Saturday I went out to look for Birkenstocks. The Birkenstock website listed three stores in the area: one at Brannon Crossing (where no buses go; it's right over the border into Jessamine County), Hamburg (which is madly laid out and I was not going to walk up and down a dangerous road trying to figure out just where they were) and at Fayette Mall. So I went with the mall, to a store called, The Walking Store.
Whereupon I found that The Walking Store, although it 'carries' Birkenstocks, and the Birkenstock name is all over the place, had no actual shoes to try on. But they can order them for you. Odd, I am capable of ordering them, too, without any middleman at all, going to the Birkenstock website, straight to the source. What I don't know is my size, and I have a wide, short foot and therefore need to try on shoes to get it right, and even then, it's a bit iffy. That was my whole point of going to the store and to the mall. In other words, they were utterly useless for my purpose, and the only useful thing they did was direct me to Dillards, which did have a limited selection in stock.
I went to Sears and got behind a couple who were checking out with a toaster and coffee maker. The cashier was a very slow elderly woman who was also very conscientious of all the hoops she was was supposed to go through at checkout. She offered them a Sears charge, and so they entered that information. Then there was a rewards card. Then the service plans. I thought we'd never get through it all. It really did take about ten minutes to check out, and I came in part way. Then she tried it with me, and although I was polite, and quickly declined every offer, and even then, it took about five minutes to get through mine, and the couple behind me were shifting uncomfortably and their patience was being tried. Then I went to go downstairs and the escalator was frozen.
So my trip to the mall was a bit annoying, but at least there weren't gobs of people like around the holidays. After I left the mall, I went to a friend's house and stayed very late. I was going to take the last bus out, but he convinced me that since I was laden down with bulky packages (I picked up a buy-one-get-one-free set of pillows at Sears and that was awkward to carry), I would be a standing/walking target that late at night. I then spent the next 45 minutes trying to get a cab, calling the two cab companies in town, including one where I moved up the queue and then stayed in the 'one' position for what seemed forever. I then called Margaret, at my friend's suggestion. Fortunately she had just gotten out of her LARP (Live-Action Role-Playing) game and could come to get me. There had been a college football game (I think it was homecoming) and that's why everything was crazy. But thanks to Margaret, I got home.
The next day, I was to be over at the gamemaster's house at 10 rather than my normal 8, but still managed to oversleep (to get the bus, and go to the store first, I had to get up at 7. I woke up at 7:30). I went over to Kroger with a short list and got them and some snacks for the game, got up to the checkout, got everything on the conveyor, and then realised that I didn't have my wallet in my purse. At least I caught it before the clerk rang anything up. So I had them put the things aside, walked home, and frantically looked for it without success. I checked my account to make sure it wasn't compromised, called Margaret to see if I had left it in her car, and finally found it almost under my sofa, where it had fallen. I then walked back to the store, checked out, and schlepped with two full canvas bags of groceries (including several of those big Gatorades), and finally made it to my destination a little before noon. The game is supposed to start at 1 but Margaret and Brenda are usually late, so I did what I could to prepare and we had a good game. Margaret brought me home, and only when I got there did I remember that there is a bookcase the gamemaster is giving me, and I was supposed to take it home when next we played, in Brenda's truck.
Oh, well. All in all, it was rather nice when Monday rolled around. I'll get the bookcase next week, hopefully. And although I did get some shoes, I'd tried them on with socks and didn't realise my foot wasn't quite seated correctly and need to go a size up, so I need to take them back on Saturday and exchange them. But that's not a major undertaking. Hopefully.
Fortunately the only annoying thing today was getting lentil soup on my sweater, but that is not terribly unusual, and it mostly came out; at least I don't think it will show after it's washed, as it was a black sweater. I did (carefully) walk down the road at dusk when I got out of work to get to the bus stop on St. Margaret's because I was all in black (I try to dress in light clothes now that I'm catching the bus after dark, but there's a lady at work who's been giving me rides home on Mondays, but she wasn't able to do it today; I'd taken a chance to dress in dark clothes because I probably wasn't going to take the bus, but of course that didn't work out. But that's fine; I just appreciate her generosity when she is able to.) It's hard to see someone in dark clothing at the stop in front of the hospital; it was still (mostly) light when I went down the road, but I won't be able to do that soon. It's getting dark earlier, and the time change is not far away, so it will be safer to just dress in lighter clothes and stand in front of the hospital stop. On the other hand, last week I was in a light-coloured coat and the bus was already in the other lane and although she did see me in time to stop traffic and get over, she could have easily pass me by.
What the weekend really brought home to me is that I really do need to be saving for a car. Hopefully I can get the money together for one soon.
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