(Holidailies #8)

I felt so organized this morning when I got up in time to do a bit of laundry (I was out of the tall socks necessary for this time of year), eat a delicious breakfast (including some seriously wholemeal-y German rye and cherry jam), but then lost an hour and a half to knitting and half-watching episodes of ‘Embarrassing Bodies on YouTube’, including surgery to treat Peyronie’s disease.

Do not look this up if you’re at all squeamish.

That dilly-dallying over tallywhackers would normally not be a huge deal, but we’ve had so many last-minute setbacks this publication cycle (our January-February guide goes to press on Thursday) that I had planned (yesterday) to be in early.

It also snowed overnight, so leaving the house to catch a bus (‘Expect delays of 10-20 minutes’) was guesswork. My usual M.O. in this kind of situation is just to leave the house whenever, go to a stop, and hope for the best. It worked well today; I was only standing in the not-quite-a-blizzard for about seven minutes before a bus showed up. I have no idea when it was actually due, but as it wasn’t packed to the (bus equivalent of rafters), it probably wasn’t that far behind.

It took only slightly longer than usual to get downtown, so it was still well before 11 when I alit at the Rideau Centre (my working hours are 11-7ish). I got off the bus at the Rideau Centre when the sudden Need to Christmas Shop hit me.

This is Not Normal for me. The ‘Need to Shop’ is just…not a thing. The anxiety (see yesterday’s entry) of Christmas is causing worse symptoms than I could have ever imagined. I should have been at work finding out if Big Important January Thing was canceled and helping to mitigate damage, but instead I was lured in by the flashing signs of the Old Navy sale. So I spent 20 minutes looking for stuff for Weebro, aka He Who Wears Things Until They Fall To Pieces. Seeing as he is a mutant, I didn’t find any trousers suitable in said sale (he’s a 33×35, or 32×36, which is unheard of in the Valley of Brick and Mortar Bargains) and instead ended up with a handful of $6 t-shirts and a $25 pair of cords for me.

I got into work at 11:12. If anyone asks, I’ve opted to blame the weather for the delay, even though Mother Nature was barely a player in this game. Sorry, lady.