My holiday with Andrew was scheduled from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 2010, and this time, we thought we had Murphy foiled. First, since my niece Beth is a secret shopper, she offered to get a job in the Dunnville area, and drive me there. Then, when I was talking to my nephew Mike, he said they could easily bring me home again at the end of the visit.
But Beth wasn’t able to get a job for the Saturday in September, but did get one for the following Saturday, October 2nd. So the plans were changed, and Mike agreed to take me to Dunnville, and Beth would look after the return trip. Since she was doing a secret shopping job on services at a hotel, she took her daughter Mandy, and four year old grandson Robby with her. They apparently had a great time, and went to African Lion Safari before coming to Dunnville
My visit went well, Andrew had been granted control of his own money, and had opened a bank account. I gave him fifty dollars, and he wanted to deposit it, so we went downtown to the TD bank. He can walk, but not far, as it tires him out very quickly. So we took a manual wheelchair, and I pushed him. The sidewalks in Dunnville seem to have many little hills in them, so it was push hard up, hold back some going down, all the way; and then the same going back to Edgewater. By the time we got back, I was exhausted, and had a very sore area in my lower back, on the right side. I think I had pulled a muscle, as it took a week or more to heal.
As I had understood the arrangements, when Beth and co came to get me, they would pick up something Mandy could eat, and then come on and join us for dinner. But time went by, and we waited, until at last they arrived, at 7 p.m. We had finally ordered dinner and were just finished, so we went off to show them Andrew’s room. Then we headed out, picking up my luggage on the way, and were away by eight or so. Rob had my keys, so we had to go to his place in St. Catharines before heading to Toronto. And that’s when Murphy had a field day.
St. Catharines is not an easy city to find your way around in, so we went around in circles for a while. And to make matters worse, though I had a little phone/address book in my purse, I didn’t have Rob’s address or phone number. Mandy was driving, and we stopped at various places trying to get directions to Vine Street. I knew at least that much of the address. But no one seemed to even know there was a Vine Street, and the one person who did, couldn’t give us directions. Robby was getting tired and stared crying, and saying “Mommy, I need a hug.” Mandy kept trying to soothe him, and after a while, he settled down and fell asleep. Then Beth got the bright idea – why not call the operator and get the phone number from her? Great idea – the operator not only got the number, she connected Beth to Rob, he gave the directions, and we were soon there.
We stopped there for a while, long enough for everyone to stretch their legs and have a drink, and for Robby to give an animated account of his visit to the safari, which was very funny and entertained everyone. About an hour later, we were on our way again, and by about ten thirty, I was home. I do hope we can do a better job of foiling Murphy next year. I am getting extremely tired of his interference!
