Who was out both scooters for a couple days? this chick…that’s who – I cannot make this shit up!
So a few weeks ago I decided to go do my eyebrows because I was tired of looking like a caveman and because I was also feeling for samosas, I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone since there’s an Indian cafe right next to the eyebrow place. Perfect! The weather that day was also perfect so I had to get out. I did my usual – request the Lyft car, roll outside to meet Keisha (hoping for the best because I’m still very judgmental when it comes to female Lyft drivers) and we were off. 15 minutes later, we pulled up, she unloaded Optimus, I sat and powered him up and the horn started blaring. Confused, I pressed the horn button because I figured that it was depressed and I just needed to jiggle it or something. Well, that did nothing. what the?? we dismantled the thing and put him back together and, as soon as I turned on the power, the horn started blaring again. steups. well, I was there for a reason and I wasn’t about to go back home, so I just had to go bold and hope that I didn’t piss off too many people. Luckily, it was only happening when the power was on so I had some control. My eyebrows done, I had to decide if I still wanted to go get samosas. I did, so I entered the restaurant. It was my first time in there and I was thoroughly embarrassed when I discovered that it was a small, intimate dining room (it looks much larger from outside). Anyway, everyone was sitting enjoying their lunch and here came Stacey with this constant blaring horn – sigh! Anyway, I got my samosas and a few days later Optimus was in the shop.
A week later, I went to brunch using Max (the new one). P dropped me home he took Max out the car, put the key in, turned it and it broke in two – 1 piece was in his hand and the other was in the keyhole. What the?!? We got me inside somehow (boy was I glad that I hadn’t taken Lyft home) but for 2 days, I was grounded. Optimus was in the shop and Max couldn’t be turned on. Luckily, it wasn’t an issue because I work from home and I actually didn’t have to do anything for those 2 days. It was during that time, that I discovered that most locksmiths in my area don’t touch mobility scooters with a 10 foot pole, primarily because of how small the key is, but luckily I found one who came out and took care of my issue.
I can’t make up these stories…it’s never a dull moment when I’m involved. Geez! Anyway, I gone so, talk to allyuh later.
I mentioned in an earlier post that my “release date” was April 23rd so after that date as things slowly reopened in Atlanta, I started moving around. Admittedly still not willy nilly as before but I certainly could not stay within the confines of these four walls like the previous year. Anyway, so it was a nice Saturday in ATL weather wise – it was October, so the temperature was 70-75, humidity was low, sun was out…Asal and I decided to buss a small lime on the patio of a nearby restaurant. I took Lyft and Uber to go to and from and I used Bumblebee.
Now Bumblebee (I learned years ago) was not as sturdy as any of the other scooters I’ve owned, and he certainly couldn’t withstand the jammin that Soca Scooter or Optimus could handle. Years ago, I flew with the ‘bee and when I returned to Atlanta I had to find someone to do some repairs. One of the problems I had was that I actually bought him on Amazon and finding a local repairshop was a bitch because none of them actually sold the brand. Anyway, my car mechanic knew someone who cold solder him back together so we were good to go. Fast forward a few years and one day I was out somewhere sitting on him and I heard something. Looked down and saw 2 screws by my feet and the casing for the wires by the starter was gaping open. Great! Now, the screws were barely an inch and they were actually screwed in upside down so maybe, it’s no wonder that they fell out after a number of years. When we looked at what needed to happen we discovered that while I had 2 screws, there were actually 3 holes – WONDERFUL! Well. We are a resourceful bunch, so some gorilla glue, electrical tape and the 2 screws, and Bumblebee was presentable enough to roll. He was presentable but of course, more fragile than ever. Now, I eh go lie but every time anyone handled him, I wanted to say “handle with care” or something along those lines but did I? No…maybe 1% of the time – UGH! but every time, I was lucky and nothing went wrong…until that fateful night in October after bussing a small lime with ASal in the nearby restaurant.
