Endless Day

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice - the longest day of the year. In Seattle, that means we had 15 hours 59 minutes and 31 seconds of daylight. The sun rose at 5:11am and set at 9:09pm. Since we're so far north, practically Canada, it's probably quite a bit longer than the rest of the US, but not exactly Alaska, which had only two hours of night. Their sunset was 12:47am and the sun came up again at 2:58am.

Honestly, the longest day yesterday seemed even longer. Partly because I decided to tackle the catching up on my bookwork. It's too embarrassing to mention how many weeks/months I'm behind on inputting the expenses and keeping track of all the books. So I won't say. But it's an awful lot of work once you get past the first month deadline. Just sorting all the little slips into piles took half the afternoon, getting each one into chronological order. Obviously my most hated task ever.

And then the night dragged on too. A couple hours after I fell asleep I was awakened by the sound of a yammering car alarm which sounded awfully close. I jumped out of bed and headed to the front window, hearing a lot of commotion outside and a car zooming off. Of course the alarm was my own car, blaring and flashing in the street out front. Damn.

I jumped into some jammie pants and ran out to see what the fuss was about. And several neighbors were out there too. A lady down the street was talking loudly to her cell phone on the sidewalk. I could tell it was a 911 call and she was talking about my car and the attempted theft. She ran up all flustered and out of breath to hand me the phone so I could finish the call. And the guy on the porch across the street yelled over his description of the guys and the souped up car that revved off around the corner. Crap, a window was broken and glass was everywhere.

So we exchanged information and pleasantries. I dithered about what to do in my dark living room, watching to see if they would creep around the corner and come back after everything had died down. Called the police back to file a written report. It seemed like the only way to actually get a patrol car to drive down our street . Waited on the front steps a while longer. Chatted up the very nice policeman (he was cute! I was in flannel jammies!). And then decided to empty the rest of my junk from the car. A pile of display pieces that were driving around with me, since it doesn't make sense to unload them between each weekend show. But it would be hard too replace all my little custom built bins and shelves and I didn't want them to drive off with the jerks. Then remembered that I should take out my registration and insurance info. If they came back over during the night, I didn't want to have to replace all that too, and worry about identity theft as well.

Then I couldn't sleep for a long time afterwards, my ears perked for every single car or sound out there. I'm tired and pissed today. Grounded until the window repair guy comes, angry that I have to pay $200 to have it fixed, irritated by the whole mess. Yes, it's less hassle than actually having to replace the car and all that. Believe me, I know. I've had two other cars stolen before. I guess you can't live in a city and park on the street without this result at some point.

Happy Friday, stay safe. It will be two seconds shorter than yesterday.