I made plans to drive with a friend to the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Festival. This is one of THE national-level events for yarn crafting in the US. I could have taken Metro-North but I thought it would be more fun to go with a friend, and getting a ride is (theoretically) faster.
I got up at 6:45 in the goddamn morning on a saturday so we could get an early start. She was supposed to pick me up at 7:30. We talked about it last night, I even agreed to write out the directions to save her some trouble. I packed snacks.
It is 8:45 and no sign of her. I have called and texted her every 15 minutes since 7:45 rolled around. No answer, no reply.
Me too. Hope it turns out OK, and that you guys still get to go. A friend of mine is going, too, actually. That’s how I know what the festival is – and what a big deal it can be.
Yeah, I’m definitely concerned (in between bouts of being mad about getting up so early). She’s not really the sort of person who flakes. Even if she’s going to be late to something, she always calls.
Smoked turkey, cheese, pears, fancy crackers, almonds, hummus, fig newtons, dark chocolate with raspberries, and water (one bottle frozen so as to be cold for later).
My friend of 23 years decides to move countries. She has 8 months off. In that time, she is so busy, I see her once for about 4 hours.
A week before her flight, she texts me, telling me she’d finally booked, and that she’d like to see me before she goes - which day did I have free? I reply, and the nominated day is 5 days hence.
The 5 days go by, during which time I have had no confirmation from her; nor does she answer her phone (no messagebank) or reply to any texts.
The day of our non-existant ‘last hurrah’ comes and goes, as does her day of departure two days later.
I figure I’ll find out what happened at some point, and give it a week in her new country before I try calling again. It rings out. I text. Response? 0.
A month goes by. I try a-gain. Mobile’s disconnected. I have no forwarding address. She left 4 months ago, and I ain’t heard nuthin’. My birthday passed unacknowledged.
Somehow, :smack: I get the idea that we’re not friends anymore…
Many years ago I went to NC for a vacation with friends. They insisted we leave in the middle of the night. I complained - back then I was not a morning person. No, no, they insisted, you *must *leave then to beat the traffic.
Rather than risk missing the leave-time, I stayed up all night and got there on time - and those sons-of-bitches were dead asleep. And I was pissed. They hadn’t even packed their freaking car yet. It made a long drive, even longer.
Hey, I was there yesterday too. Thing is, I made the mistake of taking the Thruway to Kingston (we wanted to stop and have breakfast at Sonic) and then backtracking up to the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, taking 199 to 9G to US-9 and the fairgrounds. That’s something like 6 miles from the tollbooth. Traffic was so bad it was backed up across the Hudson and past the tollbooths and it took me two hours to go those last six miles.
Then of course getting out was a freaking train wreck as everyone wanted to do it in reverse and get back to the Thruway. So I did what I should have done in the morning and cut east to the Taconic Parkway. A late-afternoon in the middle of October is a very pretty drive on that road.
Next year I’m taking either 9 or the Taconic, or we’re continuing on south on 9W and crossing the river into Poughkeepsie and try getting in from the south. (Oddly enough, if you tell Google Maps you want directions from Kingston to Rhinebeck it does exactly that instead of going up to 199. I can’t figure out why.)
The Taconic drive was perfect in both directions, both into and out of the fair. There was literally ZERO traffic on 199/308 when we left about 5:15pm. Apparently the difference in the 2 routes is enormous, as all I have heard is horror stories about the Kingston bridge.
