How are you? I'm slightly shell shocked today. I had an epically bad day. It's so bad that if I tell you, you'll think I'm exaggerating. I wouldn't be.→[More:]

It began at 6.30am when I got a cab to my boss' house to pick up the work car from out the front. She's away on business this week, and I had a few meetings to go to around the place, so she gave me the spare key to pick it up this morning. Her husband needed to drop her off at the airport yesterday, so I couldn't pick it up then. This isn't too annoying - she lives a suburb away from me, but it meant that I couldn't catch PT there, as it was too much of a walk, and I hadn't been to her house before.

I decided to catch a cab.

Her street is a long street, and what I didn't know was that the numbering restarts after a major road. The cab dropped me off on the wrong side of that major road. I wandered down it, freezing cold, muttering under my breath, for about an hour before I finally found the car.

I wiped all the windows down with my was-new scarf, managed to get in the car and off on the road.

Phew.

I drove for 2.5 hours to get to my meeting in Bendigo, which was very productive and successful. All good, we shake hands and off I go. The meeting was in a psych ward, that was obviously a sign, but I just thought it was because it was about a book I'm working on for nursing students wanting to learn mental health nursing.

The meeting lasted all of 20 minutes.

I sigh, get back into the car, and prepare for another 2.5 hour drive back home.

The car does something weird leaving bendigo, but I don't worry about it too much when it starts behaving itself again, and I sail along merrily until I notice the nearly empty petrol tank. I decide that I better pull over and fill 'er up, and pull off the freeway and into a small town in nowheresville, victoria.

I find the first petrol station, struggle to get the petrol in, pay, and leave. Driving back onto the highway, the car starts doing that weird gear change, where it won't change gears - in an auto - and the warning light comes on saying 'transmission malfunction'. I pull over, call work, call the fleet car people, cry a little bit, and wait for an hour or so for the RACV guy to come out, fiddle a little bit, and say 'drive it to the Ford dealership if you can."

I tried, got partway there, the warning came back on, so I pulled over and waited (like the RACV guy said to) for the tow truck. Another hour later...

He tows me to the ford dealership, where they tell me they probably won't look at it for a week or so. I call the office / fleet people etc, and wait for a while longer at the dealership.

Finally I get word that there's a rental car waiting for me, all I need to do is to pick it up from the airport. They tell me to catch a cab there. I get in the cab, calling out thanks to the people at the shop, drive for ages, get to the airport, go to pay...

Realise my wallet fell out of my bag in the car and is still in there, wherever the car is.

Drive in taxi back to dealership - several towns away - to pick up wallet, and then drive back to the airport.

Finally - $120 worth of taxi fares later - get out, get into hire car, and get home to collapse.

And I promise... I'm not exaggerating a single part of that.