In which YT fights killer winds and is sad about Heath Ledger
So, I’m one of the multitudes who was completely stunned and saddened to read about Heath Ledger’s untimely death yesterday. And I have to confess that I was kind of upset about it today, too, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Because, he wasn’t like my favourite actor or anything. In fact, I hardly ever thought of him. Except, bizarrely, around six o’clock last night, when I was lying on my back in my bed resting, and inexplicably I started to think about the movie Monster’s Ball, [WARNING: SPOILER!] and how absolutely shocking that scene was when Heath Ledger’s character suddenly, without warning, blows his brains out.
Later that evening I read the news online, and thought how weird it was that I’d had that flashback to the movie earlier. [No, I’m not trying to make this about me. I’m not. Really.] And then I realized that, actually, I really liked Heath Ledger as an actor. I saw him last in that godawful, overrated Bob Dylan film a couple of weeks ago, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that his segment was the only one I could bear to watch [seriously: I have never in my life wanted a movie to end so much]. As an actor he had a certain indefinable quality about him that made me happy. In Icelandic we have an expression: Hann bar gott með sér, which literally translated means, ‘He carried good with him’, and figuratively means, ‘He had an aura of goodness about him’. And that’s the impression I had of him. May he rest in peace.
IN OTHER MISERABLE NEWS YESTERDAY…
Around noon, when that storm they’d threatened us with was blowing through here with a fierce growling vengeance, YT decided to head out for a walk – as you do. I had the wherewithal to take my car, was planning to drive out to the golf course and take a quick stroll around in the 30 m/s gale-force winds, you know, as you do. And on the way I figured I’d stop at the bakery, pick up a couple of rolls for me and AAH for when she got back from school. And that corner where the bakery is located is like the baddest wind-ass corner in the whole of the capital area. So I come out of the bakery and I’m struggling to hang on to things like gloves and keys and rolls and iPod to keep them from blowing directly out to sea, and I open the door of my car and in one fell swoop the wind whips it open with the force of ten strong West Fjords Vikings and all I hear is a sickening SNAP and SCRUNCH. And all I think is MFSBCS!!!!!!!
That single gust of wind ripped open my door, tore the hinge in two, and bent the door back so far that both the door itself and the fender next to the door were all mangled. To make matters worse, I couldn’t shut the damn door because the hinge was in the way and everything was all dented, and when I tried all I did was jam the loose hinge into the dashboard, where it dug a hole in the plastic and got hopelessly stuck. Meanwhile I was desperately holding on to the door to try to keep it from flying up again. [And then the phone rang in my pocket. ARGH!]
Thankfully there was a gas station across the road to which I could carefully manoeuvre the injured vehicle while desperately hanging on to the door. This old guy who works there shuffled out when he saw me and tsk-tsked a bit, and finally said, “You know, it’s insane to open a door when the wind is coming from that direction, it’s insane [No! You don’t say!],” after which he patted me reassuringly on the back and said, “I’m sorry, dear, but it is. It’s insane.”
YT: Okay, okay, but can you help me out with a piece of wire, and is there a body shop around here anywhere?
Believe it or not, just at that exact moment, a car pulled in and the old guy said, “Why yes there is – talk to that guy,” and that guy just happened to be a body shop owner, and his shop was just up the road. So he called ahead for me, and they tied my doors together to keep the driver’s door from flapping in the wind as I drove, and sent me on my way [and undoubtedly had a good long chinwag about stupid women who open their doors to the wind after I was gone – as you do].
Long story short, the guys at the body shop were perfect gentlemen, did what they could with the door [i.e. I can close it now] and after all that one of them went into the back and came out with a big bag of chocolates, “Because this lady is having a really bad day.” [Aw!] So now I’m just waiting for them to order me some new hinges, and then they’ll have to do all this body work on my auto, take it apart and fix it and spray it and I may even have to buy a new fender and omg I just don’t want to think about how much it’s gonna cost. And that was the weather report for yesterday.
