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A mystery!

I returned to work today after five weeks of holidays and a couple of days of bad-back leave. I thought I was relatively upright today, but my colleagues thought I was relatively bent. (That’s relativity for ya.)

I spent the day drinking coffee, chatting with coworkers, trying to remember what I do, writing a to-do list, shoveling out from under an avalanche of emails, scheduling meetings, watering plants, returning phone calls, looking at the clock, and noticing that time was getting more and more sluggish as the day went on until it finally crawled into a corner and died.

Eventually I left. It took me a very long time to get home because the first bus was late and the driver said it was too full to take me (it wasn’t, there was lots of room back there) and then the next bus was late too. On the bright side, I read a whole library book before I got home.

Zooming inThe strangest thing happened today. On the way out the door this morning, I took another look at the outrageous weeds in my front garden (there’s nothing else in my garden, by the way – just outrageous weeds) and I pledged to pull those weeds when I got home from work. But then I had this weird feeling that the weeds wouldn’t be there when I got home.

I thought about the weeds again when I got off the bus. Would they be there or not?

The weeds were gone. GONE. Now even though I had a premonition that they would be gone, I was still shocked to see they were gone. Why? Because I’m not psychic, that’s why. I get funny feelings all the time, and nothing ever comes of them. (Well, hardly ever.)

So who do you think was behind this mysterious weed disappearance?

These are my theories:

1) One of my neighbours got sick of looking at them and chopped them down.
2) The City deemed them to be an eyesore and sent a work crew over to get rid of them.
3) A kind blog reader read yesterday’s post and decided to do me a favour.

What do you think happened to the weeds? And what do you think of my premonition? Was it just a fluke, or am I turning psychic?

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20 comments to A mystery!

  • If you lived in my town, the city may have received a complaint and sent someone to mow, but you would have received a warning first, and if ignored, a bill for the mowing. If you lived in my neighborhood, a neighbor may have assumed you were incapacitated and taken care of it for you.

    Re psychic feelings, I get them right before I win something. I never get a vibe about the lottery, though, so I never play. On the other hand, you have been cultivating your creative side lately – maybe that is making you more sensitive to premonition.

  • katiec

    i hope its option 3!! neighbours can get upset and become unneighbourly and the city could send you a bill covering the costs of the weeds removal… :(

  • Dunno nothin’ about weeds or feelings, but I love the line about time:
    “…until it finally crawled into a corner and died.”
    Very nice.

  • However it happened, what a nice surprise! And how cool that you “foresaw” it! Glad you’re feeling better, ma’am.

  • I vote Option 3. Option one is impossible since neighbours are willing to complain, but aren’t willing to do the work themselves. Option 2 is a probable no go since it’s not likely the government will ever do anything it isn’t positive that it will get reimbursed for. Option 3 is much more likely since bloggers are generally nice people and would be willing to do something for someone else just to be nice full stop.

    Glad to hear you’re at least semi-unbent. Keep it up! (Oh I kill me.)

  • deb

    Ok…it was me…

  • XUP

    I’m going to ignore Deb’s confession and say your premonition and the sluggishness of time were related because while you thought you were at work watching time tick by ever-so slowly, a part of you rushed home (via astral-projection) and got rid of those weeds.See – it all makes sense.

  • Abby, you’re right, there was no warning. I’m sure the City would have warned me first and left their card in the mailbox too.

    Katie – me too, I’m hoping it was #3. I’d like to think the neighbours were oblivious to my giant mutant weeds.

    Andrew – thank you!

    Melinda – ha ha!

    Toni – a very nice surprise. I just wish I knew who did it.

    Deb, I don’t have to be psychic to know you didn’t drive five hours to come and pull my weeds! 😉

  • I sort of thought about pulling your weeds but don’t know where you live – that’s my excuse! So it makes sense that another blogger (or blog reader like Deb) did it. Thanks Deb!

