Hello everyone, and ho ho ho! Haven't been posting this past week like I should, but yesterday I had the most incredible and blissful day I've had in at least five years, and arguably one of the most memorable days I've had over the Holiday season EVER. But it didn't come without its hiccups though. I'll get into those a bit later...
But first, how's the weather where you are? Here in Florida, it's okay...for now. But for the rest of the nation (and here this Christmas Eve), BRRRR!!! Minus zero temps throughout the midwestern United States, and it's headed our way.
Several flights have been cancelled as a result of the bitter cold weather, and it could get worse before the weekend gets here. This pre-Christmas cold spell reminds me of the Christmas I spent in the Orlando area in 1989. That Christmas, there was a sight I thought I would never see, icicles in central Florida. My personal recollections of that weekend were kind of hazy, however all of the siblings were there, I think. I remember having a miserable-ass cold, which lasted all the way until I got back to North Carolina. I remember the rolling blackouts that were going through central Florida, which if happened current day would probably garner all sorts of blame from whichever side of the political aisle is not in power. I was merely interested in finding where my old friends from Orlando Christian were, being that I knew some of them would be graduating high school that year. Alas, social media wouldn't happen for another sixteen years, and people searches on the web wouldn't be around for about another decade, so I was SOL. Like I said, my memory of that weekend was kinda hazy, but man was it memorable.
Which is probably one of my more memorable Christmases to date, another one was yesterday. Like I said, some things didn't go according to plan, but in the end, it was probably one of the most memorable moments I've ever had, Christmas or otherwise. Long story short, I played Santa to a wonderful young woman who I'm honored to be a friend to...okay, she's my crush, and I'm sure if you've read this blog from time to time since this summer. She enjoyed the gifts I got her, and even told me that I may have made her Christmas over everyone, including her fiancée.
Everything other than that visit to see her was a bit of a hassle. First off with the bus taking me to my first transfer point (the Walmart on US 19 and Spring Hill Drive). I had two bags that I needed to leave off somewhere (so as not to raise suspicion) because your boy had to use the restroom...bad. Fortunately, the Walmart liquor store had restrooms very close to the fromt, so I asked the lady behind the counter if I could safely drop off my gifts so I could utilize the facilities, and she motioned me to put said packages on the counter, which I did. Some five minutes later, after I left the bathroom to great relief, the bags were still on the counter, but the clerk was nowhere to be seen. That's bad when you're trusting someone who is at work to watch a bag for you for all of five minutes and they leave their post for whatever reason while there are customers in the store. What if the bag gotten swiped? I would have been mortified and Christmas would have been ruined. Thankfully, it wasn't.
Then another hiccup came when the southbound Purple line Hernando County bus (that's supposed to transfer me to PCPT #21 bus) was late arriving, as a result, the bus wound up missing the Pasco Conty bus altogether, and I was an hour behind schedule (the 21 only runs once an hour). Now with that said, why wasn't there any communication between the Hernando Co. bus and the PCPT bus to ensure that any connections weren't missed, especially when a customer had someplace that he needed to be? This is where I would embed the classic "Rick & Morty" rant, "get your shit together.
Then I finally made it to my destination about the time my crush arrived, we did our little Christmas thing, and it was wonderful. I got a little buzzed from Bud Light and a couple of shots of Fireball, but all was okay, and we really enjoyed each other's company. Alas, the time came to head back home after about a couple of hours, and so I did. I was expecting to make it back around 6:30 pm, but on the last transfer spot, there were issues...major issues.
One particular rider fell asleep on the southbound Green Hernando Line and wound up missing his southbound Purple connection. Sufice to say he didn't handle the news, nor his liquor, for that was the reason he fell asleep, well. He started in on the bus driver, calling him racial epithets, homophobic epithets, animal names, etc. This poor veteran wound up being escorted from the bus while the driver notified Hernando Sheriff's Office. It took four deputies to try to calm the man down, and even with that, I still don't know if he went to jail for drunk and disorderly conduct. Finally, after forty minutes, the bus was back on its way and I was finally able to get home.
Up until that day, I didn't think that the holiday spirit would come to me this year with all that had happened to me, but in the end, this turned out to be one of the best Christmas seasons in memory, and I'm looking forward to this weekend, if not the cold weather. SO, to all who are reading this, Merry Christmas!!
More to come...
CT
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