There is nothing more fulfulling than driving confidently in a place that you have never actually driven yourself.. alone. And that's what I did today. I was VERY proud of myself! no wait .. I AM! Its one thing to drive in a place with crazy drivers (Trinidad) and quite another to do it in a large very controlled one (Bergen). My trip to Bergen today started just fine. I gave myself 45 minutes to make the 30 min drive and reached in good time.
Oopss .. wrong lane and I am forced to turn right with a truck ... ok .. follow the truck Jaemie. I had never been there tho so I can't even figure out where to turn around.... Ahhh ... a car park, maybe I can 3 point turn?? Nope .. there was a road..... even better.
I ended up heading all the way to the top floor of the car park and parked as far away from other cars as I could ... (hubby has the car door ding syndrome nah)! crap... it was a little crooked ... I was certainly not going back to the car ... I had driven around in 5 circles already... before I actually found a spot.
Breathing a sigh of relief I walked in to meet up with a new friend as planned.
I had a lovely lunch in a beautiful city said my good byes and jumped into the car to drive home.
Uneventful.... yes ... what happens next will scare you.
I forgot the parking ticket in the car.... I remember My husband was always a little impatient behind drivers who have to pay at the exit. You have 2 lines to choose from .. depending on how many cars, the line is normally easy to choose.... you think it should be a quick simple .. put the card in, machine tells u how much u have to pay and then you put your credit card in, pull it out, Barrier goes up and you drive on. its not always that easy....sometimes you get stuck behind someone who obviously cannot use their common sense...
Sorry ...I was one of those today.
I reach the machine most annoyed with myself because I know that it does take a little longer and there may be impatient people behind me on this busy second day of school. I was trying to get out of the city before the rush hour started.
I put the ticket in ... someone can't read signs...... i had to put it in a different way ... duh plucky .. read!. I had my Card ready... trying to be as swift as I could....
I pulled the card out and looked at the machine ...
Where do you put the card now??? Ah ... here is the sign .... I tried to put the card into the slot... it would not go in... I pushed upwards towards the sky ... pushed away from me.....
I looked at the machine... Some man shouts something angrily from behind.... I'm sure he was trying to help ... only thing is ... I DON'T SPEAK NORWEGIAN!!!! ......
I've thought about getting a temporary sign to put on the car saying "Forgive me, I speak English and I'm not from here..... just let me squeeze in if I'm in the wrong lane!" .
If I had that on the car, for sure someone would have helped me out in English.
It was a good thing I chose to not put the top down ... surely I would have been looking around at the other drivers with a helpless bambi look ... ... hahaha.. And on top of that everyone who passed by would have gotten a good view of the idiot woman at the ticket pay machine
Where on earth do you put the credit card? ... By now the driver behind me must have given up on the hope of making that green light... again.... and now just shaking his/her head as I was frantically trying to put my credit card into a crevace designed to perhaps open the machine for maintenance. :s
and in a state of panic I just shoved the card in the only available space .... since 4 cars had passed through in the other lane already.....
Ah ... right ... the same place you put the parking ticket in..... of course ... ... ...
MEGGIED myself right there... cuz I really deserved it! Meggie? ..
Wrong way again , Coonoomoonoo.
Then the man behind must have just about opened his car door to come box meh in meh face. and start one big commesse...
Quickly I looked at the sign again and put the bankCard in the right way.....
what now??? What did it say??? .. I have no idea .. : s. it was in Norwegian ... (boy I can't wait to know this language!).... I got back my card .. but there was still no open barrier ...
Why won't it open so that I can drive away and hope that the person behind me was from Timbucktoo or something and not know what to do either....
Yea right ... fat chance but anyhoos...
The Barrier opened when the ticket finally came back out I grabbed it as fast as I could and tried to zoom away.....
At the traffic light, I kept my head down.... I pulled my shades over my eyes and hoped that the person who was behind me did not drive right next to me and give me that dangerous cut-eye look
I started reliving the last few minutes and started digging the hole in road in front of me. Inside, I was Cracking up at myself and how stupid I must have looked. I have no idea who was behind me in the line. I I don't ever want to know ...ever ..... I just wanted the ordeal to be over.
So next time you stuck behind someone and you waiting impatiently for them to do something that you think is easy .... try to help em out nah man eh ..... oh gorm ...
Whey yuh say?
Oh Jaemie! I am enjoying your blog. I can't stop laughing. You must print your blogs and file them. One day, you or your family would read them and remember.I hope you got the boots fixed. Or was that the end of your Aussie boots. Aunty O"Gilvie
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