Sunday, November 01, 2009

Muted

We got back from Dallas in one piece. That was a near thing - well, our physical safety wasn't actually much threatened but the careful arrangements, the well documented itinerary and tidy little stack of pre-printed boarding passes, etc. were hurled to the wind on the arrival at DFW. The rest of Tuesday evening was a nail-biter, involving rushing between terminals in distant mega-ports. Picture an 11-year-old nearly in tears trying to unlace her Converse high tops at security and get them into the x-ray tub while her sweating mother drops her government issued ID and a bit of necklace 10 minutes before scheduled departure. Hear the dread clack clack of the wheels of carry on bags being hauled over floor tiles at full speed by Shackleton. Believe me when I tell you it was worse than anything Halloween had on offer.

Many people were kind along the way. One traveler moved from his window seat to a middle seat to allow our group to sit together. (May he and his descendants be forever blessed.) But all this kindness was overshadowed by the disaster that presented itself as we walked onto the last wee plane (no carry ons in the cabin, it was that small) and I realized that somewhere in all that rushing, my dear laptop, my electronic heart, was lost or stolen along the way. It was like the iron had entered my soul. So, today, with the family circling and Whusband asking when I am going to turn over the surviving computer to the Understudy for a school report, I have stolen a few moments to share my pain and explain what may be a period of silence. (You think I am exaggerating but I have been dreaming every night about my laptop like a lost child. Oh dear).

Until some new arrangement can be made it will by catch as catch can. I will try to keep reading, but writing is going to be hard.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain.

I sooooo hate air travel these days that it is all I can do to keep from hurling F-Bombs at everyone I see commencing when I pull into the airport parking lot and ending when I leave.

My sympathies on your loss, BTW. My the good lord protect your identity from all and sundry who would use it to perpetrate evil.

Cheers.

Lulu LaBonne said...

That is tragic I could not survive the loss of my laptop.

Great post though - pain must have some positive outcomes or we really would be lost.

Love the new header pic (your boy?) and the wedding pic of the youngsters is brilliant.

Madame DeFarge said...

Not good at all. I'd loathe to lose my Mac, so I can imagine what you must feel like. Any prospect of return?

Catastrophe Waitress said...

Is there no hope? No way for a person finding it to actually know it's yours? Was there no contact details with it? Might it still be returned do you think? Poor KSV.

Kim Velk said...

Dear Fellow Bloggers - I knew you would feel my pain.

R - I am with you on air travel. I don't have to travel for work in my current job so now when I fly it is for "pleasure." I have managed to avoid connecting flights the last few trips but getting back and forth to Dallas they were unavoidable. They introduce such an opportunity for things to go wrong...

The laptop is password protected but I am not sure that offers as much security as one hopes.

Lulu - Thanks for the kind words and sympathy. I was thinking that perhaps I was due for one the universe's periodic ass kickings - getting complacent in middle age...
If this is the worst I guess I am lucky. Well, I know I am lucky, in the great scheme of things.

The banner is Shack. The laptop I just lost had, I recently discovered, a fun little photo editing app and I passed a pleasant hour doing a few manipulations to a color shot I took of him a few weeks ago.

Mmme - Isn't it a frightful prospect? When I realized I had let mine slip away I just wanted to, I don't know what, do myself an injury. How could you? I screamed inwardly.

Hi Proj -

You know, I had a lot of hope initially because I called airport security before we were off the tarmac and told them as well as I could what my route through the airport had been and because my intinerary was tucked in the front pocket of the bag (with my name and address) and we are all warned not to have anything to do with baggage that is sitting alone in an airport. But days have passed. I have called or emailed everyone I was advised to call or email and nothing has emerged.

It's 5:40 AM and I have stolen downstairs to access the surviving laptop. This one was initially bought by Whusband for family use, but when it arrived he decided that it might be too nice for free access by all and has been taking it back and forth to MTL, where he works all week. Now that I have been branded an laptop loser, I am not likely to be able to bring this one around with me anywhere.

Gosh. I am getting the keyboard wet with my tears and the violinist I hired is exhausted. Better go. Thanks again.