3.19.2017...The Hazards...

So living in one of the most extreme climates in Canada, Winnipeg gets temperature extremes from -40 in the winter to +40 with humidity in the summer.  Crazy! 

You might ask why one would choose to live here (especially if they were not born and raised here)....must be love.  

Well I have to share with you my Friday.  March 17,2017. 

I get out of bed with a raging headache....what a way to start the day!  But I do not give in to the urge to cover my head with the covers and go back to sleep to try and sleep it off....no....I get up and get ready for work. 

It rained most of the day yesterday and all night.  Over night the winds picked up and the temperatures dropped ....so I fully anticipated a slippery morning drive.  

I got ready for work, grabbed my lunch and purse, and headed out the front door.  Did a quick test on the cement walk to see if it was icy....no....just wet.  Still raining though. 

So I walk down the cement sidewalk along the side of our house in the dark, and OMG....it is a total glare of ice!  We have all seen the cartoon characters with their feet going a mile a minute when they are trying not to fall.....well that was me.  Head throbbing, legs a going, arms flailing, mouth screaming ( at 6 am I might add) trying not to fall on the ice.  All I could think of was that I was going to fall and that I hoped like heck the dog had not done her business anywhere near where I was certainly going to fall! 

Well, by some miracle I got my balance and did not fall.  I gingerly crept down the side of the house hanging on to the house and tippy toeing between the cement sidewalk and the snow bank trying not to get my feet soaked from all the standing rain water.  

Finally I get to the back gate and there is a fricken lake right at the gate!  No other option but to go through it unless I wanted to walk all the way around the block and up the back lane to get to the garage!   Yup, you guessed it....feet soaked in icy water.....OMG could my day get any worse? 

Finally I am in the garage, sitting in my car, head throbbing, feet soaked, mad at the weather wondering why in the heck I didn't just stay in bed in the first place.  

But onward girl....quit feeling sorry for yourself...pull up your big girl panties and get your butt to work....you will feel better....surely it can only go up from here.

So I pull my car out of the garage, shut the garage door and head up the back lane.  Then this #*&##* idiot driver who lives down the street from me pulls out in front of me, cutting me off, he never even looked....just got in his truck and pulled out.....I jam on my brakes praying I don't hit him and my car slides sideways heading for another neighbors garage!  STUPID MAN!   

Anyhow....my car stops in time, I don't hit the garage, and stupid man is long gone.  

Off I go again.....so yes, the roads in the residential areas are a skating rink, no traction at all....thanking God that I purchased ice and snow tires....at least I was on the road as opposed to cars through fences, up against telephone poles, and on the wrong side of the roadway.  Yup... I was ok. 

So as I said, it was raining, and I had to put my wipers on.....well it must have turned to freezing rain a bit, cause the next time I put my wipers on, the windshield wiper on the passenger side stuck to the window, ripping the rubber off the blade half way down!!  OMG  Now the blade is scratching the windshield so I have to turn off the wipers.

So I am right down town now, in the dark, in the drizzling rain, I pull over to the side of the road, put on my four way flashers, wait for traffic to clear, get out of my car and inspect the wiper.  Nothing I can do....I need to be able to drive to get new wiper blades....I need to use wipers to be able to drive....I have no choice, I have to lift the passenger side arm away from the window.  

So at this point it decides to downpour....yup I am getting soaked....and this "gentleman of the streets" approaches me and quite frankly scared the heck out of me as I did not see or hear him approaching asking for money and smokes.  After nearly jumping out of my skin, I quickly refused and got back in my car. 

Here I sit on the side of the road...in the pouring rain....raging headache....soaked feet....now soaked body....wiper blade standing at attention on the front of my car quietly mocking me as it swishes from sided to side in the air....seeming to tell me and all approaching drivers....look at her, she is the idiot that did not stay home from work sick with a raging headache.....look at the idiot. 

So I pull back into traffic and continue on my way.....get to the first gas station to buy a new wiper blade....fall on my ass in the parking lot on the ice!  

Go in the store, soaked to the hide, and ask if they sell blades.  Kid (who looked to be 12) behind counter says "look on the wall"   

Well, they sold EXPENSIVE blades, but they had no measuring tape, and the packaging on the blade did not allow you to see the full blade so you couldn't even match the packaging up to the defective blade.  GRRRRR

So I go to the Tim Horton's and get my coffee ( same building) and go back to my car....while people are staring at the windshield wiper arm standing at attention.  

I get back in my car and go to Cloutier Auto on Pembina Highway, where an awesome guy looked up the proper size, sold me the blade and even installed it for me!  AWESOME! Back on the road, new blade, it is now 6:45 am.

I get to work....park my car.....step out of my car....fall flat on my ass and I am sliding on the ice on my ass across the parking lot.  When I finally stop sliding I try to stand and it is impossible.  Brand new asphalt with a glassy coating of ice.  

After numerous tries to stand I crawl the 15 feet on my hands and knees to get to the side of the asphalt and onto the soaked grass.  I unlock the door to the office and grab the ice melt.  I spread the ice melt across the parking lot to get back to my abandoned purse, lunch can and coffee.  

I spread the ice melt across the whole lot so my coworkers don't meet the same fate as I did. (not one thanked me by the way) 

Finally I am at work....raging headache....soaked feet....soaked pants....removed soaked parka.....soaked hair......$23 dollars poorer due to  stuck wiper blade....and.....to top it off....my coffee is WRONG!!!!  I got someone else's coffee.....NOT what I ordered!!!!!

Why did I not just call in sick and stay in bed and try to get rid of this headache??  

Yup.....100% true story....the hazards of living in Winnipeg and the adventures of a girl who should have just stayed in bed!