Ugh, -22C !

Today was a balmy -22 C! Yeah, sure, if you're a penguin that could be construed as balmy, but NOT in southern Ontario it isn't!

I had to go out for groceries and pick up my darling husband's prescription. Two blocks to the pharmacy, fingers were numb. Not a good start. Got the prescription, warmed up a bit in the pharmacy and stepped out to go over to the bus stop. Bus ran late, fingers went numb again! Switched busses once I got downtown. That went fast, I actually managed to catch the next bus as soon as I got off the first one. The bus I caught is one of those super long hinged ones, so I made my way to the back where it's usually quiet and warmer and parked myself on a seat. I used to be more sociable but these days I've discovered in the past 9 years of city life that being sociable in a city isn't always a good thing.

This guy comes weaving down the aisle and plants himself in the seat ahead of mine, turns around and exhales one of the most disgusting fetid breaths I've ever smelled. He had been drinking and it was 2 in the afternoon! He smelled absolutely rank and my stomach was having issues at that point. He tried to strike up a convo with me, but I studiously kept looking out the window and trying to ignore his drunken attempts at conversation. Thankfully I had my mp3 earbuds in my ears which should have led him to think I couldn't hear him. My hand was in my pocket wrapped around my mp3 player and I quietly turned it up enough so he could hear the music. That worked, he muttered something along the lines of bitch and turned to face forward again. Thankfully he started harassing someone else which enabled me to make my escape to the front of the bus.

I finally get to the grocery store. It's located near one of those mini malls with all the store entrances giving out to a sidewalk. As I'm walking down this aisle I spot an elderly woman shuffling along pushing a stroller (assistive device) I can't believe my eyes, It's -22C and she's shuffling along in slippers, no socks, a thin dress and a thin cardigan. As I'm passing her, I notice the cardigan is wide open! Her fingers are bent with arthritis so I decide that I will be sociable this time and ask her if she needs help buttoning up since it's so cold. She looks up at me, I realise she's barely able to see anything since her eyes have the typical milky bluish film that cataracts give. She says yes please, so I button up her cardigan. I ask her where she's going and she tells me to the pharmacy. She's already passed the pharmacy so I explain it to her, she looks confused so I offer to help her get there since I'm seriously worried this woman is going to catch her death dressed like that in those temperatures. The wind was from the north and it was bitterly cold. I finally get her back to the pharmacy, help her navigate her way through the doors and walk in behind her. During our walk back to the pharmacy I'd asked her why she was out in this weather and she tells me she desperately needs her prescription renewed.

Once I've safely left her with the pharmacist, I walk over to one of the ladies I've seen many times before and ask her if she knows the elderly lady I just helped into the store. She looks over and recognizes her and asks me where her coat is. I tell her she didn't have one on when I found her wandering down the mini mall. She gasps in shock and I suggest that if she knows where the elderly lady lives that it might be a good idea to call and see if someone could come pick her up. That's when I find out that she lives 2 blocks away at a retirement home. How the heck did she get past the staff??!!! So last I knew, they were calling the retirement home and have someone come pick her up. I'm glad I found her, goodness knows where she'd have ended up.

After all this excitement, I still have groceries to get done! We do most of our groceries at a No Frills once a month. I pick up all the staples, non perishables there and get fruits, veggies and meat at the Vietnamese market as we need them. I walk in and head over to get a cart and there aren't any left! Oooh boy, that means it's going to be a zoo in the store. Sure enough, after waiting for 10 minutes to get a cart, I push it through the door and it's a jungle in there. Not entirely sure why there are so many people doing their groceries at that time of day, but the store is full. It's not like there are fantastic prices or a special sale. I weave my way through the throngs, manage to get all the groceries minus a few items the shelves are cleared of and head for the cash. The waiting lines at the cash are 10 deep and every single cash is open! I don't get it. I finally get my groceries bagged since I bring my own carry-all bags and call for a cab which shows up in record speed considering that it's saturday pm and it's freezing!

Cabbie loads up my groceries into the back of the suv and off we go. I direct him to pull into the driveway behind the apartment building we live in so it's safer to offload. I pay him, give him a tip and get out. He gets out on his side, I let him know to put the groceries at the back door while I'm grabbing 2 bags to start it going. I walk away, get up the outside stairs, leave my 2 bags by the door, turn and start walking down the stairs again when I see the cabbie pulling out of the driveway. Where are my freaking groceries!!! I hurry over to where the suv was and there piled on the 3foot snowbank are my groceries! He just grabbed everything and tossed them out! I got to the snowbank just in time to grab the bag of glass jars before it tumbled down. I was about as mad as anyone can be at this point. I hope his ears are still burning because I cursed him roundly during the entire time I had to slog my way through the snow to retrieve my groceries. I'm just happy I had tied my bags with the handles. At least nothing fell out but tons of snow got in. The trip from the street edge to the back door takes a minute but I was terrified that while I was gone someone would take my groceries. By the time I got everything in the apartment, I was exhausted. I definitely had my workout today! LOL Let's see, I did approximately 20 trips up and down stairs. No stairmaster required here, I think that's enough!

I called the cab company to complain and they just poopooed it off saying that cabbies aren't expected to carry groceries in. I explained that I didn't expect him to carry groceries into my apartment but to at least put them in a safe place which is the cement pad by the entrance and NOT in the snowbank! I might as well not have bothered to call.... As I was putting the groceries away, I also noticed that both boxes of cereal were now open and crumpled looking. Sure enough, they had either been stepped on by the driver or run over by the departing suv. I guess I'll be eating crushed cheerios for the next month LOL no chewing needed :P

I need to get some circular knitting needles for a gilet I want to knit for my nieces and sil but that's going to have to wait. This weather is to fracking cold to go jaunting about town using the transit system. A 10 minute trip in a car turns into a 45 minute journey on a bus or several busses. I hate not having a car but it's going to have to wait until I have a steady income from a full time permanent job.