Down the Drain

Caroline and her class had a blast at the Aquarium. I had Caroline and one of her little friends that is a good kid with a lot of energy and many questions about the world around him. We went around and saw all the exhibits. The class saw the Sea Lions show together. And the kids got a big surprise to see their teacher who is on maternity leave. It was a good day for all concerned.

I didn't draw a seat on the bus so I had driven to the aquarium. I decided on the way home to surprise Pete with the new edition of Galaxy Quest which he wanted. It went on sale yesterday. I stopped at the Border's Book first and the only parking spot that was even close was over a storm drain. I went to the store and found out I could order it but they didn't have it in the physical store which is happening more and more these days with Borders. I picked up a copy of Art Dolls Quarterly and went back to the car. Pulled out the keys to open the car. Fumbled with the key and dropped them down the storm drain.

Yes, down the very large storm drain. 15 feet drop with about three feet of water to the bottom of drain. The water wasn't moving but I couldn't see my keys either. I went to the Borders to see if they had any ideas of who to call. The Police seemed to be the answer. It was not a 911 call. I was embarrassed but not in any physical danger.

They gave me the non-emergency number which I called and got an Insurance firm that gave me what they thought it was the local number. Apparently in the last local phone book, which came out a month ago, the phone number in the municipal section for the non-emergency calls to the police was a miss-print. The kind person on the line gave me another number to call. I got state police in Nassau where I live in Suffolk. They connected me to Suffolk who kicked me to the local division who gave me the number for the local Riverhead Township police department. Finally I got someone who said they would send someone to take a look and see if I needed a locksmith. At this point I called Peter and asked him to bring the spare key and started mentally working out all the keys I would be replacing and which ones I was waving bye bye to.

20 minutes later I am sitting on my car's bumper kicking myself for parking over a storm drain and various other stupid things I have done in my life when 3 police cars pull up around the car. Apparently I was on a list of non-emergency but as soon as you are free list and all three got off their previous calls and came to the parking lot. I got tsked tsked at by a little old lady who was probably assuming that they were there to bust me for some horrible crime. The lead cop had called the local highway/public works in to see what they could do. The cops flipped a coin and one got to stay and the others filled out their paperwork and went on.

The gentleman who works for highway showed up and looked down the drain and said that's a long way down. We can't pull up the grate because my car is over it. He goes back to his truck and pulls out a large speaker magnet tied to some plastic coated metal line. He proceeds to fish for my keys with the magnet. He got a couple of batteries and some other screws and bolts which probably came from the undercarriage of people's cars. Peter showed up with the spare right as the magnet found my key set in the muck. We extracted my keys from the storm drain and there was much rejoicing.

I am so very grateful to the Riverhead police department and the Riverhead highway/roads/public works department. They were so wonderful and helpful.

Down the Drain

Caroline and her class had a blast at the Aquarium. I had Caroline and one of her little friends that is a good kid with a lot of energy and many questions about the world around him. We went around and saw all the exhibits. The class saw the Sea Lions show together. And the kids got a big surprise to see their teacher who is on maternity leave. It was a good day for all concerned.

I didn't draw a seat on the bus so I had driven to the aquarium. I decided on the way home to surprise Pete with the new edition of Galaxy Quest which he wanted. It went on sale yesterday. I stopped at the Border's Book first and the only parking spot that was even close was over a storm drain. I went to the store and found out I could order it but they didn't have it in the physical store which is happening more and more these days with Borders. I picked up a copy of Art Dolls Quarterly and went back to the car. Pulled out the keys to open the car. Fumbled with the key and dropped them down the storm drain.

Yes, down the very large storm drain. 15 feet drop with about three feet of water to the bottom of drain. The water wasn't moving but I couldn't see my keys either. I went to the Borders to see if they had any ideas of who to call. The Police seemed to be the answer. It was not a 911 call. I was embarrassed but not in any physical danger.

They gave me the non-emergency number which I called and got an Insurance firm that gave me what they thought it was the local number. Apparently in the last local phone book, which came out a month ago, the phone number in the municipal section for the non-emergency calls to the police was a miss-print. The kind person on the line gave me another number to call. I got state police in Nassau where I live in Suffolk. They connected me to Suffolk who kicked me to the local division who gave me the number for the local Riverhead Township police department. Finally I got someone who said they would send someone to take a look and see if I needed a locksmith. At this point I called Peter and asked him to bring the spare key and started mentally working out all the keys I would be replacing and which ones I was waving bye bye to.

20 minutes later I am sitting on my car's bumper kicking myself for parking over a storm drain and various other stupid things I have done in my life when 3 police cars pull up around the car. Apparently I was on a list of non-emergency but as soon as you are free list and all three got off their previous calls and came to the parking lot. I got tsked tsked at by a little old lady who was probably assuming that they were there to bust me for some horrible crime. The lead cop had called the local highway/public works in to see what they could do. The cops flipped a coin and one got to stay and the others filled out their paperwork and went on.

The gentleman who works for highway showed up and looked down the drain and said that's a long way down. We can't pull up the grate because my car is over it. He goes back to his truck and pulls out a large speaker magnet tied to some plastic coated metal line. He proceeds to fish for my keys with the magnet. He got a couple of batteries and some other screws and bolts which probably came from the undercarriage of people's cars. Peter showed up with the spare right as the magnet found my key set in the muck. We extracted my keys from the storm drain and there was much rejoicing.

I am so very grateful to the Riverhead police department and the Riverhead highway/roads/public works department. They were so wonderful and helpful.