A Long Story On Forgetfulness

I stayed at Emma's house in Kent last week, while the Babowal family were there. It was a super fun few days with a billion children, lots of family and lots of noise. I managed to leave my contact lens case behind - my lenses were in my eyes, thank goodness, it was just the case. But it is a piggy contact lens case, that looks like this:

 Emma found it, and then gave it to Kathryn to give to me when she saw me next. No worries, right? It's just a contact case.

Fast forward to this weekend. We went into London on Saturday to visit a few Olympic sights, meet up with our Cool Friend Alex, and then have dinner with Dina & Lily (my cousin's wife & their baby girl). We had such a good day - the weather was gorgeous, everyone in the city was in a good mood, and we had a really lovely time. We slept at Ross & Dina's house that night, which was sooooo much easier than taking the train all the way back to Cambreej.

The next day, all the Babowals, Garwa-mans, Hawkeyes, Mashers, various Quinns, Mr & Mr Thompson-to-be, and a couple of Leavers met at my Nan's local pub for lunch. Kathryn told me at least 3 times that she had brought the contact case and it was in Nanny's front entrance - literally 30 seconds away from the pub. I told her I'd get it later, and kept chatting with all the family. We had a fun time, and it was on the way to the station that I realized I'd forgotten to go and grab the case. But again, no real worries, because it's just the case, and I still have my spare case, my contacts and glasses so whatever, I'll get it another time.

And it wasn't until we were cycling home from the station in Cambridge that I did the head-tilt-and-wonder-out-loud, "You picked up the toiletries bag from Ross & Dina's house, right babe?" and Matthew did the opposite-side-head-tilt-and-answer, "No, but you did, right honey?" And then I swore, because my one spare contact lens case was still in London. And I am now on my final pair of contact lenses from the box - and I need these contacts to stay safe, because we're going to a wedding on Saturday, and the shop can't get in my blind prescription lenses that quickly - all that to say that I didn't want to just put my contacts into a glass full of solution. Luckily, I have a spare pair of glasses - yes, that's right: when we moved here from Canada, I brought my old glasses with me, for just such an occasion. Thank goodness I am a Girl Guide.

I didn't think it would be such a challenge to find a replacement contact case. Boy, was I wrong. You'd think that your average Tesco Express or Co-op would have some ridiculously small and ridiculously expensive contact solution complete with case. Nope! I tried two small shops and then had to bust my butt over to a full-size grocery store to get some. And thank goodness I went out straight after we got home, because the large shops close at 8 on Sundays, and it was already 7:40 by the time I went to the little ones nearby.

Confession: I actually prayed out loud while cycling at full speed that the shop would have at least one contact lens case left. If they hadn't, I might have turned into that crazy lady who throws her bicycle through the shop window because they didn't have the item I needed.

The two-fold moral of the story is:
(a) if you're blind, always have spare glasses, contact lenses and at least 5 contact cases
(b) don't be a dumbass.