16 minutes

The hubs and I went to Target again. Unlike the first time we didn't get to enjoy a nice long leisurely stroll to get there. No. We took a bus. This is how it went: I called the bus people and asked if they could pick us up at such and such a time (you have to arrange pick up times you see) They said sure. I said, "Great! and can you pick up up 45 minutes after that?" The hubs doesn't care to walk around in a daze looking at everything like some of us do, but I won't name myself and give me away. So I was trying to keep the trip as short as possible. The bus people said, "No we can't pick you up then." ...So the time quickly went from planning on having 45-50 minutes at the store to 30 minutes. But, eh, 30 minutes is still plenty.

We went to the bus stop and waited ...forever! the bus wasn't coming. The bus was not there. The bus was late. Eight minutes late to be exact. You would think eight minutes wouldn't really matter all that much, but when you are going to be picked up at 1:30 and it is 12:57 and you aren't even at the store yet and it takes 13 minutes to get to the store, eight minutes is quite significant.

Needless to say I was not happy. I don't like to be rushed. I don't do rushed. I can't think or function well when rushed. It's really true. I can feel my skin getting tighter and tighter and my veins getting bigger and bigger. then pop. I go pop. Finally the bus shows up... eight minutes late. Do they realize they are cutting into our precious shopping time? Do they know they were supposed to be at the bus stop eight whole minutes ago?! For Pete's sake! I think not! I estimated how long it would really take to get all the groceries, and it was definitely longer than 18 minutes. great. just super.

We get to the store and have exactly 16 minutes to get in the store (which of course this bus driver drops us off at the furthest bus stop from the store) so it takes about an hour to get in the store. Ok. that might be an exaggeration... but still, the point remains: it took forever to get into the store to actually do the shopping. Hubs is booking it, he likes this pace. I on the other hand am panting behind him, trying to catch up. By the time I catch up with the hubs he has a cart half full of goods. O my. But! We have no time.... so we start zipping through the aisles. Hubs is throwing a gazillion things in the cart and I don't have enough time to throughly examine each item, decide we don't need it and put it back on the shelf. No. I don't We only have 9 minutes to finish and we aren't even half way through. I pick up a few things, bread, I know we need bread. I get one. Hubs throws in another. Gracious. I keep speed walking, trying to keep up with the hubs. Panting, heart racing, I can't see what we have in our cart. I can't tell how much crap there really is in there. No matter. We only have five more minutes. He's flying through the aisles, do we need this? Yes? That? Yes? This? No. Toss and throw. It all goes into the bottomless cart. Feet moving, head spinning, I can only see the boxes falling out of the cart and do my best to arrange it all so they will stay in.

At the register we throw everything on the nifty little moving belt thingy and start bagging everything up. Shoot. It's not all going to fit in our backpacks. We stuff and jam things into the bags, pay up and run out to the bus stop. Literally, we run out to the bus stop. Thankfully I have a cart to ride out so I can keep up with the hubs. On time. We are on time. Bags nearly falling out of the cart.

Funny. I thought there was supposed to be a bus... at the bus stop. At 1:30. There's no bus. And it's 1:30.

Really?! I mean, really? Is there seriously no bus? We rush and pant and panic and stuff and jab and jam and pull and ... there's no bus. So we wait. Again. At 1:33 there is still no bus. Those are precious minutes, I could have been putting something back on the shelf! Don't they realize this? Apparently not. After three hours of waiting and our milk going sour the bus comes. Finally. You know, we could have walked back home by the time the bus got there. Even totting our 101 bags. We could have made it. I'm sure of it. Once we're on the bus, the driver takes the longest way back. Are you serious?! Our milk is going to spoil! The cheese is going to melt. The ice cream will be soup. The frozen pizza will not be frozen.

But what can ya do? Nothing. But sit. And wait for her to take us back. What troubles. What troubles. After we get back (five hours later) we unpack what is left of our goods and put them all away. I hope we never have to do that again. I need more than 16 minutes to go grocery shopping for three weeks worth of food. Good gracious!

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Also, I was right. I got to see the water fountain again in the morning. The hubs even stayed home a little later to see if he could see the crazy fountain. 40 minutes after he left the fountain was still spouting water. good gracious. I called the emergency maintenance number and told Manny (the maintenance man) all about it. He said he would fix it in the morning. I tried to convey the depth of the problem to him. "You see, it's been raining water for about an hour now. It's flooding both sides of the side walk. It shoots up above my window." I kept watching out the window all morning, but never saw anyone fix it. I left for lunch and it was still unfixed. Thankfully when I came back some one had stuck a new spout on the sprinkler. Manny saw me and told me he fixed it. This morning, there was no fountain, however, the sprinklers were still watering the cement side walks. Oh, I'll never understand. I try to help... but it's to no avail. I may as well give up.