fly lady

That's me... cause I'm flying by today. And this is my website...and this is all you get... so forget your messy house, settle in and put your feet up cause fly lady just had an attitude adjustment and found out she likes herself better this way...
So, today was a day for errands. Around 1, decided to stop flying and have coffee... which I did- to the delightful accompaniment of some singer who either is or isn't driving home for Christmas. The next song wished us all a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year...and then there was White Christmas. The first xmas song I heard here in Ukr was at McDondalds in Lviv with Jim and Caroline... in March... so I guess we're actually early still. Who knew.


So, fly out of the coffee shop, down to the underground passage...there's an older lady down there busking... you know, she was singing and you could give her money for it if you wanted- and let me tell you, she was good...very good. I bought batteries nearby just to hang around and listen. So, after the battery sale is completed, Mrs Busker abruptly stops, so I look. Well, that bane of a quiet and peacable life- a drunk- was hanging onto her- he must have had something very important to say. She didn't exactly look happy about it and people kept right on marching by, so I sort of ambled off to the side where I could, you know, keep an eye on things because I really had to install those batteries right then and there... he was rather a large person, so I wasn't too anxious to jump in but I had a hard time walking away, too... so I stayed and watched for a min or so. Just when Mrs B started to look truly distressed (how would you like a drunk literally hanging on you, blowing his smelly breath in your personal breathing space and pushing you?) and I decided she needed my help- in swoops a man from out of nowhere- young, about 30. He puts his arm around her shoulder, turns her away from Mr Drunk and starts earnestly talking to her. Mrs B looks like things are moving rather fast for her and the drunk looks confused and I decide to just hang around and make sure we don't have 2 bad guys here... But Mr 30-something is really nice, he sort of maneuvers her away from Mr D and then Mr D just looks confused and shuffles off... and Mrs B has a 100 hryvyn bill shoved in her hand by Mr 30-something and then he left, too. I smiled at her, she smiled back. It was too good to miss.


So next, we stop at the electronics store to ask where to take P's old camera to have it fixed. Well, I'm thinking it's up north at a certain place, just don't have the address anymore and it's a shot in the dark, basically, trying to get there- better to ask I decide. Mr 20-something- very friendly, helpful, eager and so forth- he's just that. Gives me an address but has no idea how to get there. Can't find the street on my map. He finds it online and prints the page off for me... see how helpful and all that he is? Of course, this is at a completely different location than I had in mind... hmmm... well- off I go.
It starts to drizzle.
I get off the metro at the right stop and head down a big hill. Looking at my map. A few turns but things aren't quite matching up with the map... finally figure out just where I am- and the street that I want should be right here- like between this corner and that bridge up there- head off towards the bridge- on the wrong side of the street- very busy street and no crosswalk (and in case you're wondering, you can now get hefty fines for jay-walking in Kyiv...and there are people around to tell their sad tales of that)- so what to do??? I'm tired. It's drizzling... dart across the first 3 lanes and wait in the middle- a line of cars cresting the hill at the bridge and I decide- you'd better go now cause there's another mess coming from the other direction- so off I go... right in front of... pass out
you got it
a cop...
fly, lady, fly...
I nearly ran up the hill. Risked a glance over my shoulder-the cop has pulled over and turned his overhead lights on... I'm in shock...(I mean- I do not need to have that kind of hassle on a foreign passport, I can tell you that much)
I kept moving- uphill (this might explain how I missed something vital)- anyway- I never did find out what that dude had pulled over for but not me...I think I lost a few years off my life right then, though
So, on I go. Over the bridge- this isn't right. Re-examine the map. Two, in fact. I obviously missed my street. Back I go. No street. I must be in a twilight zone... did the cop scare me so bad that I actually disapparated or something? Am I still where I was? Yup.
hmmmm
Then I see people materializing *poof* onto the sidewalk in front of me... just about where I landed when I was fleeing from that cop. On closer investigation, I see



a set of steps,

does this look like someplace you'd go looking for an electronics repair store?

a secret passageway,

a parking lot at the end of it...

and a street out in front of that. The poor street just sort of dies there but it is there...

It's nearly magic, really, the way they've gone and hidden that street down there in some other dimension nearly.

So- find my building- security guard out front. Can't get past him without paying in blood- tell him what I need. Oh, he says; They moved. To Obolon metro stop (this, I might add, is where I thought I needed to go to begin with but because sweet nice still-has-acne just-out-of-school Mr Helpful says otherwise, I've come here)

Wow. Mr Security Guard writes down the exact address for me, tells me which tram I'll need and a whole lot of other helpful stuff... I do the last 20 min in reverse. Including the jay-walking. Excluding the cop and the hunt for the street. Hoof it all the way back to the train station and start again.

It starts to rain.

Wade through puddles, turn corners, talk to tram drivers, passengers, people on the street- fly lady's wings are getting tired and I just don't want to do any more of this extra stuff...

More security guards, gates, doors, armed complexes (well it feels like it)- ahhhh- a nice well-lit reception room, people who are helpful and really truly know what they're doing, paperwork, receipts... call back in a week. I'm gone.

It rains harder.

One more errand- looking for a bus that our very dear and very truly very nice friend insists exists... and all the nice people at the very muddy and puddly bus stop say- Up There. Where- in the sky or what? You think I really can fly? There are no more lines of people waiting for buses, no more spots at the curb for buses to pull up to... but plenty of muck to wade through. There are just no more options for this potential bus.

And it's getting dark by now.

The bus is a phantom... it must be. I leave. Someone will have to disillusion it... or me... or something.

It starts to snow.

I go home.

It snows more... and more...

And the canal out front's freezing again.

On the up side, our from-out-of-town friend can't leave town tonight after all, has more job training tomorrow and we have a very pleasant post-supper chat with him. He's the dad of these dolls.

Oh- and I had fake baked nachos for supper... with lots of salsa and cheese.

Fly on, lady, fly on...