Vacation Mode, Revisited

With no school today, I slipped right back into a summer vacation state of mind, and it was good. There was even the obligatory trip to a car mechanic, which was not good. But mostly it was a quiet day, with a side trip to Target, of course, and not much more.

Here in the Garden State, all cars must be inspected every other year -- used to be every year -- and there is a sticker on the windshield that indicates when, and if, the car has passed. K's car failed last month, I'm sure I have mentioned, for an allegedly loose headlight cover.

It's free to get your car inspected at a state-run inspection facilities, but these are the people who give public employees a bad name. They have power, and like to toy with people. If the inspectors are out of sorts, they find some reason to fail your car. Which is what happened, since the car passed two years ago when the headlight was in the same condition.

But you can take your car to a private facility, a garage with a state contract, and pay for your inspection. I chose this method rather than get back on the line and have those schmucks find something else wrong with it. Well, it was a good plan in theory.

My own mechanic can't be bothered with the state (smart man), so he doesn't do inspections. I found a station nearby that would, and called yesterday to make an appointment. The guy said to bring that car at noon, and it would take maybe an hour. I had explained that there was really nothing wrong with the car (as my own mechanic had already tightened the headlight.) So.

I took K's car over at noon, and asked when I should return. The guy says, he'll call sometime in the afternoon, when it's done. I said my daughter needed the car to go to class at 3.30, and he says, well, he doesn't know, it's noon now, and most of the guys have just gone to lunch, and there are other jobs ahead of me. WTF? Why did I call for an appointment? Why tell me noon if it's their lunch hour?

Anyway, I walked home, about a mile, which was the best part of the day. Beautiful day today. I don't seem to huff and puff as much anymore when I walk, and my feet don't hurt any more when I'm walking than they do at any other times. (When I wake up, the first thing I'm aware of is that my feet hurt.) But my hip hurts when I walk, my right hip. This, I'm sure, has something to do with the chiropractic stuff. Should I be continuing with that? I guess so, although there was no chance to go this week because he's closed for the Jewish holiday tomorrow. It was basically a good walk, though.

I'm taking my car in for the radio tomorrow at 10, which they say should take about a half hour. Uh huh. We'll just see about that. But there's a Dunkin Donuts across the street, and it's in a part of town that I'd really love to just walk around in, because it's the part of town where I grew up. I drive through it often enough, and sometimes even past my old house and elementary school, but it would be amusing to walk past the house, and around the school yard. Both are very different than they were when I was a kid. The house looks weird to me, but isn't it always like that? They've taken down the two big trees that were in the front, and replaced the windows, so it does look strange. It was actually a very nice house, for a split level:



The school yard has changed, of course, because they put a big honking addition onto the school building last year, just like they did to the high school. I would always go there when I was a kid and I wanted some alone time. Sometimes, I would climb up the back of the backstop and sit on top of it for awhile. Great view. I don't think there's even a baseball field there anymore, let alone a backstop.

WATCHING LAW & ORDER :: ENTRY #1579