Power-walker extraordinaire…
November 10, 2010, 12:16 AM
Well, what a crappy day today was. It just seems like a lot of stuff went wrong today. It started out with a call from the mechanic, where the Sable is currently undergoing yet another expensive repair. This time it’s the fuel pump and related equipment that decided to conk out on me. Basically, it’s a rehash of the problem from last Christmas, when Mom and I almost got stranded in Roanoke, except this time the car didn’t get back up again, and was down for the count, and so I had to fix it. After all, I live in the suburbs, and where I live, you need wheels. The reason that was no good is because I got the final number. The shop called me while I was at the bus stop, telling me that they wanted $2,200 for the work. I told them I’d need to get back with them on that. They called me back again while I was on the Metro, talking it down to $1,900. No go again. Have to get back with them. I managed to somehow get them down to $1,295, and that’s what it’s going to take to get my car going again. I get my car back soon, though I’m thinking that the Sable’s days might soon be numbered, because the old adages of “Fix Or Repair Daily” and “Found On Road Dead” are ringing very true for me, and that starts to add up to real money.
What would be really cute, though, is if the Sable started honking on its own every time I mention the words “new car”, a la Gertrude from Today’s Special.
Then at work, I had to attend to an emergency that would of course rear its ugly little head at 4:59 PM. I didn’t get out of the office until way later than I would have liked. Taking the 51 home was out of the question, since even with the new and later last 51 of the night, I hadn’t even left the office when that pulled up to the bus stop at Glenmont. So I ended up taking Metro home at night, and got to Glenmont around 10:45. According to NextBus, there wouldn’t be another Y9 going north for an hour.
That, however, wasn’t too bad. With that kind of bus headway, I had nothing to lose – I decided to walk it home. I live approximately 1.7 miles from Glenmont station, and so rather than wait an hour for the bus, I power-walked it. Seriously, I got my groove on. And surprisingly enough, it felt really refreshing when I finally did get home, though I was kind of amazed at the end of it to actually reach my street on foot, since in three and a half years (exactly, as of Wednesday) living where I do, I have never walked it from Glenmont to my house. Now I know that, at least going northbound, where it’s downhill much of the way, it’s quite doable. Going southbound, however, what goes down must also go up, and we’ll see how that is another day, though I’d say I’d be more likely to wait for a bus for the southbound run. I did the 1.7 miles in about 30 minutes, which means I was going a shade below 3.5 miles per hour. Not too bad, especially when I’m carrying my work bag and such with me.
Then of course, one bus must have had its NextBus transponder turned off, because early on in my walk, a northbound Y9 blew past me. Well, for that, I would have waited for the bus. But the walk was enjoyable, and I felt good afterwards. So oh, well. Then three southbound Y9 buses went past me while I was walking.
Meanwhile, tomorrow has got to be better than today. I expect I’ll get my car back from the shop tomorrow, and despite the cost, having my wheels again will certainly make me feel better.
Web site: Ends of US highways. Kinda cool.
Song: Here, watch this.
Quote: And yes, I've been a little more conscientious about exercising as of late. I used the exercise bike four times last week, and this week so far, one exercise bike session, and one brisk constitutional from Glenmont Metro to my house.
Categories: Mercury Sable, Recreation/Exercise, Ride On, WMATA, Work