Sept 1 Murphy’s Law

The call came around three o’clock, they said they had good news. Martin Marine had our part for the boat. Serendipity was getting fixed. If everything went right we would have it back by ten the next morning. I excitedly began to mentally prepare for the return of Luxury Lake Tour’s fibretoon boat.

Logistics floated in my head. I would need to get the rental pontoon off the slip. I would need to be able to go to Kelowna, pick up Serendipity from the dealer and put it in the water so Rob could do the tour. I had other plans for the day. I had a friend in town from London, Ontario and we were going golfing. I tried to organize my day in my head. I figured I needed to get the rental boat off the slip that night and make room for our Campion Biltmore.

I backed up my truck and connected to the trailer. That’s when I saw the plate. The sticker on my license plate was dated August 26, 2020. It took a minute to register in my brain; it was August 31. I have been driving uninsured for five days…

How was I going to pull this off? I called the insurance companies. I looked online. The only place I could get a sticker was at Superstore, in Kelowna, too far to bother going that night. By the time I was back, it would be really late. I saw my friend and neighbour Brad. I discussed my dilemma. He told me his story of driving to the insurance company the day after his plate expired. He got pulled over and it cost him $600.00. Not something I was prepared to risk. Let alone the risk of an accident without insurance.

He offered to help. I was waffling, I could get insurance in the morning. I could wait and see if Serendipity was really fixed. I didn’t want to wait. I wanted to get my slip ready for the return of our prized boat. Brad was happy to help.

We connected his truck with the trailer for the rental pontoon. We pulled away and drove the thirty minutes to the Eldorado boat launch. The sun lit the clouds overhead as another spectacular sunset settled over our valley. We were on a mission. Unfortunately that guy Murphy was on the mission with us.

Murphy’s Law is when something can go wrong, it will go wrong. It started with my plate being expired. I would eventually find out when it would end.

We lowered the patio boat from Mach Boats down from the slip. The evening air was crisp and fresh. The last remnants of the sunset faded in the night sky. The fist stars glimmered in the distance of the night sky. We slowly cruised to the dock on the launch and backed the truck and trailer down the ramp.

It started out smoothly enough. We pulled the boat onto its trailer and hooked up the front of the boat to the trailer. Brad hoped in the truck and pulled ahead. The boat came clean from the water and suddenly stopped. I wondered why Brad was stopping. He said the trailer stopped on its own. I walked around the trailer. I looked underneath. He tried to move again. Sure enough, the trailer brakes were locked solid. We looked at the hitch. That’s when we saw a plastic key hanging down. It was connected to the emergency stop cable; like a flash of lightning, realization hit. This emergency stop key worked much like the emergency stop on a boat. When it’s pulled out the brakes engaged. After a few minutes of looking, I managed to replace the key. Sure enough, it worked. I climbed aboard the boat and took out the garbage and empty cans left from previous tours. When I climbed down from the boat Murphy struck again. I stepped in the wrong spot in the dark. I fell, the plastic case broke off and I found myself on the ground, the case for the battery hanging loose off the hitch of the boat.

I cursed my luck, found a bungee cord in Brad’s truck, and temporarily reattached it. We were ready to go home with the boat in tow; only thirty minutes later than originally planned. The rest of our trip was uneventful and we made it home in good time.

I went to bed with visions of Serendipity dancing through my head. I had high hopes for the morning as I drifted off into sleep.

Morning came and I went straight to the insurance brokers office. Sticker in hand I got back home and updated my plate on my truck. Now all I needed was a fancy-ass boat to go pick up.

Murphy struck one more time. I called my rep at the dealership and asked for an update on our boat. He called back a short time later, I felt the distress in the voice on the line. They put the part in the motor, it still has a warning code. It was not ready.

I groaned, all that effort to get the boat in vain. My friend Brad spent his evening with me instead of his honey. Now I needed to get the rental pontoon on the water in short order. I also needed to pick it back up in two hours, right at the beginning of our golf game. Brad came to the rescue again He was able to meet Rob at the boat launch and return the pontoon boat to my front yard. All while I played golf with my buddy from a long time away and a long time ago. I am so lucky to have such amazing friends.

I cursed my luck and chalked it up to life. Sometimes we take a risk and it pays off. Sometimes we make a choice and it backfires. This time it backfired. I hope that next time I take a chance it works in my favour. I hope next time Murphy’s Law is broken and we can have things go our way.