Cav's Place

Actually slept well this morning, for the first time in a long time. Had been getting five or so hours each morning again for quite a while, maybe six if I was lucky, always split due to having to wake up to go to the bathroom, usually twice before actually getting up for good, sometimes when I had to go the third time, sometimes when there was too much noise or it just didn’t seem like I could get back to sleep well enough anyway. But now, tired and, I’m sure, also somewhat dehydrated after yesterday, it was past 1:30 PM when I got out of bed. Did wake up a few times, but just went right back to sleep in moments, not needing to go to the toilet, not tossing and turning, and apparently not even kept awake by any noise. And I did have my window open and after waking up I also heard a bit of hammering and drilling, so I’m sure there was more of that earlier as well.

But before getting to yesterday, I’m going to mention that Tuesday I had to take back the book loaned from the Library for dad, and that was rather unpleasant because it rained that day. The initial plan was to go later, in the evening, as it closed at 8 PM and the forecast I saw before going to bed that morning mentioned some small chance of storms in the afternoon, but clearing later. Yet when I woke up a storm was quite clearly coming and the forecast said it will indeed start and only get worse as time passed, so after eating a little and spending some time on-line, I got dressed, wrapped the book in two plastic bags with a cloth one in between, and went out… Right when it started raining. Felt a few drops as soon as I stepped out of the building, but just a few minutes later it was seriously raining and it continued all the way there, so I got quite soaked, though fortunately the book didn’t.
Felt a bit silly there, because I only noticed that one of those terminals had been installed there as well after giving the first volume back to the person working there, waiting for her to actually come to the desk, and then bringing the second one to her as well and having her do everything manually. Guess I’ll have to keep it in mind when I’ll return it, so I won’t have to deal with people again and so I won’t bother them either. And so I’ll be out of there as soon as possible, because that particular branch sure is one I’d rather not have anything to do with again, seeming to be dedicated to children and a fair number being there.
Either way, what’s interesting is that the initial forecast was more accurate, the rain dying down when I got back out and the sky clearing well before I got to the hypermarkets I also checked out under these circumstances, grabbing just a few things. Even had time to pretty much dry on the way. And then I also grabbed a cake from a confectionery spotted on the way, deciding to tell dad that I’m thinking of charging him 5 RON ($1.28 or €1.10 at the day’s rate) for the trip to cover for said cake, though it actually cost 4.5 RON. And I did tell him that and he said I can charge him, but I’m yet to see the 5 RON, which he probably forgot about right after, if he even took me seriously in the first place.

Now, yesterday. It started with this week’s run, which may end up being this week’s first run, because tomorrow seems to be a good day for running and next week doesn’t exactly seem promising at the moment, so I may just get it out of the way. But, to get back to yesterday, the time was 49:42, with sector times of 4:32, 5:20, 6:08, 4:33, 5:06, 6:09, 4:37, 5:17, 6:09 and 1:51, making for lap times of 16:00, 15:48 and 16:03. That was exactly as intended, since it was sunny and rather hot and I didn’t want to tire myself too much either, so I just wanted to stay under 50 minutes and wasn’t even particularly keen on staying under 16 minutes for the first and third laps, thinking I’ll recover enough on the second lap and that final sector to be safe, which was exactly what I did.

However, if my timing was just right for the run, that was no longer the case later, starting even with leaving to go to the hypermarket I usually go to, to get bread. Meant to leave around 3 PM and it was past 3:30 PM when I finally did. Then, after trying that recycling machine one more time and apparently messing it up after trying to make it accept some pressed plastic bottles again the same way it accepted the pressed cans, failing to do so and having it display and error and a message to ask for the help of the technical staff, I grabbed the 0.08 RON ticket it printed for the one bottle and one can it had accepted before that, dropped the rest off along with a printer cartridge, and went in, meaning to just quickly grab the bread and be out in time to catch the 4:45 PM bus they provide.
Well, that didn’t work, because I found cheap watermelons and decided to grab one, which meant spending some time picking it and cutting it quite close either way, and those watermelons were large, so running to catch the small bus while carrying one may have been rather difficult. As such, I decided to wander around, grab some more things, and only make my way out around 5:10 PM, in time for the next bus, at 5:20 PM. And I was out of the hypermarket itself at 5:18 PM, even though I again tried, and again failed, to figure out how to use that ticket, and also again had a particularly hard time getting the machine to accept a 50 RON bill, plus that an older man got rather in my face and seemed to expect me to step aside and let him use the machine I was using, since he could be sure it accepted cash payments and didn’t seem to believe the older woman he was with that the one she had chosen was the same, even though I couldn’t have done that even if I’d have wanted to, having already scanned my ticket.
The problem was that, maybe in part because of that older man making my brain give some errors, I was suddenly convinced that the bus was leaving at 5:25 PM, so I calmly stopped and rearranged everything in my bags, calmly walking out and only realizing I was late when I heard other people talk about the next bus that was scheduled. As such, I had to take that one, get dropped some distance away and have to walk while carrying three bags, one of them containing a watermelon weighing just over nine kilograms. That bag also tore under the weight, one of the handles tearing completely just as I was crossing the street in front of the building, but it lasted just long enough in the end.

I walked in at 5:55 PM, 15 minutes later than the latest time the schedule I had made for myself allowed. Still, I was sure that the event supposed to take place in front of the Polish embassy, to show solidarity with the Polish protesters, was to start at 7 PM, and I had asked dad to leave me a metro card, so I only wanted to leave at 6:30 PM. That didn’t give me time to get on-line again, as I had things to put in their proper place first, but I had checked things after my run, so thought I didn’t need to, feeling quite content when I actually managed to be out the door just before 6:30 PM and at the embassy pretty much exactly at 7 PM.
I had noticed one person I knew talking to a couple of others on my way there, but assumed they had stopped for a moment and will also come shortly after me, not that they were leaving. But after I got there, at about the same time as a couple of others I didn’t know, I learned that the event had actually been from 6 PM and it was pretty much over by then, only a few people being left, those who organized it. And as soon as I was told that I realized that, while the fact that there was another event I had been “interested” in yesterday morning, in front of the City Hall, meant I only had a notification about having two events that day before going to bed, only that one was left by the time I got on-line after my run, at which point I actually saw the time listed as 6 PM, but must have been so certain it was 7 PM that I must have simply ignored it. And no, the time wasn’t changed, I simply read it wrong somehow, having been convinced it was 7 PM all along. So it can’t quite be said that I attended that event, though since those two others were also there and one more person, in a red and white dress too, arrived a few minutes later, we were also handed some signs to hold and a picture was taken so there will be a record that we were there as well, even if not at the same time as the others. Not that there had been many others to begin with, someone saying about 30 before checking a picture and revising that count to “at least 22”.
What that meant was that I had used the metro for what I’m pretty sure is the first time since going to the half marathon for no reason, just wasting a trip. Obviously walked back from there, the embassy being close to Victory Square and this year’s protests meaning I’m now used to making that trip on foot as well, despite the distance. Didn’t make up for the used trip, of course, but at least there weren’t two of them and, after only spending ten minutes at the embassy, I was still back around the same time I had assumed I’ll be back at if using the metro both ways, if not even a little earlier. But it sure was weird, and embarrassing, to miss the event, and also that bus earlier, due to somehow ending up convinced that I should have been there at the wrong time.