Last Days of School

Wednesday and Thursday were the last two days of work for me at Stu"ate Lelum for this school year. I rode in on Wednesday, while James brought his car. We worked like maniacs at switching classrooms, with James taking over Cameron's room. Since I've been there on Cam's behalf, it was logical for me to be doing the work with James. But I have to say that it was a total nightmare. Cameron's old room is large, James had the smallest room. Imagine the mess of moving all the books, the tools from the carving classes, the wood, the art supplies, and all sorts of student work... and that's just the beginning. We took shelving units off the wall and re-attached them by the ceiling in order to make room for computer desks below. We also filled the dumpster!

Of course the new room Cam is going to need was filled floor to ceiling and I figure he's in for a huge shock upon his return. By the end of that first day, I was KAPUT. I'd thought of riding to Nanaimo to see about switching my cell phone, but in truth, well I really was kaput. I had numerous bruises on my arms and legs. Lifting and moving desks and chairs and huge pieces of lumber took their toll on me. We decided to leave the desks on the porch until the janitor cleaned the floor, figuring it would make the job that much easier.

I rode in again on Thursday, taking the cell phone with me and once again expecting to ride into Nanaimo. On my way in the rain began to spit slightly and the skies weren't looking altogether friendly, but I still had hopes. James rode in as well. It's really quite delightful to see two motorcycles parked in front of that little building. Once again we got to work, and this time we pulled out the paint to touch up some of the mess from moving shelving and the like. I spilled a drop and took a damp cloth to wipe it off the floor and to my horror the cloth came up black with dirt. That prompted James to take a little cleaning spray and attempt to see what difference that might make to a small square on the floor. Would you believe that the dark spots we'd assumed were part of the congoleum pattern were simply there from years of grime. Poor Philip was asked to scrub the floors over the summer months. He's done his best with a floor mop, but I think it's merely moved dirt around and never really cleaned it. The principal brought him in to show him James' clean spot and explained that perhaps it was time for the floors to be stripped and he might just have to rent some kind of machine to help him get it done. I felt really bad for him, but hoped he understood that he'd taken over this job after years of neglect and with Len's desire for a cleaned school, he's going to be in for a summer of work. He's a wonderful man and seems more than willing to do what he's asked.

Meanwhile the rain was truly starting to come down, so now James decided it was time to put our bikes up on the porch too. And he went and got a cloth to dry them off so they'd be ready for us at the end of the day. I was delighted when the rain finally stopped and thought I'd be able to make that run to exchange my cellphone after all.

By afternoon, I began to try my best to organize Cameron's disastrous room somewhat. He'll have to go through everything anyway, but at least I had some kind of order back. The work was well underway, and we finally managed to get desks back into James' new, almost professional looking, classroom. At 3:00 pm, I glanced up at the highway and saw that it was at a standstill. Phil said that there was another huge accident up at the Husky Gas Station. It seems that there have been more of those since they put the lights in then we ever saw before. People just want to beat those yellow lights and while one is turning into the gas station, another comes flying through. I knew that there was no way I could head north and expect to get home without sitting in traffic for at least an hour. I left the school at about 3:35 and headed south to Chemainus to pay a bill in Saltair. It was quite a nice little trip down the highway for me. Kind of a long ride considering the Old Chemainus Road is torn up at the north end, and riding all the way to Chemainus is the only way to get to that little part of Saltair which is so much closer to Ladysmith and was where I needed to go. Of course I then had to turn around and head south again before I could head north. ( A little rant here: Now I'm hearing that the road is torn up so that Pamela Friggin Idiot Anderson can have some land developed for her own liking. She also wants variances that will allow Miss Boobs to have higher buildings and to build closer to the beaches. She's an embarrassment to this community and I wish she'd just stop letting the world know she's from Ladysmith and that she'd buy and develop her land in the USA where she's busy going back to her abusive ex Tommy Lee. ) When I came back up the highway, I took the turn-off to the road running along the highway, figuring I'd turn onto the highway by the school. BIG MISTAKE. That road was totally backed up too. I guess a lot of other people had hoped to cut their stalled-on-the-highway time by using it.

I kind of motored along on the side of the road for a while, thinking I'd head back to the school and wait it out. But at one point I came up to another motorcyclist riding a gorgeous Honda Sabre 1100cc bike. We got talking as we inched along, and she introduced herself as Charlotte and told me she works for the Town of Ladysmith. I'll be calling her to go for a ride with her one of these days soon. She convinced me to stay with her and try to get my way onto the highway. I actually did not get home until 5:20 pm. As you can imagine, I had no desire to go to Nanaimo anymore. I'd ordered a new front tire for my bike, and figured I'd ride into the city once that was on in order to get it worked in a little before the big ride to Victoria on Sunday. I'll be doing the Malahat for the very first time. Am I nervous? Heck ya! Am I excited? Oh yes!