What is That Old Saying?

You know... the one that goes something like life is what happens when you are busy making other plans?

Wow, was today ever like that!

I woke up to Happy Birthday wishes from The Captain.  We shared a cup of coffee and a navel orange and then headed out into the sunshine for a 3.0 km run.  Just enough to get sweaty and test out my new shoes.  Good on both fronts.

Showers, breakfast, birthday stuff and then off to the city to run a couple of errands and pick up some goodies at a bakery...  compliments of a local radio station for my birthday.  I chose some cookies, and we each enjoyed one almost immediately.

These babies are about 4 inches wide and just delicious!

Then we drove a bit further and parked in front of the Japanese restaurant where we planned to have lunch.  We are regulars there and like to go when they open, at 11:30 a.m., in order to get ahead of the lunch crowd.  It is located in a small ' strip mall' of about 3 other stores and some second floor offices.  The parking is off-street and in a private lot, owned and operated by the mall. 

We arrived at about 11:15.  There were 2 other cars parked in the lot, and about 15 or 18 empty spaces, at that time.  The door  to the restaurant was open so The Captain popped his head in and there was a woman using a carpet sweeper and she greeted him and said that she would be happy to welcome him back at 11:30.

So, being that is was a beautiful day, instead of waiting in the car for a few minutes, we decided to walk around the block.. which we did, and were back at 11:25 and were welcomed into the restaurant by the same woman.  We got seated and The Captain looked out the window and realized our car was gone... it seems that during the 10 minutes we were gone, it was towed away.

To make a very long story shorter, the moment we walked off the lot, we were deemed to be in violation of the private parking policy (which was not posted anywhere on the lot) and the tow truck driver pounced.

We ended up walking 8 blocks to the impound lot where we had to wait 15 minutes for the truck driver to appear and start the process of giving us our car back.  He wouldn't take a credit card but did give us a ride to an ATM machine of our choosing, so that we could withdraw the $160.00 that is cost to get the car released.  Wow.  So, I not only didn't get my Japanese lunch cause I was too upset to eat, we ended up paying for a tow that shouldn't have happened.

I spoke with the mall rental agent who said. 'too bad'.  And to the tow truck driver, who put our car on the hook in the first place, and eventually released it to us.  He said we were just lucky that this had never happened before to us...  I do see it from their point of view, but yet somehow do feel unjustly treated.

Anyhow, I am going to write a letter to the restaurant owner, and to the mall owner.  I know it won't get my money back, but it will make me feel better and then I can put it behind me.

On a more upbeat note... we did eventuallly get some lunch on the way back to the driving range.  But, by the time we got there, the wind had picked up and was blowing so hard we didn't feel like hitting golf balls... so we went for coffee on the waterfront and ate more cookies,  then did a bit of shopping and checked our mail, before heading back to the boat.

I have had my birthday pancake dinner now and am getting ready to watch the season finale of the Biggest Loser.

So, a run, cookies, lots of birthday love from family and friends, sunshine, and pancakes... and a day with my Captain.  It is great to be alive!