Well, Internet, I'm glad you asked.
On Saturday, mid Lord of the Rings film fest, the electricity went out. Okay. Not an uncommon occurrence. I called the electric company, popped a DVD (not LOTR -- couldn't get it out of the player) into my laptop, and squandered my battery watching Lost in Translation while knitting. After the movie, I lit some candles, and carried on knitting, pausing occasionally to call the electric company for an update. They promised it would be back on by morning.
So when it got too dark to knit, I donned my iPod and let my "favorites" list carry me off to sleep.
When I woke up, it still wasn't on.
So I went down to my parents, because my father was making an emergency breakfast McDonald's run, and because there's strength in numbers. I spent the day knitting and listening to my iPod, and it really wasn't all that bad.
Then, a full 24 hours after it went out, we had electricity. Fortunately after Dad had gone for the pizza, so we didn't have to eat anything home cooked or healthy anyway.
I decided I'd better go home and turn on things that shouldn't be off, and turn off things that shouldn't be on, and recharge various batteries that I'd run down.
When I was heading back for pizza, I realized that I'd never gotten Saturday's mail, so I hit my brakes to stop and get it, only I didn't. Stop, that is. At least not right away. Eventually, with much fussing and grinding, I did get stopped before I went across the road, down the ravine and into the creek (I kid you not!) So I put my car in park, put on the parking brake, and had a little think. Then I got out and got the mail and had another little think. And this was the conclusion I came to: No way was I going to try going down again. So I put the brake pedal to the floor and the car in reverse, and backed back up the driveway.
Then I started thinking maybe I was over-reacting, and my driveway was muddy from all the rain, and that was all. So I cautiously eased forward and tried to stop. And I didn't. So I put the car in park. No stoppage. So I put the parking brake on. No stoppage. Finally, I turned off the engine. Eventually, there was stoppage.
Now, considering how much I drive and where all I've been, I have to say that I love, love, love my car for dying in the driveway of my very own home. Thank you, car! Love you!
Anyway, things settled down after that. I decided to wait until Wednesday to have my car towed to the shop, because all in all, I think it's going to be pretty expensive, and I'd like to have another paycheck to work with. Then this morning, I get an email from my dad "call us as soon as you get up, we need to see about getting our cars fixed." Because oh, by the way, the second my car broke, Dad started talking about how his brakes had been making noise and how imperative it was that he get them fixed Right Now! Copycat. Gah.
So I called him. And it was obvious that he was still half asleep. He also had his agenda for how he wanted things to play out which didn't work for me, but that didn't seem to matter to him. Very annoying. So anyway, he's off getting his little squeak looked at, and I'm carrying on with my plans for Wednesday. But things are very bitter in the father-daughter relations for the moment. Not to mention the husband-wife relations, as my mother, who is also finding him annoying, just mentioned the possibility of hitting him over the head with something so we could have a bit of peace. Go Mom!
So, to recap, no car, happy to be alive, may have to kill my dad, got electricity. I think I'll call it a draw.