I initially wasn't going to write about this in my blog, but - what the heck - I'll reveal it anyway.
First, let me do a preface:
When I was a kid ( a couple hundred years ago) there was delightful diversity in automobiles. Different styles, varieties of color, uniqueness.
You could immediately tell the make of a car just by glancing at it.
Nash Rambler, De Soto, Pontiac, Chevy.
Gradually, a great (and unhappy) change began to take place in the automobile industry. Uniqueness and diversity dwindled....and eventually vanished.
Cars took on an annoying, clinical, assembly-line sameness - - to the point that nowadays ALL cars look exactly alike and seem to be the same bland color.
When you leave your car in a shopping center parking lot, it immediately blends in with the 800 other grey or silver nondescript four-door sedans.
Okay, now that I got that out of the way I'll continue with my story.
I made the dreaded drive to town last Monday (Oct. 30) and got a really late start. I had to go to numerous places and was in a hurry.
I always do my grocery shopping last, so that (hopefully) the frozen food won't perish on the way home.
So I emerged from the supermarket with a shopping cart filled to the brim with food.
It was windy. The late afternoon sun was nearly blinding me, and my vision wasn't very clear anyway - because I was wearing old contact lenses. Let's also throw in the fact that I was exhausted from lack of sleep.
The parking lot is a complete blur and - of course - all the vehicles look exactly alike.
I finally find my car - the silver four-door sedan. I unlock the door and reach for the lever under the driver's seat to open the trunk.
That's when I notice the faux-leopard skin scarf on the front seat.
Funny thing is - - I don't own a faux-leopard skin scarf. It would clash with my quasi-hillbilly Army fatigue
wardrobe.
That's when I took a second look at the car and saw the sun roof!!
My car doesn't have a sun roof.
Why in the hell didn't I notice that before?????
In abject astonishment (to say the very least) I slammed the door, backed away from the car....
....and suddenly found my own car a very short distance away.
To say that I was embarrassed and stunned would be a gross understatement. I've done plenty of stupid things in my time, but I've NEVER gotten into the wrong car. Not while I was sober, anyway.
I quickly scanned the parking lot and don't think anyone saw me. Thank Gawd the owner of the car didn't show up. I would have had a lot of explaining to do.
Or "splainin", as Ricky Ricardo would say.
What really baffles me is that my key unlocked the door on the other car. I'm not kidding. I'm not certain if that car was the same make as mine - because I left too quickly to notice.
Anyway, that's my tale of embarrassment - - and carelessness...and stupidity......
