Monday, Monday...

 ...can't trust that day.  Once again, I am showing my age.  I just write that and I can hear the Mamas & the Papas singing the whole song.  And it's true.  You CAN'T trust Monday.

It's a "holiday."  It's actually TWO holidays.  Columbus Day, which is supposed to celebrate Columbus' "discovery" of the new world.  (He didn't end up where he was supposed to.  The islands in the Atlantic were not India.)  It seems to me to be more a celebration of Italian Heritage.  (I'm all for that.)  It's also Indigenous Peoples' Day. (Celebrating the people who were already "here" and who were NOT Indians because it wasn't India.)  I'm not against either holiday, though I can understand the conflict and the issues associated with both and in MY opinion, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas really got a raw deal, but that's a story for another day.

Today also marks the birthday of John Lennon.  Tragically dead for longer than he was alive (and that blows my mind), his birthday IS worth celebrating.  As are his messages to "give peace a chance."  ("Imagine all the people, living life in peace.")   Trite?  Perhaps, but very valid and something worth thinking about.  (And not just on October 9.)

Maybe we could learn something from the fact that ALL of these "holidays" (of which only one is federally recognized) fall on the same day.  Maybe we could celebrate the greatness of exploring new worlds while also recognizing that we can't/shouldn't exploit who and/or what we find, IF we want to live in peace.  But that's just my take on the day.

So why am I saying you can't trust Monday?  Well, it may be a holiday, but I'm still working.  Just like last Monday I had to get up (and my brain woke me up much too early), get my "stuff" together and get on public transportation to get to the office.  My son (who is home for a 4-day break although I really haven't seen him that much, but that's the life of a teen), assumed that I would be home and that we could do something today.  Had to tell him that he was wrong.  (And that's why I wanted to do a few things on Sunday morning with him...which we sort of did.  He is our resident Halloween decorator and he did put up his home-made scarecrow/jack o'lantern.  But then he was off to do his own thing, leaving me to figure out how to lay out the bones and tombstone. Maybe he and my husband can put up the ghost projector this afternoon since it's not supposed to rain.)

It was chilly this Monday.  It was especially chilly in my house where I had yet to hear the boiler turn on.  (I never officially turn the heat off...I just set the thermostat to 60.)  I'm not one of let the calendar dictate when I turn on the heat, but...let's just say that the house was hovering around 60 yesterday and I was thinking about taking it off hold and letting it run, but I didn't.  However, this morning, as I was downstairs doing my stationary pedaling (as well as Wordle which I managed in 3 tries and Connections which I lost yet again!), I thought it was cold.  Then I thought I heard the "click" of the thermostat, but not "woosh" of the boiler.  I got up to check and the temperature was still hovering at 60, so I thought I'd imagined it.  

A little while later, I thought I heard the click again, but no woosh.  This time the thermostat said 59.  So I took the thermostat off hold and pumped up the temperature, but nothing...Not good.  Especially since we had our annual heat cleaning back in August.  

I finished my cycling and then headed upstairs where I woke up my husband to ask his opinion.  Should I call our heating company NOW or should I wait until 8 (when I was at work).  He concurred that I should call their 24-hour line, which I did.  The line is really only an answering service, who said the office would call when they opened at 7:30.

I got ready and headed to the office, taking a local bus so that I would be in the office when the call came through.  (Even though I had given my husband's cell phone number as the primary contact, I made sure they also had mine.)  The earlier local bus means less traffic and less people getting on and off the bus, so the trip from my stop to the light rail station (where I have to transfer) is about 20-25 minutes.  When I got to the light rail station, I realized that I had taken the book I was reading out of my backpack and left it on the table at home.  (Sigh.)  While the light rail trip is quick, it's a good place to read (smooth ride).

I got into the office before 7:30 and texted my husband at 7:40 to see if they had called.  They had not.  However, by 8 my husband called and let me know that he had gone downstairs and seen that the service switch was set to off.  He flipped it on and... voila!  He called the service company at 8 and cancelled.  (Not that I think anything was actually set up.)

Maybe it's not Monday, Monday that you can't trust.  Maybe it's me.  Or at least me prior to coffee? Or me when I have to go to the office on a federal holiday?  

Well, as the Bangles said (dating myself once again), "it's just another manic Monday."