Tuesday, February 17, 2009

What a coincidence!

I almost missed the ferry today, but now I realize everything that just happened pretty much saved me from being out on a dark driveway alone for 2 hours.

7:01pm I got my haircut up near Greenlake, and hurried out the door to catch the 720pm boat. I'd park the car under the viaduct, jump on the ferry, then pick the car back up in the morning before police started handing out tickets. Doing this would save me the $22 bucks it cost roundtrip on the ferry. Leaving the car there is a less than perfect situation, but I was running late and needed to catch that boat, since it was the last one of the day with a bus to my house.

David usually picks me up on the Bainbridge side, but he has band practice tonight, which doesn't finish until 9:15pm. The bus drops me off right at my driveway, so its a perfect alternate way to get home. "Make sure you have your keys!" David reminded me before we left home.

7:06pm I drove like a madwoman down I-5, determined to catch the ferry. I was making perfect timing when a train, a long, stinking, crawling TRAIN blocked my way. I had 4 minutes, and frantically thought of what to do next. I flipped a U-turn, then barreled down Alaskan Way toward the ferry, at this point knowing I'd have to drive the car on and just pay up. I was about to miss the boat anyway, and I'd have to take the car on the 8:10pm just to get home.

7:19pm, and I was just driving through the ticketing area. They usually close the boat at 7:18pm, but let me and one other car on before pulling away. Ahhhh, I relaxed, opened my computer, and thank god, checked my home voicemail. The athletic club had my keys.

Wow. That was close. I imagine the scenario that would have happened. I'd have gotten off the bus on Sunrise Drive, having a long, dark hill to walk down. I would have made it to the door, and realized I didn't have a house key. What would I have done? I don't have cell phone reception there. I would have had to knock on the police officer's door who lives next to me. It would have been terribly embarrassing.

The moral of this story is that David and I ought to have a key hidden somewhere outside the house, and that things happen for a reason. I'm so glad that train blocked my way for several minutes, forcing me to drive on the ferry. Now I can just swing by the athletic club on the way home, and grab my keys. Thank goodness.

5 comments:

dog grrrrl said...

We had an ex girlfriend break into the house when we were in Peru last year (there is a blog I should write huh?)So Mark put combination locks on all the doors. It's great you never need to worry about having keys and you can put temporary codes in for housecleaners or if people need to get in while your on vacation. I highly recommend them :)

Colleen said...

Haha. I've sooooo been there... driving like a mad woman, breaking numerous laws, just to get to where I need to be on time. Great thing is... haven't had to drive like that since moving to Spokane. Ahhhh. The sweet victory of no traffic. Not to mention all the trains in the city are elevated so they'll never stop traffic.

Lisa said...

Someone's looking out for you, for sure! By the way, if you're in that 7:01 leaving Greenlake thing again, use highway 99!!!!

It takes me 8 minutes to get to work most days. You could have gotten off at that exit in the Battery St. Tunnel, and perhaps avoided the train. (Unless it was on Alaskan Way).

But by all means, get one of those fake rocks you can hide a key inside.

--David's in a BAND???? When can we see him play?

Anonymous said...

Nice when things work out like that! You know what I do - rather than leaving a key outside, I keep a spare key in my purse. (But then, it works because I always carry the same old purse.) I also do this with a car key. Usually it takes the school of hard knocks a few times before you see that a spare is a must. I also have a complete extra set of keys in the house - including a mailbox key - for those times that I'm on my way out the door and just can't find the normal key set.

Dan-Eric Slocum said...

This is a wonderful adventure story. I loved following every twist and turn.