Out In The Dark

A little back-story...

When I sell stuff on eBay and need to send it to US addresses, I make my way into Washington state to mail them using the much superior (seriously!) US postal system. I can send a package from Washington to Florida in a manner of days. To send it from Canada... 2 weeks, sometimes 5 weeks, apparently depending on how well the dogsleds handle the Interstate (grr).

It means I have to walk across the border, though, as the "commercial" side of the border crossing is designed for semi-trucks, not cars. I can park and take a decent 10-minute walk to the post office, chat with the ladies about the latest lunch specials down the road, pick up anything I may have purchased myself. Oh, and always ensure I have my receipts ready for the Canadian border guards who insist everything is valued at $200 or more . I once declared a video game for "three ninety-five," which translated as "$395.00" instead of "four bucks" --"four bucks," incidentally, would be a false declaration... sigh. After that, it's another quick 10-minute walk back to my car.

So, anyway, I had a bunch of stuff to mail off today, including a number of rather bulky boxes of toys to send off to various states. I walked into the US Customs office, submitted my ID and proper form and declared my travel plans (post office and back). Not a problem and usually isn't.

Well, except for one problem. The customs officer never thought to mention that the entire town was without power and had been all day. I discovered this sad fact after I'd walked to the post office and saw signs on storefront stating they'd be open on Friday.

So, here I was with a bunch of bulky boxes --5 to be exact-- and a number of envelopes, another 5, and no actual proof that they were mine save the return address. But what of the value? Well, that was on the form I'd left at the US Customs office. As far as Canadian Customs officers... This could very well be $2000+ worth of toys precariously balanced in my arms!

So, a couple of panicked phone calls to my wife and she assured me she had found a babysitter for the kids, printed off my eBay pages (that's enough 'proof' for Customs) and was on her way. I told her I'd be waiting just outside the post office building.

That was at 3:50pm. I had left home at 2:30.

At 5pm, the rain started again. There is a severe flood warning in the region as the temperature has picked up dramatically and it snowed heavily in the mountains over the weekend. This little town is known for its floods.

At 5:30, I started calling friends and relatives to see if they'd seen or heard from my wife. They hadn't.

At 6pm, quite wet and feeling extremely numb, I began walking towards the border, hoping I could see her in a huge lineup of cars. But I couldn't see her anywhere.

Why? The US guard who stopped her car had decided tonight was a good night for all vehicles to be inspected. Heavily. We're talking child seats removed, spare tire taken out, X-rays, dog sniffing......

And I stood. In the dark. And the rain.

Waiting.

At 6:30, they finally let her go. She picked me up a few minutes later. She actually drove right by me and it was a less than a 10-minute dash back to the post office. She also couldn't find the post office as there were no lights on anywhere once you got past the border. We finally met up and made our way back to the Canadian border where we had a lengthy discussion with the border guards there.

And I still have 5 bulky boxes and 5 envelopes to mail out.

But not tomorrow. The weather's supposed to be worse.