A 611 Flyby

There was practically nothing to blog about last weekend as late Friday afternoon I had to undergo the torture of having two teeth, side by side, and one of them a horizontal wisdom tooth, extracted. The rest of Friday and most of Saturday was a Percocet induced blur, a repetition of taking the pills, sleeping, waking up in pain, maybe drinking or eating a little, taking the pills, and then repeating the cycle.

On Sunday morning I actually woke up with very little pain and sat with a warm cup of tea while I watched Sebastian licking the terracotta pots. Actually both Rosie Lee and I watched him, very closely, and he didn't seem to mind a jot, looking up occasionally but for the most part going about his business. Which I'm very glad to say didn't include digging up any of my plants.
Because I was relatively pain free I decided to wait for the fogginess of my brain to clear and then I would drop off trash and recyclables at the dump, and maybe see the 611 pass through.
I had spent a weekend chasing her last year but this year, my dental bad timing put paid to a repeat run, but I took my camera just in case I saw her.

There were a lot of folks waiting and after asking one guy I discovered I'd only have to wait about 10 minutes. So distancing myself from others so I didn't have to talk I waited, acutely conscious of my poor mouth, and keeping my lips tightly pressed together, hoping I didn't appear to look murderous to others...

Quite a few other people turned up and I found myself in a group with guys crouching in front of me and behind me. I would have loved to get down on the ground for a better vantage point but I thought it best to keep upright with my feet apart and firmly planted on the ground. Also, the pain was slowly creeping back and I didn't want to move to accelerate its momentum. Then suddenly we heard her whistle and I could tell from the sound of her engine that she was thundering along, no stopping on this fly through visit.

And a few seconds later she was gone.
I had to stand for a moment and realize that this would be it for me. I watched other people enviously as they ran to their vehicles to chase her along the route. I knew she'd be running again that afternoon, but once again the penny dropped, and I knew I wouldn't be witnessing it. Almost as though pressing the point home, my jaw started pounding softly. And resignedly I walked to Stuart and drove home, to spend the rest of the day drugged up again and sleepy in Sofa Sanctuary Land. There'll be another opportunity to see the Queen of Steam, I'm sure.