Temps currently -2°C [28F] and the fickle wind is no longer blowing. Sunrise was at 10.36 am and sunset at 4.44 pm.
PS – YES, we made the shortlist for The Bloggies and that is because of all my wonderful, amazing readers who sent in nominations, you totally rock! And now you can all go vote, go vote, GO VOTE!!
Later that evening I read the news online, and thought how weird it was that I’d had that flashback to the movie earlier. [No, I’m not trying to make this about me. I’m not. Really.] And then I realized that, actually, I really liked Heath Ledger as an actor. I saw him last in that godawful, overrated Bob Dylan film a couple of weeks ago, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that his segment was the only one I could bear to watch [seriously: I have never in my life wanted a movie to end so much]. As an actor he had a certain indefinable quality about him that made me happy. In Icelandic we have an expression: Hann bar gott með sér, which literally translated means, ‘He carried good with him’, and figuratively means, ‘He had an aura of goodness about him’. And that’s the impression I had of him. May he rest in peace.
IN OTHER MISERABLE NEWS YESTERDAY…
Around noon, when that storm they’d threatened us with was blowing through here with a fierce growling vengeance, YT decided to head out for a walk – as you do. I had the wherewithal to take my car, was planning to drive out to the golf course and take a quick stroll around in the 30 m/s gale-force winds, you know, as you do. And on the way I figured I’d stop at the bakery, pick up a couple of rolls for me and AAH for when she got back from school. And that corner where the bakery is located is like the baddest wind-ass corner in the whole of the capital area. So I come out of the bakery and I’m struggling to hang on to things like gloves and keys and rolls and iPod to keep them from blowing directly out to sea, and I open the door of my car and in one fell swoop the wind whips it open with the force of ten strong West Fjords Vikings and all I hear is a sickening SNAP and SCRUNCH. And all I think is MFSBCS!!!!!!!
That single gust of wind ripped open my door, tore the hinge in two, and bent the door back so far that both the door itself and the fender next to the door were all mangled. To make matters worse, I couldn’t shut the damn door because the hinge was in the way and everything was all dented, and when I tried all I did was jam the loose hinge into the dashboard, where it dug a hole in the plastic and got hopelessly stuck. Meanwhile I was desperately holding on to the door to try to keep it from flying up again. [And then the phone rang in my pocket. ARGH!]
Thankfully there was a gas station across the road to which I could carefully manoeuvre the injured vehicle while desperately hanging on to the door. This old guy who works there shuffled out when he saw me and tsk-tsked a bit, and finally said, “You know, it’s insane to open a door when the wind is coming from that direction, it’s insane [No! You don’t say!],” after which he patted me reassuringly on the back and said, “I’m sorry, dear, but it is. It’s insane.”
YT: Okay, okay, but can you help me out with a piece of wire, and is there a body shop around here anywhere?
Believe it or not, just at that exact moment, a car pulled in and the old guy said, “Why yes there is – talk to that guy,” and that guy just happened to be a body shop owner, and his shop was just up the road. So he called ahead for me, and they tied my doors together to keep the driver’s door from flapping in the wind as I drove, and sent me on my way [and undoubtedly had a good long chinwag about stupid women who open their doors to the wind after I was gone – as you do].
Long story short, the guys at the body shop were perfect gentlemen, did what they could with the door [i.e. I can close it now] and after all that one of them went into the back and came out with a big bag of chocolates, “Because this lady is having a really bad day.” [Aw!] So now I’m just waiting for them to order me some new hinges, and then they’ll have to do all this body work on my auto, take it apart and fix it and spray it and I may even have to buy a new fender and omg I just don’t want to think about how much it’s gonna cost. And that was the weather report for yesterday.
Temps currently -2°C [28F] and the fickle wind is no longer blowing. Sunrise was at 10.36 am and sunset at 4.44 pm.
PS – YES, we made the shortlist for The Bloggies and that is because of all my wonderful, amazing readers who sent in nominations, you totally rock! And now you can all go vote, go vote, GO VOTE!!
posted by Alda at 11:55 PM
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