My mother had a "to do" list for Ed and he finally hit a lull in his own list so we drove to Burlington for the day. Most of the drive was the regular uneventful drive. I wasn't the happiest person when two OPP (Ontario Provincial Police, for any Americans reading this) cruisers got behind me, but setting cruise control to 80 kph kept my heavy foot off the gas pedal. We had just driven through Brookville (about 20 minutes north of my mother's home) when the traffic pretty much stopped. That's when we realized the accident on Highway 401(heard on the traffic reports on the radio), 5 km south of our location, was causing traffic to take alternative routes. We grumbled but continued driving south ever so slowly --- then we saw the construction sign. Guelph Line (the road we were driving on) was down to one lane and the construction crews were only letting a few vehicles through at a time. The OPP officers seeing this, turned on their sirens and lights and drove into the construction zone. Ed also overheard one of the construction guys saying they were told to shut down --- yea OPP officers. Now you're probably wondering if there was a big hole in the road ---- nope --- the construction crew was filling the cracks in the road. I find it amazing that the constructions guys couldn't figure out that it just wasn't the correct day to have the road closed to one lane for a couple of kilometers.

Happily, Ed completed my mother's "to do" list though one item did cost her more money than she expected. My mother's barbecue needed a new burner and a new igniter box. After determining that the parts would cost more than one third of the price of a new barbecue and she would have to wait a week for them to come, she bought a new barbecue. One good thing was the new barbecue is the same as the old barbecue so no learning curve and the cover fits! She also has a few spare parts now.