Helped out a friend the other evening--she got stopped and had her car towed because she has been neglecting to purchase new license plates for her car--something that has been on the front page of the St Maarten edition of the Miami Herald for months and, it turns out, in daily email messages sent out by AUC Med Schools office. Now, Im already barely running on time to pick up donations for the Island Gems Charity Foundation Silent Auction and making it to the meeting on time against bottle-neck tourist traffic in Simpson Bay, but shes a friend and I try to help friends when I can, even if they brought trouble upon themselves. So she decides to empty her car of her personal belongings and put them into my car. Items included: Medical school diploma, tons of other diplomas and certificates (I had no interest in reading them)--all framed, with the med diploma almost as large as my kitchen table); 2 opened and falling-apart cartons of soft drinks, 4 pairs of pricey shoes, a huge comforter she apparently uses for sun bathing but doesnt fold, a shopping bag of opened snacks, and other stuff I cant remember. And I had to stand around while she went through her car, handing me heavy stuff that is too much for my back. Bad enough shes already holding me up--then she walks off and asks a student who was also stopped and had to empty his car of belongings before it was towed. Yeah, I know. I dont have a full-time job, so I have all the time in the world. Anyway, I drop off the student (on the way to her place), then drop her off. She grabs the most important stuff--purse, 3 pairs of shoes (I think she forgot about the 4th pair), and her agenda. Havent heard a word from her since, despite the fact that she knows she is taking up ALL my trunk space. That means I cant shop for groceries because there is no place to put them where they wont empty all over the place. Joe said he would move her stuff out of the car, which he did not because I didnt tell him to, although if I had I would be nagging. So just now--since I have errands to run and grocery shopping to do--I did what I often do with heavy items: I emptied a plastic clothes storage container (which I now have to also refill once this adventure is over), then proceeded to carry out one or two items at a time from my car to behind our lockable entry gate. The stuff took up the huge plastic container, two huge container store sized reusable plastic shopping bags, and--because the sky is threatening some mild wet stuff--covered all with the comforter, taking special care that the diplomas and such would be well-protected from any light sprinkles, as well as from the sun. There are far too many unthinking people who believe that a PhD or MD qualifies them for special privileges. I never thought this gal would be one of them. Her car was towed on Tuesday--over two weeks after the local paper began publicizing that the grace period was over and they began stopping and towing cars whose owners have many excuses for (each day the front page pictured lots of cars in the process of being towed, ranging from beat up local cars to a shiny new Jaguar(!)--and I have heard not a single word about what she plans to do with her stuff. My condo is far too small to hold her cars household furnishings and my back porch contains all my water aerobics equipment, my tool chests (notice I dont say Joes tools), container gardening stuff, my clothes line complete with hanging bed sheets drying in the breeze, plants that Im trying to save, and pet stuff. Oh, yeah--and the gas grill and all its gadgets... Im rarely so mean, but my time and space is as important as anyone elses. And now you know why I tell people that I do in fact have holes in my soul...
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 16:05:51 +0000