One of the things on my "to-do" list yesterday was to meet Toby at the local used bookstore to buy some books for our Scotland trip. Toby's favorite blogger, some intelligent engineer sort, said that his goal was to read 40 books this year. Toby decided that he would set a reading goal too. He wants to read four books this year :) If you know us at all, you know that reading four books is not a problem. We can do that in a month. Actually, Toby said he would read four "substantial" books. I'm not sure what constitutes "substantial" but I am pretty sure it is not Louis Lamour or Ken Follet, or Clive Cussler, or Grisham, etc. I think he means finance or economic type books, maybe an energy saving type book (makes my eyes roll back in my head). Bo wanted us to go to the library and pick up some P G Wodehouse for some humorous reading. Wodehouse sounds great, but I do not want to take library books to Scotland that I have to bring home. If we leave books in Scotland, we can bring home more souvenirs. Anyway, we picked out about four novels each to go along with the books we have ordered recently. We should be able to start our own used bookstore soon.
Toby went back to work after the bookstore, and I went to Wal-Mart. My plan was to do my shopping, take my groceries to the car and go back in for a pedicure (pain and beauty). As I walked out with my shopping cart, I noticed an old man in a really old truck coming slowly towards the crosswalk. Since he seemed to be looking off for a parking place and not paying attention to pedestrians, I decided to wait for him to pass even though he was moving slowly. I was worried he would spot a parking place and suddenly zoom towards it running me down in the process. When the cab of his truck was just past me, but the bed of the truck was still in front of me, he stopped. I was perfectly perpendicular to his truck, within inches of him with my cart, thinking that now, I was going to have to go around him while he was stopped dead center of the crosswalk looking for a parking space. I knew he had never noticed me standing there, so I went around behind his truck. I knew better than to go in front of him since he was not paying attention to people around him. As I pushed my cart behind his truck, I heard the gears shift. No way! This nut is going to back up and run over me! Sure enough, he put the truck in reverse, hit the gas, and never looked back. I scurried around him with my cart and slapped the side of his truck as I cleared the back end just to let him know I was there. He stopped, put the truck in drive, and slowly moved on. A lady who witnessed the whole incident said something, but I could not hear her well. I thought she said, "He almost whipped you." So I almost yelled, "Bring it on, old man!" but then I realized that the lady probably said, "He almost hit you." I managed to stay out of a fight - barely. After depositing my groceries in the car, I went back in for a relaxing pedicure and a diet Pepsi.
While getting my pedicure, two college-aged girls came in. They were pretty cute. I thought they needed T-shirts that said "High maintenance in training." They knew the names of the workers in the salon. They wanted to sit by each other while getting their pedicures, and they each had a People Magazine to read. The girls were highly entertaining, but I could not help thinking, "I hope these girls marry well" because someone would need to take care of them and keep up the maintenance.
6 comments:
OMG...you had me laughing hard today. I laughed and snorted out loud when Toby said his goal for the year was to read 4 books...especially after the other guys was a goal of 40. But when I read the story of the little old man and you got to the part where he put the truck in reverse...I slapped my desk, threw my head back, and just hee-hawed out loud. Glad you didn't get hit, but that was so funny!!
I can so hear you saying, "No way, that nut..." sounds like the pedicure was well deserved :)
The-truck-in-reverse-thing happened to me a few years back, 'cept I was in my car. The fella in front of me stopped in the middle of the road, threw his truck in reverse and started backing up. I laid on my horn - big time (couldn't go back myself as someone else was there)! He just kept a comin til he wrinkled my front grill. When we got out of our respective cars I said to the old man (why are they usually old men?!) "Sir, didn't you hear my horn?" to which he replied, "Do you know where the baseball field is; I'm late to my grandson's game." Grrrrrrrr.
Glad you're okay and armed with books for your trip!
Wow, Catherine...that very same scenario you describe happened to me last month. Except for the fact it was an old woman who wiped out the front of my car. Neither she nor her husband, who was in the front seat of their big-assed pick-up, ever looked back. And I asked her if she heard my horn, too. Her reply? "Oh, yes, but by then it was too late." BS. She never hit her brakes until her trailer hitch was embedded six inches in my car's front end. Three weeks and $3500.00 later I had my car back...
As for "high maintenance," Lou...there are more than a few women in my cohort that fit that description. Country Girls are BEST. It's just their horses that are high-maintenance. ;-)
Buck, I thought about you and your "truck backing" story wondering if the same person drove from NM to OK.
Catherine, maybe they lived in Austin for awhile too.
And Buck, sometimes it is not their horses that are a problem, but it is their dogs that are high maintenance
I'm glad you weren't hit as well.
I nearly got hit by a forklift yesterday at work. The guy did the same thing--started backing up without looking.
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