I requested a car to go back home and Jude came to get me. I heard the usual thump when Bee gets situated in the trunk and thought, “shit! forgot to tell him to be careful”. He got back in the car and we were off. I arrived home (by this time, it was about 9pm) and I heard him saying something as I got out the car and the next thing I saw was Bumblebee essentially in 3 parts. Long story short, Jude got a really good tip that night after walking me into my apartment. The wire that powered Bee was broken and he helped me by holding the 2 ends together. I didn’t really have a choice; it was either let him walk me in on a wing and a prayer or sit outside and figure out how to get in – I took my chances. I donated Bumblebee to a local organisation called FODAC (Friends of Disabled Adults & Children) where hopefully, their mechanics might be able to do a better job than we did so Bee could be used by someone else. These days I’m rolling with Optimus and Max – another foldable scooter, bought from a local dealer and he’s the reliable Pride brand that all the others have been.
I cyah lie. I was really nervous about taking Lyft after things started reopening here in Atlanta. Pre Covid, I’d already started having thoughts of if I was being presumptuous because of my having a scooter and assuming that the driver will just pick it up and go. Now, post covid, I still have those thoughts coupled with “will drivers want to touch my scooter” – maybe people will think that it’s just more surfaces for Covid germs and increased transmission risk. Ugh! Honestly though, venturing out ANYWHERE when places started opening up was a little daunting to me. I have mentioned before that anytime I get sick, I am down for the count. I honestly don’t think that anyone can really appreciate how bad things get for me unless they’ve actually experienced it and I’m sure that there are people who think I’m exaggerating but say what. Anyway, so seeing and hearing what people go through after contracting it, makes it the last entry on my list of “things that I want to experience” but by the end of 2020, I was sick and tired of my 4 walls and I was ready to start living again. Were/are my Lyft fears unfounded? I dunno but it is what it is…
At the end of the day all I could do was continue using Lyft or stay inside so I put on my big girl panties and started back, besides there were times that I didn’t have a choice (more to come on that later). I figured that I’d walk with wipes, sanitizer, whatever else I could put my hands on to try to try to allay any fears.
Turns out my fears were unfounded (at least up to now) because the issue has not been raised. No-one has said anything, and I no longer walk with wipes etc. The company has put some parameters in place and masks are required to ride with anyone and these days, it’s not uncommon to get into a car with a plexiglass partition separating the front seats from the back. In fact, riders are strongly encouraged to sit in the back “away” from drivers – not a problem for me because that’s what I’ve been doing all along anyway. Interestingly enough tho, a driver reported me for not wearing my mask properly. Admittedly when I’m waiting for the car, there are times that I’d have the mask slung under my chin and once they pull up and I start walking them thru the steps to break down the scooter, I put it on. I’m not sure what happened that time…maybe I didn’t pull it up soon enough? haven’t a clue but I KNOW I had it on in the car; I really don’t know why he reported me. Anyway, after that happened, I had to re-certify that I wear masks and wear them properly before I could ride again. It wasn’t a showstopper and I continue to use the service to get around albeit not as much as before.
Even though pretty much everything and everywhere is open here, I don’t venture out as much as I used to. My friends and I joke all the time that as far as the powers that be here are concerned, “covid is done” and life is normal. I don’t share that same view although I do believe that it’s going nowhere fast, so we have to learn to coexist somehow. That said though, I still haven’t eaten out in a restaurant for dinner since 2019 nor have I started back rock climbing…couldn’t even tell you the last time that I went to a mall – everything’s still just kinda weird and I am at home alot more than pre-covid. Of course, this is also my hibernation period, so truth be told I am in no hurry to go out anyway. Come March, we’ll see how things change…
Anyway, I gone so…allyuh hol’ it down and have a great weekend! Stax
Well. The $30 I spend on Life Alert monitoring/emergency services is worth it – I have a broken patio door to prove it.
