Reality bites!! After an incredible weekend in Vegas it was time for me to get back to reality. The return to Ottawa was, thankfully, uneventful. As usual I got the red eye and landed in Ottawa at 8am in time to get to work by 9am. It’s a killer flight and I will not miss it. But worth it to have a whole extra day with Joep!
It was great to be reunited with friends on the Tuesday and to check out my new housing situation. Thankfully I moved out of my June sublet into a much quieter house … it was everything I hoped it would be. Still, I am not cut out for long term share house living. I need my own space. And bathroom. Call me spoiled. I don’t care.
My arrival back in Ottawa was also made interesting by a couple of very random occurrances. On my first Wednesday back I had a hot date with one of my all time favourites, Anne-Marie. We were meeting at a local bar which we are big fans of. I was in my room working and just about to stop to head over to the bar when I heard a commotion outside my window. A guy was right outside my window shouting at a girl about 100 metres down the road. So here is what I was able to surmise from their conversation … actually it was from his monologue.
They had been engaged and were madly in love. Well he was madly in love with her. She then cheated on him and called off the engagement and apparently began dating a lot of different people. I know this because he said to her ‘I hope you’re happy! I hope you’re happy now having all your sex and everything’ (**insert waving arms when saying ‘all your sex’**). He still loved her and wanted to be friends with her. In fact, they had been going for a bike ride which he had been looking forward to all week when this scuffle broke out. In addition to wanting to remain friends, he also wanted her to return all of the gifts he had given her. This included the necklace she was wearing that day. She declined. He was less than impressed. Final bit of information I obtained was that he was originally from out east and had moved to Ottawa completely broke. He had hoped that she would be there for him and help him but … and this was the pinnacle of the drama … instead he was left with an empty heart & an empty bank account.
Oh lord. The entire neighbourhood was staring our their windows at these 2. The girl was speechless and kept trying to leave. Meanwhile, the girls in my sharehouse gathered around my window which had the best view of the drama unfolding. It was like watching a movie! It also resulted in me running late for meeting Anne-Marie. Thankfully she was also running late. When the commotion died down I headed out and a wonderful evening ensued!
Reunions are just the greatest and AM & I picked up where we left off – Beer and good chats. Life doesn’t get much better. As the evening wore on 2 of AM’s friends coincidentally arrived at the bar and pulled up chairs at our table. We were all enjoying a lovely chat when something fell out of roof onto AM. It looked like a big bit of dust of something and we were curious re what had caused it to fall so we all looked up. In the ventalation system above us there was a little furry head poking out! Oh lord. At first we thought it was a mouse … then we saw its little claw was attached to a WING! It was a BAT!
I can’t remember what happened next but my nearest memory is that I someone got from my corner seat to the door of the bar in warp speed. So fast that AM asked ‘Where’s Jen?’ before spotting me at the exit. The bat disappeared for a little while back into the ventilation system and I joined AM behind the bar while the staff tried to figure out how to get the bat free. While cowering behind the bar the bat made its 2nd appearance of the night … I lost it. It was totally freaky. Everyone else seemed to be very very calm. I was very confused by this because, as I pointed out to AM, bats could have rabies! To which she very seriously responded ‘Yes. It could also be a vampire.’ Good point AM. Fear levels escalated.
My fear levels reached a whole new niveau when something tickled the back of my neck. As I flapped around like a crazy person I turned to see the bartender in hysterics laughing. Yes, yes, very funny to make fun of the girl who is afraid of bats.
The bar staff agreed that the best way to rectify the bat problem was to block all the holes in the ventilation system so that the bat had to go back to the original entrance and be free. Good plan. After they blocked up all the holes AM & I resumed our wonderful reunion evening made even better by the free shots we were given to alleviate our nerves. Splendid!
Not really though. Just as I was getting really relaxed again and was totally engrossed in a story AM was telling me, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. It was black. And it was flying. IT WAS THE BAT! Before it could attack me (which I was quite sure was its plan), I slid under the table screeching hysterically. I slid so quickly that my skirt came all the way up and I am now the girl who sat under the table in her underwear crying because of a bat. I don’t care. I have good survival instincts.
I have no idea how the bat got out of the restaurant because I was under the table. But I do know that it made for a very entertaining evening!
So there you have it. A bat. In a restaurant. It was beyond freaky!
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