I don’t quite know how it happened, but somehow I convinced myself that I’d had my car inspected back in April. That’s when it was supposed to be inspected, which means that for the past three months I’m just lucky I never got a ticket. My mistake was revealed last week when I tried to renew my car’s registration with the state of New York and discovered they didn’t have a yearly inspection on file. I’m not sure what it says about me — or this weblog — to admit that I combed through my blog’s archives to see if I’d made any mention of having the inspection done in April, or that I was prepared to send the New York DMV photographic proof of what in retrospect was an expired sticker. But I found no mention in the archives, and the sticker was expired, so I realized I’d have to bring the car in a few months late.
Which I did this morning. I got up around 7, which is kind of the last thing I want to do on a Saturday if I can help it, and drove to the auto-body shop in Mineola. It used to be you could get a train back from Mineola right after that, the station just a block’s short walk from the shop, but a couple of years ago the LIRR changed the schedule just enough to make that all but impossible. So I had to wait around for about half an hour, and then get a train to the station one stop after mine and walk home. (That’s just how the stations are set up: Mineola’s maybe an hour-plus walk away from my station, but the next station after that’s only about a twenty-minute walk away.)
It’s okay. The rain the other day really did cool things down, and it wasn’t an unpleasant morning walk. I knew I’d have to do it, so I had my iPod along with me.
When I got home, I called the air conditioner repair service to get a window on when they’d be returning the AC they took with them on Tuesday. Between 9:30 and 11:30, I was told, which basically gave me enough time to take a shower, have breakfast, and pull out all the plastic and plywood I’d used to cover up the big gaping hole in the living room wall. I did my best on Tuesday to disguise the hole, and make it exceptionally difficult for the dog to get out through it, or for burglars to poke their heads in. I even slid some furniture in front of it, but I have to admit I was glad to be getting rid of it finally.
Putting the air conditioner back in the hole took all of fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. And immediately you could tell that it was working. I paid and tipped the two guys, and they went on their way.
Then I went and picked up my car. I had to take the train back to Mineola, but luckily the LIRR makes a few other options available during the day. (Like one train every hour.) I got the car, after its inspection and oil change, and then I went grocery shopping.
Then I came home, napped a little, read some comics, and watched an episode of Touching Evil. (I was familiar with the US remake, which was well received but canceled right away, but I’d never seen the original British version. Apparently it’s now on Netflix.)
This evening, I watched Underworld: Evolution. Which was not very good. I was surprised back in January by how much I kind of liked the first movie in the series, but this was definitely a case of diminishing returns. And, pretty as Kate Beckinsale may be, I’m not sure I can bring myself to watch the next two.
So, anyway, that was my Saturday.