We docked and had to be off the ship by 9am sharp Tuesday morning. So remember what I’d said about the schedule in my last post so allow me. There was a day party Monday from 12-6, limelimelime, a night fete from 9-4, then there was las lap from 4-7. I went to everything although I had to squeeze in a power nap from 1-2 so that I wouldn’t fall off Optimus fus I was beppin. I tell you all that to say that essentially, I’d been up since I woke up Monday morning. Our flight back to Atlanta was 2 or 3 something so ASal and I didn’t have to rush back to the airport to catch our flight. I don’t have to tell u that I was sleeping from the time I boarded and fastened my seat belt; flight was uneventful and I was back in my apartment around 7pm. Now over the years I’ve learned that anytime I go on a hectic trip, I need recovery time. In fact anytime I travel, I usually make sure that I have at least one rest day between reaching home and going back to work. So..we got back on Tuesday and I didn’t go back to work till Friday.
As much fun as the cruise was, I was ecstatic to be home – I could sleep most comfortably in my own bed…I couldn’t wait to get a full night’s sleep! Got ready for bed and lifted my right leg (as I always do) to get into the bed and uhoh, I couldn’t get it all the way up. Try as I might I just couldn’t muster the strength to lift it all the way – I’d been going hard for 4 days, of course my body was tired! Thing is, I HAD to get in right? So I tried a few other techniques and when I thought something worked it hadn’t and I had no choice but to slide off my bed. Deep down I think I knew that if I didn’t have the strength to lift my leg to get on while I was standing up, getting up from the ground at that moment would have been an exercise in futility but I tried anyway and failed each time. It was 9pm. I was tired, frustrated, angry…all those things and sleepy. I had an idea, I could just sleep for a few hours, the body will be rejuvenated and I could try again. I dragged my comforter off my bed, wrapped up in it and went right to sleep.
I think it was about 2am when I woke up and tried again. I won’t bore with the details but it was around 5:30 when I remember feeling totally dejected and having the thought that I don’t want to see myself on the ground (I’d been in the dark all along and the sun was about to come up), that I pressed the Life Alert button. All that time, I’d been telling myself that I could do it, I can get off this ground and I kept trying different ways to get up and each time I failed. I guess it was my pride? I don’t know…in fact when the EMTs got here (in about 5 mins mind u) and asked me why didn’t I get them sooner, there wasn’t much I could say to justify my actions. They picked me up, put me in the bed, covered me up and walked out the door. I’d been on the ground from 9pm to 6am; they were in and out in half hour – what was I thinking??? The only problem that I have to this day, is that I cannot open my patio doors – that’s where they broke in – because for some reason the apartment management company is having issues replacing them.
I’m going home for Carnival soon. This time, I’m staying for 2 weeks. I figured I might as well build in my recovery time at home – why rush back?
Uber Soca Cruise was 5 days/4 nights of pure PACE!! To give you an idea of just how much there is going on, ASal got the itinerary in 2018 and was looking thru it and said to herself, “oh okay…this is cool. It have rhell thing to do during the time.” and then she continued reading the email only to discover that what she thought was the length of the cruise was actually Day One! You get the drift…and we were on the water sailing for the entire time except for the 1 day that they dock for j’ouvert.There are 2 big themed parties everyday, the after parties, socasize, football tournaments, lime on the Avenue, all kinda thing. Last year, we set sail at 4 pm on Friday, J’ouvert was Sunday morning and it was on Grand Turk in Turks and Caicos. That was actually my first cruise ever and we planned to take advantage of everything we could…the only thing we had to keep up with was our room keycard. I functioned on 3 hours sleep every night except the first night when I made a conscious decision to go and sleep because I’d woken up that morning at 2am to catch a flight. I had planned to go J’ouvert but at some point good sense prevailed and I realised that playing J’ouvert made no sense. It had potential to be hot (and of course it was – it was on a beach, on an island) and by the time I got back on the boat, between the heat and bacchanal that J’ouvert could be, I might have had to skip that night’s party and that was UNACCEPTABLE!
