THE BLUE LINE
A family member is in hospital so I paid her a visit. The name of the hospital shall remain nameless in order to protect the names of the innocent.....or the guilty depending on your perspective.
First stop is to the bank to take out a mortgage in order to pay the parking. Turned out that it was irrelevant as I couldn't find anywhere to park on the hospital property anyway. After wondering around aimlessly for a time with one eye on the gas gauge I found somewhere to park about fifteen minute walk from the buildings. Mid March is traditionally pretty darn cold in Ontario and this day was no exception.....helped by a howling and bitter wind, my discomfort coupled by the fact that I'd just driven two hours to get there.
Construction!! Construction everywhere. It looks as though they're doubling the size of the hospital. An obvious economy is the lack of signs aimed at the casual visitor. Where the hell is Emergency??
I see a small door with people periodically entering and exiting like ants in and out of the nest, at least it'll get me into the building, out of the cold......first mistake!
I go in, it's warm! A sign "Emergency Triage." Terrific, lucked out! Wrong! You'd think that Emergency Triage would be next to Emergency.....wrong! I enquire.
"Go out of here, turn right, then left and follow the blue line."
Very helpful, very polite but she had this smile on her face that caused some anxiety. It was well founded!
The local Police have received several missing 'person reports' recently, I know where they are! Thankfully they are warm, probably hungry but faithfully following this blue line!
I did as I was instructed and found the blue line. First problem, it heads off in two directions and there's no sign! OK....even money chance of being right.....or wrong.
Turn left, follow line, line comes to an end right in the middle of the corridor. Common sense says keep going as it's a long corridor. (You would think that Emergency would be close to Emergency Triage. Nope....someone has a sense of humour.) Back to the line.
Suddenly the line picks up again, your heart lifts up in hope and excitement. Round the corner, the excitement mounts. The line comes to an abrupt end geometrically in the middle of an intersection. There's a red line, green line, yellow line but no blue line. Three to one chance of being right! Look for a sign.....hmm....there's a sign to Emergency Triage but I just came from there. There's a guy coming towards me with head down and a puzzled expression on his face. I look at him,
"Looking for the blue line?"
"Yep it fizzled out."
"Bin here long?"
"Yep." One of the missing persons?
"Do you know the way out?" He asked.
"Nope. Trying to find my way in."
"The line starts again down there." He says pointing down one of the arms of the intersection.
"Good luck" I say and set off in the direction indicated.
I never saw him again. Perhaps he's still there, he seemed like a nice chap.
Sure enough....blue line.....it just magically appears for no apparent rhyme or reason....it was just 'there.' A huge feeling of relief, I'm getting hungry. Thankfully I'm not paying for parking......or perhaps I should have persevered.
The line twists and turns like its demented. It goes on and on. Finally.....'Emergency.' An incredible feeling of success like reaching the top of a mountain tempered by the knowledge that, at some point of time in the future, I have to find my way out and then find my car. Forget it for now.
Now I need to talk to someone....don't laugh! You know the little opening thingy that's in the glass in front of the the girl behind the desk........the opening is thirty inches off the floor!!! But, that's another story all together.
