Sometimes, life happens smoothly. Sometimes, life is like swimming upstream through molasses. My spring feels like the latter.
When I last left you, it was Saturday morning. To my surprise, I actually got my Saturday off! I had a super lazy day with Bonita and by dinner time-ish, I had ants in my skirt and needed a leg stretch. I decided to go check out Pho Mx, a Vietnamese restaurant with rave reviews. I Googled the location and discovered that it is literally across the street from the real estate agency I worked with to rent my house!
Google is always off on its time estimates since I’m a fast walker. I do about 1KM in 10 minutes, so it took me exactly 30 minutes to walk to the restaurant.
I set off some time just past six at the best time of day at this time of year – when it’s still very light out, but the sun is low enough to not beat down on you and there’s a cool breeze. The 3.2KM walk went very quickly.
The restaurant is located in a strip mall and is beautifully decorated. Reviews said that the pho is the star of the show (as it should be), so that’s of course what I ordered. Pho is a soup and the one I ordered had thin slices of beef and pork with veggies in an incredibly savoury broth to which I added jalapeños, hot sauce, a sweet sauce, lime, and bean sprouts. I had it with a cold ginger-lemon tea.
I could not believe how good my meal was. It had flavours I have never had in my life (a spice in the broth, plus the sweet sauce). While very filling, it was light. I cannot wait to eat there again!
I thought to Uber home, but it was still light out and it was just such a joy to be out in the cool breeze and have this part of Mérida almost to myself. It didn’t get properly dark until I was a block or two from home — I can’t believe how much longer the days have gotten!
When I got in, Bonita gave me her happy dance (if you haven’t seen it on Instagram, you’re missing out) and then she showed me there were no hard feelings for going out by having a proper cuddle. Awwww.
Despite having had a day off, Sunday was a mess since I had not slept well and I had hard files to do.
Monday, I checked tracking on some packages I’d ordered and decided to stay in as I suspected two would be incoming. One arrived super early, but the other, delivered by FedEx, was languishing at a depot. I’ve gotten a “delivery incoming!” notification as late as early evening from them, so I didn’t dare go out. Little did I know that I was about to enter FedEx hell.
You see, last week I ordered a bag of dog food for Bonita from a seller online with much better prices than the vet here. He got the bag out on Friday morning with delivery expected Monday or Tuesday. So when the bag never showed up on Monday, I figured it would be here Tuesday and, again, waited all day even though I was gasping for groceries (ie. was out of coffee).
By 7:00, I’d given up hope, but still left a note just in case, and then walked to Mega (now Soriana) to get what I needed. It was pitch dark and threatening to rain when I came out so I splurged on an Uber home (a whopping 30 pesos — not worth wrestling the truck out of the parking bay!). Still no sign of FedEx when I got home.
The next morning, I got a notification that there was a delivery exception and that there was no scheduled delivery. I called FedEx and they would not help me. So I contacted my seller and he contacted FedEx and was told that they promised to deliver by the end of the day.
By early afternoon, I had an update that my package was still at the depot with no scheduled delivery. I contacted FedEx via Twitter and they escalated my problem to the Latin America office, who thought that telling me, “We told the depot to deliver ASAP” offered any sort of resolution.
It wasn’t until 11:00 this morning, Thursday, that I finally got an “out for delivery” notification and the food finally arrived at 2PM. I only had enough left for one more meal so they cut it way too close.
Now, here’s the interesting part of the story. When I had my FedEx issue last year with an Amazon order, the Amazon clerk posited that FedEx didn’t want to chance delivering to the middle of nowhere with no confirmation that they’d be able to actually make the delivery. So normally, the driver would call to make sure the recipient is home. The Amazon clerk guessed that since I have an obviously foreign name, FedEx figured there was no point calling me as I wouldn’t be able to deal with them and it was just easier to return the package to sender.
Well, guess what FedEx flat out told my seller yesterday? Yup, that their driver couldn’t contact the recipient due to a language issue. Amazon was right!
(By the way, I’ve had another unexpected jump in my linguistic skills — FedEx Mexico’s phone tree was easy yesterday when I had to make multiple calls last year to understand all the options.)
I have no idea how FedEx remains in business. I’ve had issues with them in four countries. Needless to say, the time I’ve spent on this issue has negated any savings. 🙁
Back to work I go. I woke up yesterday morning happy that I’d somehow managed to not have any files in my queue and vaguely dreamed of taking a couple of days off, but within an hour of being up, I was booked through the weekend. Can’t complain about business being good! 🙂
A suggestion from experence. Bonita really needs her nails clipped. Or you can start walking her on rough concrete sidewalks. Long nails can cause arthritis in dogs as their toe’s twist to the side. I had one Yorkie that didn’t run anywhere she didn’t have to but my male did around the pool so he never had a issue with it. Of course he’d run until his nails were so short they were in danger of being to short.
I’m sorry, but I’m really getting tired of hearing about Bonita’s nails and the ensuing implication that I haven’t looked into them. I appreciate the concern, but it’s really wearing me down and one of the reasons I’m not posting as many pictures as I’m being asked for.
Like I have stated on various platforms, including here, I have had a consultation about her nails and the quick on them is so long that it is going to be a long process involving many visits before she can have them cut to a length deemed appropriate by everyone who has commented on her nails.
Due to how much trauma she has been through in the last few months moving to a new environment a decision was made to not risk her and my newly formed bond by subjecting her to a stressful new experience until she’s properly settled in. The vet tech agrees with the research that it takes about three months for a dog to really settle into a new place and trust a new parent.
So we’re starting the journey to shorter nails about this time next month. In the meantime, she has been getting lots of exercise daily on concrete, which is helping wear them down somewhat.
Sorry, I hadn’t seen anything about them. I did suggest the walking on rough pavyment just for the reason she might not take the stress of nail trimming well.
I will be sure and refrain from any other suggestions or comments.
I know you meant well.
Long time dog owner here. This makes perfect sense. You are doing well with your pup.
If Bonita were on carpets like my pups, she might constantly be snagging those nails, which can cause other problems.
In her living conditions though, I would NOT worry about those nails, as I know you are not. 😉 I felt/feel the same way about my beagle (almost eleven years old) who I adopted from a no-kill shelter two years ago. She was, and still is skittish around strangers, but lucky for me, because since she totally accepted me as “her person”, I have been able to clip her nails myself. :o)
Well, she’s not on carpets and walks 99% of the time on asphalt and cements. 😉
I’m sure that once we get the nails down to normal length, I’ll be able to handle them myself. But with the quick being so long, I’m letting an expert deal with them!
Why do people thing it is any of their business to get up in your business???
I love your blog and wouldn’t dream about telling you what to do. You seem like a caring, conscientious person who is smart and capable of doing the right thing for yourself and your pet.
MYOB people!
Thank you, Shirley. They really do mean well and want the best for my baby — same as me! 🙂
I was hoping that moving from your RV to a house would mean easier deliveries. Sorry that turned out not to be true.
I have zero problems with deliveries here unless it’s FedEx! DHL, UPS, Estafeta, and private carriers can all get here on time and with no issues. That’s why I didn’t hesitate to order the food online. There’s just something going on with FedEx.
I don’t remember having any sort of usual problems getting deliveries when I lived in my RV. Maybe you’re alluding to problems specifically in SK with not having a civic address and my community not being served by courier companies? It still wasn’t that bad since at least Canada Post came almost to my door!