is there a metaphor for life in driving?  maybe

Tuesday morning I took my visiting relative to the Newark Airport – I had googled directions and read thru them several times – and it seemed easy.  This was to be the first time driving over the George Washington Bridge and into New Jesrey in my new (used) car (still need a name!). 

So Tuesday dawned bright and clear – and at 745 am we were off (for a 1030 am flight).  Things were going fine until we couldn’t find the exit to I-95 (only today I realized they wanted me to be on the Sprain Parkway and not the Saw Mill but thats cause I need a map for the area – yeah I know).  So knowing that the GWBridge has an entrance off the Saw Mill we drove on – and while there was a bit of morning rush traffic – once we got to the turn for the Briidge it was clear sailing – so then it was just finding the turnpike exit (whew) and then driving for about 20 mins until the signs for the airport.

After making sure my passenger’s luggage was checked in to the correct destination and tearfully saying farewells.. I fired up my Ipod to the first act of the broadcast DIE MEISTERSINGER and set back to the city.  As I drove out of the airport and onto the turnpike I hit the first problem – at the toll I paid my cash but was in the far left booth and needed to be in the middle lanes.  Well, there were about 12 lanes and not a lot of road room to get over to the correct one, so I slowed down and put on my hazards until the cars behind figured out something was up – and then with a lot of hand signals and accomodating car drivers I made it to the correct lane. 

Driving along merrily to David’s paen to singing, I saw a sign for the Palisades – and had a momentary thought wondering if I should take that route home – (note it was about 935 am) but decided not to as I had only a vague idea of how to get from the Palisades to the Tappan Zee bridge … so I dismissed that route and kept to the Turnpike.

BIG MISTAKE!

To spare you a long boring monologue on being stuck in traffic – I was.  In fact it took excatly ONE HOUR AND A HALF to get over the George Washington Bridge – from the first sign to the bridge itself.  And I had about 1/4 tank of gas – I was so afraid of running out of gas.  Thank goodness I had that iPod – otherwise I would have been SCREAMING.

It was the most collosal waste of time … I arrived back home at 12 noon. (That return trip should have been about ONE HOUR).

Yes, in hindsight (always 20–20) I should have realized that at 10 am on a weekday morning ALL the TRUCKS in the WORLD are heading into Manhattan.  And it was – me and about 10 other cars and the TRUCKS of AMERCIA.  My poor little Honda – we were cowering amongst these huge hulking ugly dirty trucks.

so the moral?  Listen to your instincts?

If I had taken the Palisades – I may have had to stop to ask the way to the Tappan Zee Bridge but I bet it would have been smooth sailing uhm driving all the way. 

The rest of the day was crazy and full after that wasted time – a stop at the local mecahnics to replace the wiper blades which we had fallen apart in the last rain/snow storm (i bet they were the original ones) and to fill the washer fluid (almost empty); voting in the village election for mayor and two trustees (both candidates women!), fill up the gas tank, then grocery shopping for the Village Sister’s family (baby is 12 weeks now) and me, drop off shopping and then home to unpack my shopping and then practice for five hours.

And then today – woke up feeling pretty cruddy and its progressed thru the day … praying its not the flu and just a cold.  

Of course tomorrow is full of things planned in the city – a lesson and then some shopping and then a art gallery show opening reception and Yarn Harlot is in town for her book launch and then opening night of ANDREA CHENIER at the Met or Mitsuko Uchida at the Philharmonic (neither is sold out). 

As of now have cancelled lesson and am resigned to missing the rest.  Uchida is playing Friday and Saturday and Chenier will be around for a bit.    But I am a very bad patient – I hate being sick and feeling sick and resist and resist and worry about how I am feeling – and how the hell do you know how you will be in 24 hours anyway? (that’s always the issue with lessons and the cancelling of them and I hate making these kinds of decision but the fact that I am dithering usually means I am sick – I get all cranky and out of sorts and want to hide under the covers and pretty much anything sad or sentimental has me over reacting by weeping – and that’s usually the sign that I am sickening for something – oh and the sore throat today and being chilled and… whoa better end this parenthetical).  (and damnit I had really practiced hard this week and had so much to talk about at my lesson)

well, here is a lovely photo to reward you for making it thru this post (i am not even going to qualify what kind of post it is)  It’s the Hudson River near my village.