Serenity Now!

If you don't remember that line from Seinfeld picture George's father yelling "Serenity Now!!" at the top of his lungs and you will have an idea of what my mood is like this afternoon!!!

Quite a few weekends ago I dropped Gorilla at hockey to discover that he had forgotten his hockey stick. Yowzers! We live less than 5 minutes from the rink so I raced out to retrieve the stick. Leaving the house with stick in hand I got stuck behind a train. I very foolishly thought I could go the opposite direction, head along lougheed and back to bonson from maple meadows way. Noooo. First of all I got stuck on Harris, then I got stuck on Lougheed, then I had to be diverted into the superstore lot and there were a million psychotic, angry drivers in there who had also just spent too much time stuck on Harris and lougheed. I finally made it through the lot to discover that you can't cross at maple meadows way. I then had to go back along lougheed, getting stuck in traffic once again, back down harris to, wait for it... get stuck behind another train. Yeah, you can imagine the expletives that rang through the SUV that morning. In total it took me 45 minutes to get the stick to Gorilla. I could walk to the rink in less time than that.

Last night I sat in stopped dead traffic for over 25 minutes. The radio said the swing bridge was up but I didn't see the bridge moved at all. I think it might have been related to the construction on the pitt river bridge. While sitting there freezing my toosh off I read that there will be changes and delays starting next week on that bridge. Yay.

Although my street is wonderfully quiet and free from hassle, it seems that I am an island in a sea of construction!! No matter what direction I go I seem to be hemmed in by it. Case in point, to drive my kids to school I need to drive through almost 3 construction areas. The first one is just beyond the corner that I turn off of my street onto Park. I technically don't have to drive through the zone but with the number of cars and construction equipment on the street blocking traffic and visibility it sure feels like I am driving through it. I continue on my merry way until I have to merge onto lougheed. Thanks to the infamous bridge lougheed is permanently chaotic no matter what time of day I drive it. I finally manage to get past that nightmare, turn onto Dewdney to be stuck in traffic zone #3. For awhile #3 was some sort of disaster at the intersection. The've moved on and are now immediately in front of the kids school, backing up all the traffic from all four directions for so long that sometimes one jus sits in the turning lane unable to turn. By the time I got into the lot, made it through the insane parents test and was able to find my children I was pretty close to using words that shoudln't be used. Gorilla said to me "Mom, are you feeling frustrated?" I told him "Mommy's fine...."

Once into the parking lot in the school (which is its own heart attack from frustration waiting to happen) the trick is to get out. Today I sat in a line that snaked all the way along the very long driveway and then into the parking lot. We idled for at least 8 minutes. Banana informed me that it is illegal to idle.

Eventualy we were allowed out of the lot and had to go on a slight detour. We did make it home about 10 minutes later than usual but not without pushing me to the edge of my patience. I'm so tired today though that I don't have the energy to be annoyed. I am now drinking a double shot espresso and oddly it is helping me to achieve a little serenity.