An Hour I Will Never Get Back

There are days, like today, when I have trouble making sense of pretty much anything. Days like today I should just stay in bed and try to get hourly reports from Louise on how the world is getting along without me. Unfortunately, Louise seems to have better things to do with her time. Go figure!

 

Last night, we had decided to go to Ikea to pick something up and to take advantage of their $1.00 breakfast. If you arrive between 9:30 and 10:00, you get the breakfast of two sausages, scrambled eggs, potatoes and coffee for $1.00. If you get there after 10:00, breakfast is still $1.00 but you have to pay for your coffee. You can see why it is desirable to get there at 9:30. We slept late this morning and it didn’t look like we would make Ikea before 10:00, so I told Louise that since she is off on Tuesday then we should hit Ikea then. My reasoning being that why should you pay for coffee if you didn’t have to. I then suggested to Louise that she might like to go to one of the fine breakfast restaurants this city has to offer.

She looked at me like I was insane and said “So, you are so cheap that rather than pay an extra $1.00 for coffee at Ikea you want to go and spend $30.00 at a restaurant for breakfast?” You know, when she puts it that way, it doesn’t make as much sense as it did in my mind.

 

“Maybe we should go to Ikea today.” I said. Louise just nodded and started to get ready. I have no idea what the hell I was thinking, but however I managed to get to my solution was the same way I got solutions in grade ten math class. Just so you don’t worry, the breakfast was good at Ikea, we managed to get the item we were after and grade ten math class was bad.

When we bought our house in Calgary, the city was pretty small by city standards and had a sort of small town mentality when it came to making city decisions. Consequently, we have never had a water meter and I was happy with the arrangement, especially when the kids were teens living at home and showering several times a day. New developments have been installing water meters for many years and the city has been encouraging residents to have meters installed at no cost to them. My way of thinking is that if the city wants me to do something, it probably isn’t in my best interest no matter what they say.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I was given no choice. I received something from the city in the mail that told me to make an appointment to get a meter installed or they will give me a time. I knew this was coming, but putting things off has worked pretty well in my life so far and I figure I had a couple of years extra in which to squander the worlds supply of fresh water. If you don’t like it, then go hug a tree!

 

I made the appointment for Tuesday afternoon, which would give me a chance to clear the crap that is stored around the meter this weekend. Late this afternoon, I figured I should get at it and went to survey the area to see just what kind of job it was going to be. I went to where the meter was and couldn’t see it for all of the crap that was piled around it. I started to move stuff and lo and behold, it wasn’t there! I then checked in and around the furnace and water heater and it wasn’t there. I got a flashlight to shed some light and still didn’t see it. It is a big thing made of brass with a dial on the top, so how come I can’t find it? I went out side, but there is only the gas meter and the electric meter out there. Curious.

The only thing I can think of is that when I framed the basement, maybe I built the walls around it. That doesn’t make sense. How am I going to tell the meter guy when he comes to install the water meter that I can’t find the meter…Ohhhh…uhhhh…? He’s coming to INSTALL the water meter! There’s an hour I will never get back.