bus stop isn't exactly at Spratley's, meaning another walk.
18:24:30 < Sophie> I sighed and prepared to go back to Reading. I didn't really want to spend money on a taxi or anything, so I started to walk.
18:24:34 < Sophie> Then I realised.
18:24:39 < Sophie> Taxi. *Taxi*.
18:25:03 < Sophie> I could get a taxi to Mortimer - the journay was only 15 minutes according to my GPS unit.
18:25:24 < Gizensha> In part, you illustrated there why the concept of 'exact fair' for buses is dumb...
18:25:39 < Sophie> Heh.
18:27:03 < Sophie> I looked for an appropriate place for a taxi to pick me up. I saw two an Esso station and a pupb. Figuring they'd know the pub better (hey, alcoholics need taxis sometimes), I went there while looking up the nearest taxi place on my phone, which turned out to be Reading Taxis.
18:27:54 < Sophie> Using my GPSr to calculate how long it'd take for a taxi to get from Reading to the pub, I calculated that I could *just* have enough time to do it.
18:28:12 < Sophie> So I rang, booked a taxi, told them where I was, and waited.
18:28:21 < Sophie> And waited.
18:29:13 < Sophie> Eventually (or so it seemed), a taxi came up. It passed me, but saw me, indicated, slowed down and stopped. I ran up and got in, and told the driver where I was going.
18:29:42 < Sophie> I told him I'd be able to give directions, as he didn't know exactly where it was. I had my GPSr though, so I could.
18:30:19 < Sophie> Halfway there, I got a call on my mobile from a number I didn't recognise. Answering it, it was the taxi driver of the taxi I had booked...
18:30:30 < Sophie> ...I had apparently got in a taxi that I hadn't booked.
18:31:49 < Sophie> I had to explain this to the caller, while realising that a turn was coming up that I needed to show the driver of the taxi I was in. I just showed him the GPS and allowed him to work it out as I talked to the caller.
18:32:17 < Sophie> Eventually, it ended and I discovered we had missed the turn, but the driver, realising this, was already turning round at a roundabout to get it again.
18:32:35 < Sophie> I checked the ETA - 5:56pm.
18:32:41 < Sophie> This would be close.
18:33:27 < Sophie> From then on I gave directions perfectly and we ended up at the place. The price was £18 - but I only hd £13. Damn.
18:34:30 < Sophie> Luckily, the driver knew of an ATM nearby. We went there, and I got £20 in the fastest time you could thinkof. The bad side is that th ATM charged £1.50 for withdrawals, but by this time I didn't care, I just wanted the money.
18:35:42 < Sophie> Got it, rushed back to the car, and we got back to Spratley's. I gave him the money, told him to keep the change (even if I did have the time to get the change back, he deserved the tip anyway), and ran inside.
18:35:59 < Sophie> Luckily, I was in time and managed to collect the keys to the courtesy car.
18:36:11 < Sophie> Which was a big load off my back.
18:36:36 < Sophie> I went to the car, put everything in, and prepared to set up my GPSr to go home.
18:36:51 < Sophie> Got out the harness, looked for the GPSr itself.
18:36:59 < Sophie> ...no GPSr. I had left it in the taxi.
18:37:02 < Sophie> ...
18:37:31 < Sophie> I looked everywhere. Went back inside to see if I'd left it on the counter or the floor - I hadn't.
18:38:06 < Sophie> Retraced my steps to see if I'd dropped it. I hadn't, but I had dropped another important thing when I ran inside, which I picked up.
18:38:38 < Sophie> I had to conclude that it wasn't anywhere around, and that, yes, I really *had* left it in the taxi.
18:40:08 < Sophie> By this time I was really stressed, so I tried to calm myself. Two things helped; firstly, I had programmed the GPSr's startup message to show my email address as soon as it powers on, and secondly, I had a waypoint called "Home" in there. Both these things could lead someone to get in touch somehow, either by email or in person.
18:41:14 < Sophie> But I was still left in the same position as before; in a car I'd never driven before, and it was 10 miles to Reading.
18:42:12 < Sophie> But now I had no choice. I got everything set up, adjusted the mirrors, got comfortable, and started it going.
18:42:31 < Sophie> Somehow, I made it back to Reading in one piece.
18:43:07 < Sophie> Which was easier than you might think even without the GPSr - Reading is a big place and well-signposted.
18:43:33 < Sophie> Mortimer, on the other hand, is tiny. It's going to be harder getting back than it was leaving.
18:45:13 < Sophie> And that brings us up to now. I got home, parked outside the barrier (deliberately; our car park barrier is broken, and I wanted to be absolutely certain I'd be able to make it out without damaging the car), and came inside.
18:45:38 < Sophie> Told Nall I'd explain everything later but summed up the salient points - failed MOT, no GPSr.
18:45:50 < Sophie> Then came in my room and started this tl;dr monologue ;p
18:46:13 < Sophie> Which seems to have taken up precisely 49 minutes of time.
18:46:29 < Sophie> Wow, I waffle on quite a bit.
18:46:37 < Sophie> Anyway, okay, I'm done. :)