It was the best of days, it was the worst of days.
My Christmas yesterday was fairly eventful, both in good and unfortunate ways. Here's how I spent it.
I did not spend time with family or friends, as I'm in Whistler and my family is in Ontario. I didn't spend time with friends because I figured that as long as I'm in Whistler, I might as well work. So, Christmas was another work day for me.
My driving schedule had two parts: first, I would drive to Vancouver, pick up some people and deliver them to a nice restaurant for a fancy Christmas dinner. I would wait around for them to finish, and bring them home.
I was under the impression that I was picking up two people, each at their own address. Since I don't know Vancouver very well, I studied my addresses and planned my routes. When I picked up the first person, it turned out it was a family of four. Instead of one more stop, I would be making two. I would be making a total of three stops before the restaurant, and picking up a total of six people.
My plans went out the window, and I had to rely on my passengers to help me drive to the pick up points. That's not so bad and they were friendly, but I would have liked to be able to navigate on my own.
I eventually dropped them off at the restaurant, and had some time to fill. The dinner was going to take up to three hours. I decided to go to the Casino, and see what it would be like to spend Christmas there.
There are a few places one doesn't want to find themselves on Christmas, and alone in a casino is one of them. I imagine a worse place would be alone in a closet drinking a bottle of hard liquor with the lights off. I wanted to experience finding myself it in a casino on Christmas.
It was quite busy, and it was hard to find a spot at a blackjack table. Once I did, I lost my twenty dollars in three hands. I left the casino in a foul mood because I lost my money so quickly. I guess I had nobody to complain to, so that made it worse!
I then went to find something to eat. I found a 7-11 that was open, so I bought some wine gums and a sub from their small deli shelf. I ate that in my car.
Three hours after I dropped the family at the restaurant, they were ready to be picked up. My traveling was better the second time around, as I had time to plan my routes and I knew where my drop off locations were. I dropped off the last members, and headed to the airport.
I had to pick up four people from a Salt Lake City flight, which turned out to be delayed. I got to the airport for their scheduled arrival time of 11:30pm, and didn't leave with my passengers until 4:00am. They kept delaying the flight, and the YVR flight board delayed it every fifteen minutes, leaving me with hope that it would be coming soon.
At midnight, it said the flight was delayed until 0030. At 00:30 it said it was delayed until 00:45. Then, 01:15. After that, 01:45. It kept going like that until the plane finally touched down at 03:30. My passengers emerged from the terminal at 04:00. I drove on the deserted highway roads until I dropped them at their hotel just before 06:00.
I was super tired and hungry when I finished work, so I bought a nice breakfast at a fancy restaurant using some tip money, then went home to bed. I had been in my truck from 4pm when I left Whistler, until 6am when I arrived back. Fourteen hours of Christmas working!
The day wasn't all bad though...there were definitely some good parts as well! The two highlights of the night were talking with the family in Ontario, and hearing how everyone enjoyed the gifts that I had sent home. I spoke with most of the family on the phone, and everyone expressed gratitude for the box of presents.
While I was in Vancouver, I also got a call from my Whistler friends. They wanted me to know that they had saved a plate of Christmas dinmer for me because I couldn't be there with them. They all got on speaker phone and we had some good chats and good times.
Even though my work day was long, drawn out, and frustrating at times, Christmas was actually pretty good. I got to commune with my family via the phone, and also my friends. I ended the day not feeling alone, but happy that I have friends here who care about me, and family at home who love me.
And I guess nothing can top that, right?
Merry Christmas everyone! Happy Boxing day!
No comments:
Post a Comment