Our even less excellent adventure

 

         The retrieval of our car from the lineup of all the others from the train transport gave me pause. Sure, they’d called our number, the one that corresponded with the paper we held in our hand, but when we stepped out of the terminal it occurred to me that if we’d been smart we could have traded up. The line of cars, keys inside, were there waiting patiently to be claimed by their owners. Sure, we would have had to abandon a few things from our own car, but apparently no one was interested in whether we drove off in our Honda or instead chose that shiny Lexus nearby.

          Anyway, the three-hour drive from Sanford Florida to our place in Venice went without incident and we opened our front door, grateful to be stationary. The next few days were filled with laundry, stocking the fridge, and trying to remember where everything was kept. Peace at last.

          Except something seems to happen when we cross the Florida border. Last year on January 9^th we were sitting before a desk at the Bank of America, opening a new account because someone had attacked our existing one. Well, oddly, on January 9^th of this year we were right back, doing the same thing.

          Added to that was the infiltration of our Verizon account to the tune of an $800 phone and charges for two new phone lines. The bad guys also dive-bombed our Schwab account, while someone else tried to lay waste to a credit card.

          On the following Monday, after a busy weekend for the evil-doers, we were right back at Bank of America in front of the same desk, closing the previous week’s new accounts and opening another batch.

          Miraculously, and thanks to some excellent fraud departments, we haven’t lost any actual money but we now obsessively check our bank accounts each morning before we’ve even put a foot to the floor.

          We’re feeling hopeful, but our work is still ongoing. We’ve replaced the phone we thought might have opened a door and My Guy’s computer went to the shop today to be cleaned top to bottom.

           Meanwhile, when the air-conditioning guy came to do the annual check-up we learned that some coil or other had been leaking Freon and as a result the condenser or something now sounded as though it was filled with marbles. We now have a brand-new HVAC system. 

          Oh, and the clothes dryer died.