Soggy weekend

Unfortunately, the rain that was supposed to hold off until the mid to late afternoon moved in a little faster than we had hoped.

I had managed to bike up to the library and back by 10 (just arriving back at the same time as my wife and daughter, back from the orthodontist).  I then had to run over to help out at the Hoot and Howl fund-raiser.  I was already a bit miffed, as I had been shifted back onto the bouncy slide.  I found it kind of stressful keeping kids (and parents) in line last year, and I didn't really want to do it again.  While people are generally pretty pleasant and rule-abiding, there is still quite a bit of confusion when there are lots of kids scrambling up the ladder and then there are always a few little ones that won't want to come down.  Fortunately, the two high school girls could go up if necessary and retrieve the children who were stuck (usually more psychologically than physically).  I was glad that for whatever reason the slightly older kids (11-14) were not lining up, as the real problems come when you start mixing big and small kids.

On the whole, it wasn't quite as difficult as last year, but then it started to rain and the slide got quite damp and then just too wet.  We closed down the slide and I sent the high school girls in, but then I had to stick around to tell people the slide was closed.  That was close to an hour.  Just as my shift ended, the rain stopped and they were trying to dry off the slide and reopen it, but I don't really think the rain was going to hold off for very long.

Fortunately, most of the events were inside, though that meant it was incredibly crowded in the hallways.  I didn't see the samosas for sale, but I did pick up a pumpkin square that was pretty good.  I saw that they had a whole table of books for grown-ups at the book sale (so I could have donated my books after all), and there were a few that I already owned.  I did see Quarrington's Whale Music was there, and I could have picked that up for a loonie, but I am no longer in the habit of picking up spare copies of books to give to friends or co-workers.  I only got one book -- Anderson-Dargatz's The Cure for Death by Lightning.  This appears to be a book I would probably like, not love, so I'll stick it on the TBRD pile not far from Whale Music.

After this, I needed a break from little children so I came home and took a nap. I decided it was best to take it easy. Hopefully, I won't get sick from standing around in the rain. I am also going to skip Toronto's Art Expo, since I just don't feel like dealing with crowds this weekend. I didn't get a lot done today, but I'm in a better mood than I was a few hours ago.  I'll see about doing a bit of work tonight and perhaps finally getting around to watching 8 1/2.  

I'm hopefully that the rain will have rained itself out tonight.  It's supposed to be dry tomorrow, and I will go to the AGO for a free concert, as well as drop by work.  At the moment, the forecast next week is for a dry, but cold, Halloween.  I guess all in all, I would rather have it rain this Sat. rather than next Sat. while the kids are out trick-or-treating, but I would rather it not have rained on either day.  Oh well.  We have my daughter's outfit ready and are deciding what to do for my son's costume.  He may just go as some kind of ghoul, so it will mostly be face painting, with which I have some experience.