Aug 27/08 - Day 5 - Part II

Wed Aug 27 – Part 2

Rod picked me up at Starbucks and we decided to share a small lunch. We stopped at the White Spot near Southcentre and went in. There were a number of people waiting and they said it would be a 15-20 minute wait. Looking around the restaurant there were at least a dozen tables clean and vacant. I asked why the wait as there appeared to be lots of room. The answer - that as the kitchen staff was so busy they didn’t want to stress the waitresses by having people waiting at the tables. We asked could we just sit and have a coffee while we waited – “No”. Alrighty… makes perfect sense to me (not). While at lunch (elsewhere) Rod gets a call from the stainless steel shop saying my flagpole has been repaired. He has already been to the Flag Shop and purchased me not one but 2 new flags. Finishing lunch we make the 20 mile trip (each way) to pick it up. It’s not quite as pretty as it was but they have built up the shaft and hopefully it will hold. ANOTHER $54.OO – thank you very much. I have always wondered if Flag Motors in Guildford budgeted the expense for replacing the huge Canadian Flag from Expo ’86 when they decided to make it their landmark. I don’t think I was quite prepared for this either :-)

Back to Maryon’s by 3:00 as we want to change for our evening to Okotoks and we are to be there by 4:00. Ringing the doorbell – no answer. Maryon had gone to Sobey’s for a few things at 9:00 a.m. and said she would be coming right back. We weren’t quite sure what to do as my bike was in the garage – we had no house key, her son Alex had gone to Edmonton to visit his brother and grandson Shawn being 18 – well we have no idea when he might show up. We called the house just to be sure she wasn’t there but we could see the car wasn’t in the garage. Well, I just may have an overactive imagination but I am concerned that perhaps Maryon has come into some difficulty so off we go to find the Sobey’s. We cruise the parking lot looking for her car and then the supermarket aisles. We call again and leave another message. Rod thinks she may have gone to the Coop instead so we find out where that is and zing down there. Cruise the parking lot – the supermarket aisles and call her again at home. This time we also leave a message for Shawn to call should he come home. We see a couple of Calgary police officers and decide to ask them what we should do in the event she doesn’t show up. I am feeling very concerned by now – she is 82 – she did serve pizza for breakfast… maybe I am oversensitive having recently lost my own Mom of a similar age. It is now 4:30 and we should already be in Okotoks – a 30 minute drive away. We are standing in the middle of the parking lot looking helplessly at each other wondering what to do when Rod’s cell phone rings. It’s Maryon and all is well. A huge wave of relief washes over me. We jump on the bike and head back to change and go.

It’s an enjoyable evening with friends Laura & Julian but in our rush to get there we forgot a music disk I had made for them and decide to drop it off when we leave Calgary on our southbound journey in the morning.