Calamities

I don't know anyone in Reading, but I lined up three events this weekend to make sure I wouldn't be lonely:

- On Saturday morning, I was going to services at the local synagogue for the first time, which is actually not so local -- about a 25 minute drive.  I left 15 minutes early but between the heavy rain and my GPS losing signal twice -- both at rather important times -- I got there right at 10:30...but I couldn't find the building!  Turns out there's a little unmarked sidestreet that you have to turn into, and go through a gate, to get to the parking lot.  Unfortunately, by the time I found it, I was already 10 minutes late and so I went home.

- Sunday morning I was going to London for a tour of the British Museum with my rabbi, but as I went to leave the house, the key in the deadbolt started spinning, and the deadbolt wouldn't open!  I was trapped in my own apartment, on the third floor! And unlike in the States where you can disassemble a lock from the inside, the entire lock mechanism was inside the door and I had to call a locksmith to drill it out!  Needless to say, that took 90 minutes and I missed the tour.

- And then Monday night, I was going to attend a bridge class at the local club.  It was less than 10 minutes away but I left almost half an hour early because I wasn't sure about parking.  I got in my car and the battery was dead.  %^&!  I called the local auto club and they came out in 20 minutes (!) and it turned out the terminal was just loose -- I could have fixed that myself, had I thought to look.  So I raced down there and found the building, but never did find the parking.  (The street parking was all "permit only" and the place they told me to park didn't exist.)  So finally I just gave up.

So much for my social life. Tomorrow night I'm going to check out the Caversham Tennis Club, as they have an open session Tuesdays at 6pm.  Wish me luck...