After hearing what happened to a couple I know near Pembroke I just had to give my head a shake. It seemed like a comedy of errors.
They bought a Christmas tree and put it the back of their pickup truck. On the way home they spotted a car wash and decided to get the truck cleaned. Upon entering the automatic machine she said, “Back up or the tree will get wet.” But he responded that it was too late. However about midway through he panicked and wanted to open the door and check on the tree. She stopped him by grabbing his arm, hysterically saying, “Don’t be silly, you will get wet too.” Finally they were through the car wash and upon reaching home realized the tree was covered all over with ice frozen from the water. The best they could do was put in their unheated garage until the ice hopefully melted and it dried out. If that doesn’t do it, it will have to be brought into the house! What the heck, it could happen to any of us, right?
My brother could have been taken away by people in white coats for what he did. He had packed all his weekend clothes and camping gear and placed into his truck before heading out to join his partner at their trailer park. As he was leaving town he heard a constant buzzing sound. Worried that it might be a serious problem with the vehicle he turned and went back to his dealer. The mechanic there was mystified about the sound as well and examined the truck from under the hood to underneath the frame and everything in between. He then hesitated, spotted the bag on the seat and said to my brother, “Let’s see what’s in there.” It’s was his shaving razor that he had forgot to turn off. As for a cost to find this out, the mechanic said, “I’ll send you a bill in the mail, I don‘t want to spoil your weekend.” My brother tried to laugh it off but underneath he was dreadfully embarrassed.
There should be a mandatory recommendation that we have to keep a notebook up to date of the careless mistakes we make. Keeping track of them would allow observations of patterns. It should lead to figuring out what we’re doing wrong to change this kind of behaviour.
I quit smoking about 10 years ago because of carelessness. I was on the porch after dark having a smoke and somehow fell asleep. The cigarette fell from my fingers and burnt a hole in my jeans, waking me with a jolt. I also had a burn on my leg. Pretty dumb.
One day living in Scarborough, I was pruning an apple tree in the back yard and unfortunately cut my thumb on the other hand with the shears. It was bleeding profusely so I wrapped it as best I could and drove to the emergency department at the Salvation Hospital about six blocks away. After being checked there I was directed to wait in a room down the corridor until a doctor saw me. The room itself was empty but had a bed in it and some rather comfortable chairs at the foot of the bed. I sat down to wait but it was only seconds before I noticed a painting on the wall above the head of the bed that was crooked. Now, I have an obsession about this and the longer I sat the more agitated I was becoming. I weighed my chances that no one would come into the room, rushed to the painting but couldn’t adjust it without climbing onto the bed. I did so and got it straightened just as the doctor entered. She said rather brusquely, “What are you doing on that bed?” I with equivocation muttered back something unintelligible. Then she told me to get over there so she examine see my wound. I ended up getting three stitches. During this procedure I was so embarrassed and the doctor made it more so by not uttering another word. I gather she assumed that I was just another eccentric she had to deal with.
Let’s face it, we all make blunders and goof-ups but chill out. No one is perfect, so face up to them. Tell others and have a good laugh. What the heck anyway!
