You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Hoo boy ... where to begin?

I guess I'll start with the good news: we appear to have a deal on the house in Maine!  (See photo above, purloined from the internet for reasons you can read about below.)

The bad news is that at 3:15 yesterday afternoon, the fire alarm sounded in our apartment, followed by an announcement that we had to evacuate the building due to an emergency.  So down the emergency stairway 26 stories to the exit we went.  Not an easy task, considering Miss Mabel steadfastly refused to negotiate the steps, so Mr. W had to carry her, and for the last 9 floors, we had to creep down in the pitch black because the emergency lighting did not work.  Once we finally emerged outside, all the residents were herded across the street where we stood for five hours waiting for the Boston Fire Department to sound the all clear.  After that long wait, we were informed that the building was unsafe to occupy, and we all had to find somewhere else to spend the night!  Luckily we managed to find a room at the nearby Hyatt Hotel (especially challenging to find lodging when one is accompanied by a dog!), and by 9:00 p.m. we were safely ensconced in our room.  

This morning we received word that we cannot go back to our building today.  It sounds as if it might be several days before we're allowed to return home.  Apparently there was some sort of emergency in the main electrical switch gear room, which may have set off the fire suppression system, which then proceeded to flood the basement.

Though we were grateful for the Hyatt's hospitality, the room was grim, and questionably clean, so we moved on this morning and now we are perched at the Four Seasons -- oh, so much better, and even nicer to learn that our building is picking up the hotel bill!  Mr. W had to drive to Connecticut today for an important business meeting, so Mabel and I are spending the day together.  In our haste to evacuate yesterday, naturally it did not occur to either of us that we might need to grab a few necessities ... therefore I don't have my camera card reader, and can't upload any photographs! (Which explains the "purloined" picture above.)

Just when you thought 2020 had thrown everything it could, it still manages to come up with "interesting" plot twists!