Well, pretty much the minute I walked in the house Ron "ordered" more alcohol (more on that later) and began a campaign of intense verbal abuse. "What have you done for me?"
After the last week, he has to ask?
It started Monday, with a nasty migraine. It persisted until well after 1 AM Tuesday. I had to go to work, I had to take Ron to the conference, etc.
Ron was actually pretty decent to me all week, with the exception of the last hour. So all day Monday I ate a Excedrin every 4 hours. We went to work and stocked. I put up notes explaining we were at a mandatory conference.
We came home, I tried to lay down. Didn't work. I did have 2 cats with me, though. I made sure to spread my cheap wool blanket over the entire bed so the cats would have plenty of room to stretch and snooze. They love that blanket.
I also did the same with Ron's fleece blanket in his bed, when he got up. We finished our packing and went to Walmart.
I helped Ron get his prescription refill for his painkillers. You can imagine traveling hundreds of miles on various modes of transportation, sitting for hours, etc. with a very bad back. I was happy to do this because I don't wish him harm.
I wish I could say the reverse applies, that he does not wish me harm. But I don't think I can honestly say that. We got some snacks and went home again.
I put down huge bowls of food and water for the cats. I made sure we had everything. Medication in original prescription bottles. ID cards. Left work badge and keys at home. Donned my work shoes. They look like black leather sneakers but they have a steel toe. I figured that would be smart for us, with Ron in the wheelchair.
Our ride came, we had a pretty straight ride to the train station. And the train was 4 hours late. The passenger train does not get priority on Texas tracks. The freight train is the boss. Or so I heard.
The train came and they took us to a coach car (we had coach, lower level tickets). They had a platform, and had me roll Ron onto it. Then they manually cranked it up to the level of the train floor, and I rolled him off. A conductor showed us where to go. We had the entire lower floor of the car, and a nice wheelchair parking area. Enough room to stretch our legs out plus our bags, and the wheelchair.
It was a pretty uneventful ride to San Antonio, until we had to get off. They had a folding manual ramp this time, and had me take Ron down it backwards. It was a little uncertain, and I sure wouldn't do it in any other wheelchair. . We got there at almost 4 AM (What do I do for Ron? Ha!). Happily, with some modes of public transit other modes are drawn.
What do I mean? Get off a Greyhound, find a cab waiting for you. They know the schedule. Same with the train - we had a cab in a few minutes.
Then a very long ride to the hotel. I got lost in the hotel trying to find the front desk. I finally did and we checked in. It was about 5 AM on the day we had set for our reservation (the 13th). I figured they would make us wait until noon - they let us check in right away.
It helped, I told Ron, that he looks so pitiful in the wheelchair. We had a problem with the room (which was otherwise fine): The bed was high. I had a hard time getting in the bed. For Ron, it was almost impossible. They sent the engineering team out and they lowered the bed for Ron (we had 2 full beds).
They had sent a series of emails about the conference, over the last few months. They were vague, and conflicting. It was my understanding they started on the 13th. They did not. So we slept in. We had the 13th. I spent a lot of time getting lost.
We did get some food and went to bed early. I woke up early Wednesday and took a shower, then got Ron ready. We registered and had a day full of long speeches. Did we learn anything? No.
But everyone had a good time talking at us. They did feed us a couple of times, the hotel catering was pretty good. Again, early to bed.
And we were awakened at 4 AM by a fire alarm. I quickly dressed and prompted Ron to do the same. He did not. He was very slow in getting ready. I couldn't help but think "We're going to die in here, he's so slow". It was at least 5 minutes before he was ready to go.
We waited outside in the cold for a while and they finally let us back into the hotel. They had a grease fire, in the kitchen. The whole foyer/lobby area smelled like burnt grease for hours.
I couldn't go back to sleep after that, so I tried to take a shower, and there was no water pressure. I wasn't impressed.
I used Ron's bath wipes instead, my hair was OK after brushing. Now, they had about 700 people attending, and about half of them were blind. So it's not like I had to dress to impress. Many of the more affluent blind vendors wore suits, some dressed casual like us. But the majority, I would say, were "business casual".
I went to the lobby, I wanted some breakfast and planned to hit the breakfast buffet. They told me they were doing a free "apology" breakfast. I went and did that. They had 2 kinds of smoked salmon, a cheese board (I think that's what it's called), etc. I had some brie, smoked salmon, fruit, etc.
The whole conference I was very careful to avoid anything with chocolate. I could not afford to be stricken with a migraine. I still had headaches, but not as bad as Monday.
Then more speeches. They finished at noon, then we went to the trade show. Now that was interesting. They had vending machines on display and some very nice looking ones, too. I was impressed. They handed out samples of pretty much anything you can put in a vending machine, I loaded up. We finished up.
Our part was done. We had already checked out so we went to the lobby and called another cab. He came pretty quick, considering the hotel was out in the middle of nowhere. He took us to a Super 8.
