Tram tracks and jumping curbs!

It has been a few weeks since I blogged. I have been recovering from my night to the big city to see some of my favourite authors at Harbour Front. I should say that my car is recovering...
Let me explain.

Driving from Oakville to the city has never been a problem for me and for years I have made the trip on business and pleasure without any mishaps. Well, I am not sure why I should suddenly feel so disoriented. I made the highway and took the appropriate cut-off for downtown. Weather was fine, traffic light but as I searched for a sign to lead me to the parking for Harbour Front I made my first mistake. I made a right turn instead of left and to my amazement this guy was waving his arms and trying to tell me something. This is the big city after all and there are lots of kooks around. It turns out that I was the kook and was now on the tram tracks . The beads of sweat and heart palpitations not withstanding, I did what every good driver would do.. I jumped the median and got into the right lane.

I know , I know, not a good idea especially for the car . There was a sickening scraping of metal and lots of bumps but I just kept going and went around the block.
That should have been the end of it as I finally went in the right direction, off to the left and I could now see the signs for the parking.
Now I have been driving for 42 years and have a clean record , except for a couple of parking tickets so what happened next was beyond my ken. yes , you guessed it. I was on the tram rails again!!! This time I panicked properly and went over the curb and beetled it to the nearest parking lot and sat and wondered about the damage to my car.

I decided to venture into the theatre where the readings were and said a few prayers that I did not puncture my exhaust or anything else for that matter. This episode rather took the wind out of my sails but I was determined to listen to Ian Rankin and Denise Mina and a few others.

The place was packed and I met a nice guy by the name of Fergus who must have been Ian Rankin's biggest fan. He was born in Canada but knew more about Edinburgh , Scotland my home town than I do. Ian Rankin's books are based in Edinburgh with his Inspector Rebus series. This young fellow knew every pub and street name and had visited the scenes of the crimes many times. A true fan.

I enjoyed Denise Mina as she is very funny. I think I blanked out any others reading as I kept worrying about my car. I did not stay to do any smoozing. Finding my car drivable was my goal and I did not hang around.
I made it home with no mishaps and the car seems neither the worse for wear. I can't say the same for me. I probably aged 10 years overnight.

Liz and I are still revising Body Perfect. Slow but sure. We have had some positive feedback from co-workers who have read the manuscript. That is always encouraging. Now we just need to find an agent that enjoys the story as much.

Check back in a few days and I will let you in on my journey to Bruce County to the beautiful Georgian Bay.

Talk later,
Slainte,
Pam