My Blonde Moment

Ha. That suggests I’ve never had others.

I feel like I have the privileged authority of calling attention to blonde moments, because I’ve been blonde before. It wasn’t an all over one tone blonde, but I had that many streaks going through my hair, that when I looked back at those photos of me years later, I was like “Woah. I was like really blonde.”

I’ve now gone from a dark brown (already my hair colour) to a deep red. Anyone who has gone from dark hair to red, knows that the colour ends up being more like a deep burgundy that can only really be seen in sunlight, well-lit areas and in the shower when you see the colour running away down the drain.

I’m melting, I’m melting.

Red says it will take me several more go’s to get my hair a brighter red, which I intend on following through with. I feel like getting a bit crazy. 

Anyway, enough with the hair. Onto the moment.

There’s this cheap car park (or should I say long street of angled parking) about a 5 minute walk to my work, which I try get to when I drive in. It seems that the more time goes by, the more people seem to be discovering it, and are getting there at ridiculous times in order to nab a spot, even though their work shifts don’t start for a while. I know this because I am that one such person.

Today I got there just under half hour before my early morning shift. That time a couple of days ago, there were perhaps 6-7 spots left. Today at the exact same time, the last spot was just being taken. Grrr.

To make matters worse, the person getting the last spot just kind of hovered there with their indicator on, not turning into it until I drove past. Annoying. Trying to rub it in huh?

So I had to go to my back-up plan. This other open car park that I used to park at for years before I discovered the cheaper one, is half the distance. So despite being double the price, there is that one benefit. Only annoying thing about it is, you have to pay into this stupid machine that only takes coins, or credit card.

Well I didn’t come prepared with enough coins, did I? I’d paid via credit there before, so pulling up to the stupid machine in the pitch-black morning, I pulled out my blue card from my wallet, and inserted it.

The machine told me to ‘hold card in until told otherwise.’

Then it said ‘remove card.’

Then it said, ‘wait, card authorising.’

Then the screen went back to normal, I had no ticket, and the damn boom gate hadn’t moved.

So again.

I put the card in. The machine said to ‘hold card in until told otherwise.’

Then it said ‘remove card.’

Then it said, ‘wait, card authorising.’

Then the screen went back to normal, I still had no ticket, and the damn boom gate still hadn’t moved.

I repeated this about another 4 times I think. Frustration and anxiety building at every moment because another car was waiting behind me. After he high-beamed, and after one more failed attempt, I got out of the car to ask him for help. Maybe I was putting in the card wrong, though I was doing it the way the machine illustration was telling me to.

“Sorry,” I started.

“Can you reverse, so I can try?” he asked briskly.

“Yeah.” I walked back to my car, upset, and reversed to the side. I watched as he put in his card, and within moments, he was through the boom gate.

At this stage the guy who works at the car park arrived. Feeling a bit better, knowing if it didn’t work he could perhaps help me out, I went forward again.

I tried again.

The machine told me to ‘hold card in until told otherwise.’

Then it said ‘remove card.’

Then it said, ‘wait, card authorising.’

Then the screen went back to normal, I had no ticket, and the damn boom gate hadn’t moved.

So I called out “excuse me.”

He came over. “Oh, what have you done now. You come back once in a blue moon and you can’t work the machine.”

Grrrr.

“I’ve done this like 6 times, and it keeps saying it’s authorising, then it goes back to normal. I just hope it hasn’t charged me all those times.”

“No, it shouldn’t, only if it goes through all the way.”

“Am I putting it in right?”

As I handed him my card, he looked at it and said “hmm, it’s a debit card.”

“It’s a credit card,” I confirmed, and as I said that I looked at the card as he handed it back to me.

It’s my freaking car insurance member card.

“Uh, maybe another credit card will work,” I fumbled as I ripped out my actual genuine credit card, while he walked behind the back of the stand.

I watched the machine with anticipation, feeling like a complete idiot, sooooo glad the guy hadn’t worked it out yet. If he had, he would’ve paid me out, BIG TIME.

The machine made a ringing noise as it displayed ‘wait for your ticket.’

And then the gate opened.

I felt like a complete tool. Both cards are blue, and were sitting relatively close to each other in my wallet. It was an easy mistake I guess, but seriously, all I could think in that moment was.

What a blonde.

It’s also like the time I typed in my Eftpos card password into the alarm code at my previous job, crying out ‘why won’t you turn off?’ while the alarm chimed loudly threatening to go off at any moment.

10 seconds of fear later and my comprehension kicked in. I was getting my monthlies, blame them.