The Punch Line

Now that it’s (finally) raining again around here, naturally the freeways are filled with morning-commute accidents and delays (or they were a few hours ago). Combine that with the kid dropoff at Oakland High at the bottom of the hill I live on the side of, and you have the obstacle course I had to thread through this morning to get down to Lakeshore for some half ‘n’ half.
Couldn’t get in the left lane to cut across the freeway, and then couldn’t get in the middle lane to cross Park and head down to Trestle Glen, so I was forced to turn right and go up Park Blvd. to the first cross-street and then pull a U-turn and even then I couldn’t get into the right lane to turn down onto Trestle Glen because that lane also goes straight to the (ridiculously backed-up) freeway onramp, but I did manage to cut over once traffic started moving and make my way down through the quiet residential street to the back of the parking lot behind the little produce storenext to the Peet’s on Lakeshore.
Once there I grabbed the carton and – at the counter realized I had left my wallet in my leather jacket after going out for sushi last night with house of Zoka. Chagrinned, I got back in the car and drove back over the freeway and thence home, noticing that the worst of the crush was over.
Then I had to present myself to B and tell her my foolish story, grab my wallet, and try it all over again. Fortunately, the second time around everything worked out, but it was pushing 9 am by then and I still had not had my morning coffee!
So finally now I’m getting ready to head into San Ramon to do some paperwork and going through the pockets of my jeans I find a fiver and a couple of ones. I had them in my pocket the whole time! So B still hasn’t heard the final punchline of today’s cosmic joke on me.