Escapades in a Springtime Storm

So, tonight Janelle and I borrowed Joanne and Colin's van to pick up some baby things in Cole Harbour. (Yay! We got baby things. No, we're not expecting yet. But we did promise Chad and Leanne that we'd have some things for Jelena when they come visit in the summer. Also, we can keep the things for when we have our own babies!) Anyways, it had started snowing earlier during the day and by late afternoon we were in the middle of a raging blizzard. Hello Spring!

We had a hard time finding the place where we were supposed to pick up the things because the blizzard had obliterated most of the street signs but we finally got there, had a look at the baby things and agreed to buy them. The gentleman who sold them to us was very nice and helped us load it all in the van but we couldn't get it all in, so we would have to make another trip. The drive home was tedious because of the blizzard, but we stopped at the Stupid Store and bought some Crispy Minis and Litchi pop.

Anyways, we finally did get home and have supper and we put away the baby things. Afterwards, I volunteered to drive the van back to Colin and Joanne's house and get our car back. It was still blizzarding quite badly and the drive there took much longer than expected, when I arrived, I parked the van in the parking spot and got out to knock on the door and trade keys. When I approached the door I noticed that the blinds were drawn, I could see the floor in the entryway, littered with footwear, a tidy track leading into the living room/dinning room area but nothing beyond that. I knocked quietly at first, not wanting to awaken anyone who was sleeping. When no one answered after some time, I knocked again a little louder. Still no answer. After a third knock without answer I contemplated ringing the doorbell but decided against it--it would probably definitely wake up everyone who didn't want to be woken up. Obviously, I thought to myself, If they've gone to bed when they knew I was coming, they don't want to be woken up. I tried the door handle, planning to place the keys inside, but found it locked. There was no mailbox to drop the keys into, so I left them under the driver's seat. I thought better of that, not wanting to make the keys too difficult to find, and left them on the driver's seat and locked the doors.

Then I crossed over to our car, brushed off the snow, and drove back home entirely grateful that I could park my car in a heated garage and not have to worry about the snow that would pile up on it if it was left outside. I got home about the same time that Joanne called. Janelle answered the phone as I kicked off my shoes. After a moment she turned to me, "Where did you put the keys?" "They're on the front seat," I replied, somewhat smugly. "The van is locked and that's the only set of keys they've got," Janelle said. "Did you knock on the door?" "Yes," I replied, "but the house was all dark and nobody answered, I thought they were all in bed." "You parked in the wrong spot, probably knocked at the wrong door too," Janelle said.

Oh dear. I didn't know what to say. This was horrible. I tried to think of what I could do to fix the situation. Drive back over and use a brick to ... no, there would have to be a less destructive alternative ... but I just couldn't think of one. All the while, Janelle was glaring at me. Finally, I thought, I know! I'll check the CAA website! They can unlock the van! "Can you at least check the CAA website?" Janelle asked.

I looked it up and found a telephone number and an option to request assistance over the Internet, the only problem was that membership was required and I don't have any membership and I didn't know if Colin and Joanne did. So I googled, "Locked keys in car in Halifax." The results weren't all that helpful--there were detailed instructions on how to get the door unlocked with a coat hanger. I was feeling more and more sheepish by the second. Should I look for a locksmith? I wondered. I could feel my face glowing bright red with shame and embarrassment as I retreated to the office under Janelle's glare as she talked on the phone with Joanne, offering to call a tow truck or something. In the end they reached some kind of solution, where Dad Swan would come over in the morning to get the keys out of the locked vehicle. It didn't make me feel much better, particularly because I wasn't able to fix my mistake myself and because it further inconvenienced Dad Swan. Also, it's pretty darned unfair that the situation gets fixed without me having to do anything about it. I mean, all I can say is, Colin and Joanne, I'm really, really sorry; it was a thoughtless mistake and I'm so embarrassed and feel really bad that I did that.