We like Super 8's. I have had good experiences at all the ones I've used. It was a long cab ride but at least no traffic. We checked in and the hotel was very decent. No complaints. They even had more TV channels than the nice hotel. The only 2 things I could say were the first hotel had a bigger shampoo (relevant when you have longer hair) and the first hotel had diet soda in the vending machine. They had an "Order Inn" menu and I got some delivery. Ron ate junk food samples from the trade show.
I ate a calzone and some garlic bread, it was pretty good. I took my pills and went to bed early. I slept pretty well considering we were away from home, in a strange place, and Ron kept making noise going to the bathroom.
I got up at 3:30 today and took a shower. Good water pressure and nice soap. I used the "fancy" shampoo. I dressed and rounded up all our stuff. Last night's cab driver had arranged to pick us up this morning, and he was ready. We checked out and went to the train station. It was pretty busy.
It got progressively more packed, we were expecting a Chicago bound train and the New Orleans train pretty close together. Chicago (train 22) came and half the room boarded. The New Orleans train came and we had a wait.
They finally let us board, BUT they didn't have the crank up platform they have in Houston. It was the ramp again. Ron was pretty upset, it was steep and he didn't want me pushing him. The conductor was very nice. He went on board for a while and came back, pushed Ron up the ramp.
They had 2 other disabled people on the train, each sitting on either side of the aisle. We would have to sit on either side of the aisle, but the one woman didn't want to move her stuff and was outright hostile towards both me, and the conductor. She had bandages on her lower legs and blood was seeping through. There was also a bad odor, obvious infection, and some noticeable swelling.
I sat in the back. There was a baby on our level, in the car, but he was pretty quiet considering he was a newborn. I went up to our stuff (near Ron) and the hostile woman demanded I sit next to her. She wouldn't take no for an answer. That's how I know about the odor and all. We talked a little. I didn't ask her about her feet. At one point she left the car, dragging her suitcase with her. I tried not to be offended she apparently thought I'd get into her stuff.
I should probably mention here the home bound train apparently had a problem with some drugs being found in the middle of the night.
It was an uneventful ride home. It was delayed due to toilet problems. I believe there was a woman with OCD who, throwing paper towels in the toilet, flooded the whole system. They had to have a special machine come and suck it out, in San Antonio. When we got to Houston she had been in the handicapped stall for over an hour and "went off" on anyone who knocked on the door. She also took her pants off, exposing her underwear, in public, showing a scar on her leg to the conductor.
Public transit. Some things are universal.
We got to Houston. The family with the baby had way more than the 2 items permitted per person. He kept taking one thing after another off the train. They got the platform for Ron, and cranked it up. I put him on and followed him. They cranked us down.
People were smoking everywhere on the train platform. It was thick. I put Ron in the station. He complained. I told him it was that, or smoke. He said stay here.
I tried to buy a drink from the vending machine. Now, when we went in October to buy the tickets the machine was broken. Monday it worked fine. Today it gave me my drink, and my $2 back. I called the company and let them know their machine was giving away free drinks. She took it seriously.
Good. I hate to see another vendor in trouble. I did compliment the guy in San Antonio because he had a very nice operation, everything worked, etc. AND he had Diet Dr Pepper, which is my favorite.
Ron didn't listen to my advice about paratransit, so in addition to getting a penalty mark we had to wait a long time. A woman was wandering around trying to 'borrow" cell phones. Ron snarled at her (he was in a pretty bad mood from the time we hit Houston) and mine was hidden by my coat. She eventually wandered off.
Our ride came and Ron had to ride in the back. Technically, he would have fit, but your average paratransit customer is at least 100 pounds overweight, so no room for more than 2 in the backseat. So he rode in the wheelchair compartment. The driver was careful strapping him down and was also deliberate in her driving so he wasn't shaken up.
We rode around for about an hour, dropping off, picking up. We finally got home. The house looked OK from the outside. We went in. Baby Girl was at the door but ran off when she saw us. The food bowls were empty. I left enough food for two weeks. Biscuit must have gorged himself every day.
When Ron was in San Antonio, he tried Jack Daniel's and soda. He really liked it. Then he tried a plain shot of it. He liked that better, and said he was buying some because it tasted so good, he didn't have to gag it down like the vodka, and it would "save" money.
It will not save money to buy expensive designer alcohol. They also come in glass bottles, which is just a BAD IDEA for Ron.
But, the minute we got near the house he arranged for someone to buy 2 bottles and bring it to him. I went outside to tell the cab driver the cat was trying to get out, and Ron went off. I told him "I'm not doing that again" and he went off on me, saying I think I'm better than him, etc.
No, he is always telling me how much better HE is. I don't look down on anyone like that. There is no better than someone or not. There may be things about them I don't like (like reeking sores, or being an alcoholic) but that doesn't necessarily make them a bad person. It just means there is something I don't like. I didn't "defend" myself. He ranted and raved for a while, typical, nasty, verbal abuse.
He kept going on about how I do nothing for him. At one point I asked him "What about the last week?" and he got even angrier and more abusive.
So I have gone from having a cheap, angry, drunk to having an expensive, angry, drunk.
[sigh]
At least the cats love me. I missed them. I hope Torbie and Biscuit sleep with me tonight.
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