My Day

Massachusetts is currently being drenched by the remnants of Hurricane Lee. It hasn't nearly as bad as when Irene came through last week; so far it's just been cold and rainy. Basically, it feels the same as a fall day. But this rainy weather is why, when I was going out to pick up lunch from a nearby deli, I didn't feel like walking the half-mile there and back. I figured it would be a three-minute errand and as such I didn't bother to throw on socks, just the slip-on shoes I keep near the door and I didn't grab a jacket on my way out. The thought of bringing my cellphone momentarily flashed through my head, but I figured the time it would take for me to go upstairs and get it would equal the time it would take for me to run to the store and back. [Sidebar: I think you know what's coming.]

My SUV started in the driveway without any issues and I headed down the road. I even got a nice parking spot right on the corner. I ran into the deli, was inside for roughly 50 seconds and headed back to my vehicle. In retrospect, I could (and should) have left it running. Because when I got inside and turned the key, nothing happened under the hood. Oh, sure my dashboard lit up and all the radio kicked on, but there wasn't an attempt by the engine to turn over. Not even a click. I tried turning the key a few times and even thought I could out-smart the problem by using my recently-discovered remote starter, but that didn't work either. My engine remained silent. I got out and checked under the hood which, given how much I know about engines, may as well have been a look at the human brain. Still, I checked everything I could think of, but nothing I tried worked. Finally, I decided I was just going to have to leave it, walk home and come back for it later.

Let me just say this about walking in the rain: when you're alone and it's kind of cold out, the experience is not nearly as romantic as the movies would lead you to believe. Then again, my mood probably wasn't helping the situation. I'm pretty sure most of the rain was evaporating as soon as it came in contact with my forehead, as I was steaming mad. At one point I walked passed a little old lady under an umbrella. As she spied me, drenched (I was also wearing a white shirt, so I hope you enjoyed the free show, lady), jacket-less and wearing shoes with no socks while muttering to myself, she looked as though she wanted to say something to me (I assume it would have been along the standard, little-old-lady-stating-the-obvious lines of "You should be wearing a jacket!"). Thankfully, she thought better of it. Oh, and it stopped raining once I got home. Of course it did.

So, I left my car there for a few hours before going back to try and start it again. Honestly, given my relationship with cars, I fully expected it to fire up without any hesitation. But it didn't and I have to admit I'm kind of glad it didn't. I think discovering it was a non-issue would have just made me madder. We even tried jumping it and that didn't work. Instead it was towed to a local repair shop. Also, not surprisingly, over the last couple of hours I've developed a good sniffle, likely on my way to a cold. All that being said? The subs were really good.