WRITING PROMPT RESPONSE

The Best Weekend I Never Organized

The more we talked, the more each of the plans seemed to be torpedoed and sink slowly into San Francisco Bay.

I didn’t know too much about Linda. She was very well organized, a stickler for process and I’d heard she was fierce in an argument. I also knew I was going to be at least an hour late meeting her. I’d hoped she’d take it well.

I Showed Up Late

Linda was smiling and seemed in her element when I finally caught up with her. She was sitting outside glowing in the full glare of the Californian sun. We Scottish people tend to do that whenever it stops raining wherever we are in the world.

She pointed out however that I’d made a wee mistake when booking the tickets to a Baseball Game we were going to attend that weekend. Right game, adjacent seats, but different days. I said I would fix that when we got to San Francisco.

I Was Too Late Booking Excursions

As we headed along Route 101 from San Jose, where we’d been staying close to our US Office, towards San Francisco, we discussed the plans for the weekend. “When are we booked for Alcatraz?” Linda asked. I said that we weren’t yet but I would book when I got to the hotel. Linda explained that we wouldn’t be going then because you need to book Alcatraz at least 2 weeks in advance.

She then asked how far Mrs. Doubtfire’s house was from the hotel. I paused… “You haven’t checked to see where her house is have you?” Linda asked. We both knew I hadn’t.

The more we talked, the more each of the plans seemed to be torpedoed and sink slowly into San Francisco Bay. I decided to stop talking and put on my playlist to lift the mood. Some of the songs were actually quite sad and, far from lifting our mood, made us both homesick.

I Locked The Keys In The Car

On arrival at our hotel in San Francisco, I accidentally locked the car keys in the boot of our hire car with our bags. “Don’t worry,” I said, “The back seat folds down.” and I yanked at it. Splintering wood and a general lack of movement indicated that the back seat didn’t fold down. I’d just significantly damaged it. Whilst I stared at it in a mix of horror and confusion, Linda opened the driver's side of the car and popped the trunk release button on the dashboard. We agreed that we would check-in, drop bags and then meet in her room to sort out the Baseball Game.

I Lost My Room Key And Parking Permit

I checked in, picked up my Room Key and Car Permit, and went off to park the car. A few minutes later I returned to Reception very flustered. I had to explain that I’d somehow lost everything they had issued to me and ask if they could re-issue the documents and Room Key. This being yet another delay, Linda was starting to get concerned by the time I eventually showed up at her room.

I Accidentally Cancelled The Baseball Game

When I called, the Baseball Ticket Office they were really confused when I tried to explain that I’d accidentally booked my Pal and me to attend the same game in adjacent seats but on different days. Cutting through the confusion I asked if I could just cancel both tickets and then re-book. They said yes. We clicked through the various details required to cancel the booking. Then silence. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” The lady asked. When I asked if we could now start re-booking the tickets she said that we couldn’t. They were already sold out.

So… we weren’t going to Alcatraz because I hadn’t booked it and there was very little chance that I’d ever find Mrs. Doubtfire’s House. Now, as I hung up the phone and she looked across the room at me expectantly, I was going to have to tell Linda that even the Baseball, for which she had already bought the foam finger, was now also canceled.

I looked at her wide-eyed and terrified. “I think we may have another problem,” I said. Linda would later say that I looked like only a married man who knew the wrath of an angry wife could look. At the time, however, she simply started to laugh hysterically. That just made me even more scared.

We Couldn’t Find Mrs. Doubtfire’s House

The rest of that day was a mad story about not finding Mrs. Doubtfire’s house. Whilst looking for it, we sort of ended up on the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove across it and parked up. Then walked back across it and back across again and then drove across it one last time as we continued our search.

Eventually, I got locked up for the night in some strange Chinese-themed Modern Art Garden that we’d happened into along the way. Apparently, Security had called out to everyone several times to leave the park because it was closing. I missed that and they missed me. Soon I was looking through the locked gate at Linda with a look of panic on my face. I think Linda had been laughing so much at this point she was starting to get exhausted.

I Got Us Lost

Then I got us lost. Linda told me we were driving towards the sea but I said that couldn’t be right because I couldn’t see the sea. Suddenly I grabbed the steering wheel white-knuckled pushed myself back in my seat and screamed.

Now I couldn’t see anything but the sea, right in front and about 100 feet below us. It was as if I had just driven off a cliff. In fact, I had just crested one of the many steep hills among San Francisco’s streets.

Linda gently asked that I refrain from screaming in the car in the future, especially when I’m in the driver’s seat. She didn’t know it then but, over the years, I’d terrify her many times and in many different ways whilst driving her about. This had just been the first of those times.

A Bush Scared The Hell Out Of Me

I’m happy to say that the rest of that weekend only had one further incident. We didn’t dare to plan anything else and just hung around Pier 39. A hedge that turned out to be a guy, a well-known tourist attraction in the area, jumped up at us and yelled. I screamed and swore at him like a Shakespearean Actor to such an extent that children were shocked, parents were angry and Linda was embarrassed. Other than that, we just shared life stories and ate seafood chowder.

That was fifteen years ago and Linda and I have been the very best of friends ever since. We traveled often and far afield in our business trips and they were always filled with stories like that weekend in San Francisco.

Poor Linda has been thrown into a ditch as I ‘saved’ her from a marauding cow in India, sprayed in the eye with sun cream, and had to untie me from a hammock the first time I tried to lie in one in the Philippines.

Our respective families eagerly gather to hear the stories every time we come home. When people get surprised or shocked about the predicaments I’ve managed to get us into, Linda just explains it all by saying, “It’s Sean!”

#unplannedadventures

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