The problem with not playing J’ouvert was that I had no idea what I was going to do when I woke up on Sunday. By the time I left the room, I figured I could start by exploring the ship and see what it had to offer. Well. What I didn’t know was that I was 1 of 2 people who didn’t leave the ship. There was NOTHING happening anywhere; I mean even workers were nowhere to be found. At that point, I figured well, we in Turks and Caicos, I need to at least get off so I can say I was there but lemme get something to eat first. Dining room closed – I had no choice but to disembark, so off I went. As I left the ship, I had to walk across a boardwalk (I tried to ignore Kes belting out Savannah Grass a little ways down where J’ouvert was in full swing) that led into a duty free shop where at the entrance I had to show my ship card. There was a lip at the doorway and as I drove over the scooter stopped. Hmmmm…eh?. I turned it off and turned it back on and it was then that I saw the power gauge at 3/4 full. It was at that moment that it occurred to me that it was Sunday and the last time that I’d charged the thing was Thursday night. Now. Under normal circumstances that would not have been a big deal, but I’d been using it every night! Of course, in the parties themselves, he was off but I had to drive to all of them and everywhere else we went. I cyah lie, not once did I think, when we finally got back to the room “oh. Plug in the scooter”…the only thing on my mind was crawling into bed. And so..there I was with 3/4 tank on a strange island. 3/4 tank…I mean, that cyah be so bad right? By this time, I could eat a horse so I was looking for anywhere that I could eat and I ran into one blasting Bacchanalist. Perfect! Better fete, it had a ramp. Beautiful…I rolled in and told the hostess that I would sit anywhere cuz I was starving and just wanted to eat. She pointed me to a table, I made sure and turned off Optimus, sat down, started looking thru the menu and then I thought, “oh shit! I actually have to pay for this meal – I’m not on the ship!” WTF! All I had on me was…u guessed it…my room keycard. Well. I had no choice but to go back to the room to get a payment instrument. I had to eat meh humble pie and tell the lady that oops, I’ll be right back. Shit. By that time, Optimus had started dipping to the halfway mark – I didn’t know if I should drive at full speed or slowly to conserve the lil power he had. I really doh remember but I think I made it to the ship and back with his only stopping twice – each time I went over the lil lip by the entrance to the store.
now, not only did I have to keep an eye on Optimus’ power, I had to also be mindful of the time. J’ouvert was finishing promptly at 4 and the ship – 6. Whatever power I had or didn’t have had to get me back there for sail time. I made it back to the ship although I dilly-dallied lil bit in a souvenir shop looking for something for my niece but good sense prevailed eventually because turning off and turning on Optimus every time he stopped didn’t make sense; I was pushing my luck. If I remember correctly, by that time he was down to 1/4 or so. I wasn’t worried once I got back on the ship because at least, 1) I was on and 2) I could always put him in manual mode and ask for a push if it came to that. Once I was on, I made a beeline for my room and the plan was to plug him in and not move until he was fully charged. Well, all was good until I got to my floor…at that point, he was stopping every few feet I drove. It so happened that the handicap rooms were on one side of the floor and there were large suites on the other side where a lot of the artistes were staying. As I was “stopping and going” down the hall, I heard voices behind me and the thought I had was “shit!people around” not “great I can get help”. As they came up behind me, I said sheepishly, “it’s okay, allyuh go ahead. I forgot to charge up but I making it” and one of them said, “nah man, yuh sure yuh eh want a push?” I took it…turns out it was Private Ryan and his friend (for the people who don’t know, Prívate Ryan is a well known popular DJ and radio personality in Trinidad). I was pushed right to my room (he actually stopped twice as I was going thru the door) where I was so grateful to be and I plugged in Optimus and really did not move until he was fully charged that night!
I doh ever want to be in that position again…and I have no one to blame but myself.
