No sense of direction at all...

Let me start this story by telling you that people in Calgary do not know how to drive on ice and snow, so traffic slowed to a crawl after our "blizzard". Last night after work I had to pick up our Deputy Minister and her entourage at the hotel and accompany them to the Drop-in & Rehab Centre Society (that's our biggest homeless shelter for those of you not from Calgary). A trip that would usually take 20 minutes took me over an hour. When I finally got off Macleod Trail, I turned on 6th Ave instead of 4th by mistake. I turned down 3rd Street to double back, and came upon 3 fire trucks and other emergency vehicles that I had to try to get around. When I finally got to the hotel, they were very understanding, even though I had them rushing through their supper because the shelter had called and wanted us to get there earlier. Then I found out my usual route to the shelter was closed off as part of the "gentrification" plan for East Calgary, so I had to get there via 9th Ave. It's only 3 blocks away, I could see the shelter - it's very distinctive and hard to miss - but I just couldn't get there without a lot of wrong turns, more barriers, and such. We finally got there, but missed the part of the Intake process we really wanted to see. We did give the VIP's a good tour and a feel for the place, and they were gracious enough to invite me for a Christmas cocktail afterward, but by then I just wanted to get home. Oh well, they'll probably never ask me to drive again. My department gave over $21 Million for an affordable housing project, and all the media, polititians and the people from last night were there. Their first question to me was "Did you drive?" I had caught a ride with a colleague, and we didn't run across any traffic jams. During his speech thanking the Minister for the government's contribution to their pet project, Pat Nixon singled me out for special recognition for my work with them throughout the years. I hope that's what they remember, and not the disaster of the night before. Another Lucie-ism?