Early To Bed . . .

Going to bed early and getting to sleep early are two different things.

You know when I start a story like this it’s not going to be good (at least for me).

Being the wonderful Auntie that I am, I drove to London yesterday for my great-nephew’s first birthday. It’s about a 3 hour drive (minimum). The party was to start at 1, so by leaving home at 9:30 a.m. I should have just enough time to get there, picking up the daughter on the way. Theoretically.

However (you just knew there was going to be a however, didn’t you?) though I went to bed early (for me) Friday night, I couldn’t get to sleep. Last time I looked at the clock it was 2:30 a.m. Then, for some inexplicable reason, I woke up at 7 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. So we start the day with me tired, cranky and headachey. My alarm was set for 8:30, but I didn’t actually get out of bed until almost 9.

Now I’m starting to run late. I forgot to wrap the Christmas presents I was taking with me. Oops! This takes me to 9:30. I didn’t have a gift back big enough for the birthday present I was taking, which meant I had to stop at a store. Okay, no problem, I had to buy a card anyway. By now it’s 10 a.m. and I’m back in the car trying to stuff the large panda bear into the bag. The bag comes apart. Doesn’t rip, it comes apart, as in the glue that holds it together . . . doesn’t. No time to go back to the store, I’ll just keep going and hope the daughter has some tape.

It’s 10:15 and I’m finally on the road. Traffic is heavy, but moving well. I make it as far as Waterloo before I start losing the Toronto radio station I’m listening to and realize I forgot to bring a CD. The only CD in the car is one I’ve already gotten tired of, however it’s better than nothing. Get to the daughter’s house, get the bag taped together, get to the party. Whew!

Now’s it time to go home. First, we fill up the gas tank again. Gas is 10 cents a litre more in London that it is at home. Nevertheless, I’m still able to top up the tank for $30, which would have made me happier if it hadn’t started snowing while I was filling up. Fortunately, though it snowed most of the way home it never got really bad, just enough to be annoying.

After stopping for a cold coffee (that I used to wash down an asprin) at the Tim Horton’s about 30 miles (kilometres, whatever) outside of London, it was smooth sailing right up to the Toronto Airport, at which point the traffic came to a halt, then crawled all the way to Yorkdale. To make it worse, the radio station was doing some kind of retro oldies thing (60s at 6, 70s at 7, 80s at 8). ARGH! Yeah, I know I could have changed stations, but I didn’t think of it at the time.

Anyway, eventually I made it home, and in time to watch Fringe too. Today, I’m going to take the Christmas Spirit by the throat and put up the Christmas tree. Might even put the lights on it too.