August 28, 2009

  • I just got home from the Repo show, and saw that my mom had called several times while I was out. I called her back. Argh.

    She said something weird happened to her tonight. She kept hearing this very shrill alarm sound, it would go for about 5 seconds, then stop for 5 seconds, and repeat. On and on. She turned off her air conditioner, but that wasn't it. She turned off the TV, that wasn't it. She then thought it might be the lights overhead, but that wasn't it. She opened the door to the hallway to see if it might be the fire alarm, but it was definitely coming from inside her condo. So it stopped about that time, so she just sat there in the dark.

    I asked if it was her carbon monoxide detector, and she said "Oh! I never thought of that!" However, instead of DOING anything about it, she just kept repeating her sentence. I kept telling her to go and check, and she was stuck on repeat.

    "OKAY! I know you never thought of that! But if your CO detector is going off, you need to know why!" Stupid woman! I told her to go push the button on the thing and see if it made the same noise she had heard. She said she couldn't, it's behind the couch. "Use a stick then!" So she put down the phone and I heard a few steps, then some shrill beeps. She came back and told me it sounded like what she had heard.

    She wasn't going to do anything further. She didn't see the logic when I told her to call the fire department and tell them what happened so they can check it out. I also told her to open all the windows just in case. She has electric baseboard heating so I have no idea where CO could come from in her place, but if it's going off, it's best to have it checked out rather than doubt the alarm and die from apathy. It took several tries to get her to stop repeating herself and hang up the phone and call for help.

    Perhaps it was just the moron alarm going off. <sigh>

    I shouldn't speak so badly, but seriously. Anyway, we just had a great couple of days together. Mom came into town yesterday, and she, Gilly and I met Allan for lunch at Zellers. Today is Allan's birthday, and Mom really wanted to give him her presents in person. She gave him FOURTEEN golf shirts, mostly in sizes large and extra large. This despite the facts that she has given him many golf shirts, and he doesn't wear golf shirts, and we also keep telling her he's a size medium. She also gave him a nifty tool cart and a work bench, both of which he liked, although he forgot to say "thank you" until I kicked him under the table. he looked at me all confused, and I mouthed the words to him. Fortunately Mom didn't notice. He made a special point of thanking her for lunch as we were leaving.

    After Allan returned to work, the rest of us went to Stratford. We spent the afternoon bumming around town, checking out shops, eating good stuff in Rocky Mountain Chocolate, and enjoying the lovely weather. We went to the Parlour restaurant where Gilly and I went two years ago, and Gilly and I had dinner. Mom wasn't interested in anything but a cup of tea and a little bread and butter, as her false teeth move around too much for her to be able to eat properly. I managed to convince her to eat some of my giant pavlova, and Gilly had a few bites too. 'Twas a good meal.

    After dinner we saw Cyrano de Bergerac, which was excellent. It was very funny, with lavish costumes and one scene with a lot of very impressive pyrotechnics. After the show we headed back home to Kitchener for some sleep.

    This morning we went to the St. Jacobs market. We bought a bunch of fruit and some corn, cinnamon buns, buttertart squares, and lots of other good things. Mom got herself a 2010 Coronation Street calendar. We picked up some tiny tomatoes and munched on them as we browsed the market stalls. Then we went to the outlet mall and did some clothes shopping. Mom bought Gilly a couple of blouses in Jones New York, and a dress for me from Red Coral. She found some huge fluffy bath towels for herself. We had been talking about going to the Laura outlet store in Cambridge, but we were all getting tired and it was getting late, so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. It was a very pleasant visit, with minimal aggravation and maximal enjoyment.

    When I got home, I passed out for a while before going to Repo: The Genetic Opera. A group of students was performing a shadow theatre in front of the screen at the Princess, and it was a hoot. I hadn't seen the film before, but I got a kick out of it. There was a meet and greet afterward at the coffee shop around the corner, and I sat with them for an hour, goofing around and making friends. Good times!