LOCKED IN THE LOO (NOT ME THIS TIME)

Just when I start thinking I have kind of a sucky weekend with homework to do (I spend Saturday writing two papers and an Internet post on Blackboard for a class I'm taking) and exams to grade, I check out some of my friends' social media posts.  Two of my friends and my own daughter have all taken spills recently and injured their legs or feet.  Thankfully there is no snow nor ice on the ground right now, but it's still a shitty time of year to be on crutches.  Okay, any time of year is a shitty time to be on crutches.

So I'm thinking maybe my weekend doesn't suck so badly because at least my two feet seem to be in working order.  But still.  Crutches or not, they don't have to write those papers nor grade exams, and I do, so it still sucks.  Sucketty sucky mc-suckmasters.

Then ... I read about Gladys.

Gladys is an 80-something-year-old grandmother who was out shopping in England when she decided she had to go to the bathroom.  Badly.  Really badly.  As in "right this second" badly.  In order to find a bathroom, she did some exploring and found a lovely, brand new loo.  Popping inside to take a quick pee break, she promptly shut the door behind herself.

And got locked inside.

After peeing, because one should probably use the facilities anyway if one is locked in, she tried in vain to get someone's attention by banging on the door and walls to no avail.  She settled in for the evening, complete with her shopping that included yarn and other goodies and some mints.  She remained trapped inside the ladies room for four days, sleeping on her coat on the floor and using the hand dryer when she got cold.  After four days, a worker discovered her putting the final touches on a scarf she knitted while stuck there.

Having had my own adventure getting locked inside a school bathroom when the handle broke, I feel her pain.  The only problem for me was that the bathroom wasn't even close to large enough to sleep in, and it lacked a hand dryer for warmth.  (Luckily someone heard me and rescued me before I panicked too badly.)

Listen, if you're going to get locked inside a small cubicle, a bathroom isn't a bad place to be.  You'll have plenty of water to drink, and you never have to worry about being without necessary facilities.  I;m going to have to learn to plan better, though, just in case.  I might have to start carrying some puzzles and a deck of cards with me every time I go into the loo.

It all worked out for Gladys, though.  Since she had no phone at her house nor a cell phone at all, no one even missed her during her ordeal.  But, the family has now installed a home phone and gotten her hooked up with a cell.  Gladys decided it's time to get with the times.

Hm, I don't know.  Right now with the papers and the grading and the holidays and all hanging over my head, I'm not so sure total isolation for a few days would be so bad.