It is too, too early and I am not ready

Saturday was just a day to get things done.

My front tires had to be replaced and then aligned. I have spent a good deal of time around car repair shops in my day, but that doesn’t mean that I ever get used to it. I would guess that such places are some of the last places where even enlightened men feel that women simply do not belong.

I don’t want to belong. I hate these places.

And yet, Merle was out of town, so I had to hang around and wait for my car to be finished. The waiting areas are not designed for comfort, unlike other waiting areas-for instance my hair salon. There, they take your coat, offer coffee, tea, soft drinks, or even wine. There are television screens everywhere with interesting fashion runway shows, hairstyling tips, or simply network shows. This is what there is to offer for a nearly two hours’ wait in the tire shop.

So, as long as I wanted to read those, I was set. The newest issue looked quite riveting. Literally.

There was not another woman in the place. Not for the entire time that I was there. I watched (and listened) as customer after customer, all men, arrived to do tire business on a busy Saturday morning. There were dozens of them. Not one nodded at me, said a perfunctory hello, or even acknowledged my existence as I sat in the waiting area.

I was invisible in that place. What a relief when the car was finally finished. I felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment to have survived an unpleasant experience in order to complete a necessary task. The car drove wonderfully well. All felt right with my world.

I should have known that it would not last long.

I went to the grocery store. As I approached the entrance, I was rudely reminded of all that is wrong in this world of ours.

There was a Salvation Army bell ringer. One at the entrance AND the exit. There were evergreen wreaths, swags and spruce tips for sale.

On November 8th.

It was nearly 50F.

This had to be much too early! It’s not winter. Thanksgiving is more that two weeks away. Those evergreens will be brown by Dec. 1st. The bell ringers will be suffering carpal tunnel long before the real Santa arrives. The Hallmark Store employees will have gone mad after being forced to hear the same fifteen-minute loop of Christmas music all day for 3 months as a background to the talking ornaments, musical cards and scented candles.

It seems that the race for holiday dollars has begun much too early this year.

Inappropriate, but bearable, I supposed.

But then, the world wobbled just a little bit more, making me even more dizzy with the craziness of it all.

As I drove home, I heard the weather forecaster issuing the winter storm warning and a predicted 14 in. of snow for this area. It is to start tonight and snow overnight, all day Monday, and into early Tuesday morning.

Even for this area, that is a lot of snow, and it is very early in the season. It is the kind of snowstorm that will start out wet and sloppy and then change to extremely cold and dry. We are not likely to see grass or ground until May.

Merry  fric…g Christmas everyone!

Bah Humbug!

**This post was almost completely written in my mind when the last post raised its’ head. As Jocelyn recently pointed out, blogging/writing just seems to happen that way sometimes.