    I like the idea of premonitions (and X-files and sci-fi, etc.) but they don’t exist. If the weeds had not been gone when you got home, you wouldn’t have given it another thought. Sorry. Actually, I’m glad things like dreams don’t come true because my life would be a living hell if they did.

  • Julia – Deb’s ‘confession’ was bogus. 😉

    I’m not ruling out premonitions altogether. But I did read this book recently called “Coincidence, Chaos and All That Math Jazz” which demonstrated that random coincidences are mathematically quite likely to occur in the course of everyday life. Specific coincidences, on the other hand, are not.

  • sheila

    Since you have no bill, let’s just say you’re on the receiving end of a random act of kindness. There’s no accounting for premonitions, but your readers knew that you were headed back to work today and one may have taken advantage of your absence to do you a favor anonymously.

  • grace

    I have to confess that I too thought of offering to pull the weeds for you — I miss yardwork SO much. Those of you with yards, please don’t hate me . . . you can take the girl out of the country . . . Anyway, I wanted to but have the same excuse/reason as Julia. Glad you’re feeling better!

  • Em

    I hope you don’t end up with a bill in your mailbox in the near future! Either way, at least you didn’t have to do it. heh.

    I don’t get premonitions (that I’ve noticed) but I’ve had dreams about people dying and they’ve come true, on three occasions.

  • Bonnie

    could it have been your son who looked after your weeds? He sounds like the type who would do something so nice.
    I remember one particular snowy winter when my husband was away. Every night when I got home from work I’d have to shovel snow. One night I dreaded the thought the whole way home and when I arrived someone had plowed my driveway. I’ll never forget that feeling of pure gratitude.

  • Ri

    I get those premonitions but it is usually about people. Then
    I pick up the phone to call them & they are already on the line.
    I say it’s a great thing the weeds are gone. That way you don’t have to do them. Maybe whoever it was would come to my cottage
    and help me with my gardens? ha ha
    I agree with Andrew that was a Great line zoom and the people who
    work feel it every day

  • Tracy

    Today after I used an ATM machine, and walked away with my money – I started to wonder if I’d actually ended the transaction – I considered going back to the ATM machine, but I thought I would feel self-conscious walking back past the same vegetable stand again – but – what if someone was emptying my account? So I went back, and saw a man, presumably of ill repute, sideling up to the ATM machine as it asked if I needed more time, and when he saw me, he dashed away.
    So I hit cancel transaction, end session, etc.
    So…. listen to those strange feelings – they can be right on!

  • Re

    I think we can all be a bit “psychic” if we really pay attention to the world around us and our gut feelings. Glad to hear you are better. It’s my bet that someone took care of your weeds out of the kindness of their heart.

  • The mystery remains unsolved, but until I find out otherwise I’m going to go with the theory that someone did it out of the kindness of their heart. (Just because I like that theory best.)

    Bonnie, I love that story. I can imagine that kind of gratitude rippling outwards too.

    Julia and Grace, that’s an excellent point – very few of my readers know where I live. I should publish my address and a wish list. 😉

    Em! Yikes! How many dreams have you had of people dying and then they DIDN’T die? I dreamed my house burnt down one time when I was out of town, and I got back and found out the garage burnt down (sadly it was rented as a summer house, so everybody’s belongings were stored in the garage).

    Ri, that’s happened to me too. It’s weird.

    Tracy, good point. It’s not even necessarily a premonition, just a sense that something is worth a double-check.

  • Em

    I’ve had quite a few dreams of people dying, and I’d say at least 3/4 of those people haven’t died… yet.

    Most of the deaths have been fairly immediate. Like, within the week, so I’m not too concerned about the other 3/4.

  • J.

    Funny. I heard about something similar happening to a neighbour. One neighbour helped another neighbour by taking out the weeds. Figured that they just didn’t have time. Unfortunatly, it went sour and now the neighbour is upset that they did that without asking. Go figure.