Lost in the Car park

I took a trip to Wellington Hospital today to meet up with daughter Nicky and grand-daughter Megan who had travelled down from Feilding for an appointment.  This is a trip I had done many times before but……  Wellington Hospital has had a huge rebuilding programme over several years and the new section is now up and running.  Costing $285 million it has been a controversial project as the building went well over the original budget. 

I drove  into the hospital grounds and oops, encountered a ticket barrier with an exit sign.  This didn’t look right to me.  “I’m going to the top car park”, I told the ticket collector.  Seems I had come in the wrong entrance so I had to hand over my ticket and continue driving up the hill.  Now, how do I actually enter the hospital building?  Wellington Hospital has been added on to over the years and is a collection of many buildings.  The one close by had a sign saying “Construction Site – No patients in this Building”.  Can’t enter here, obviously.  So down the hill I walk, enter a side door, and follow the painted lines on the floor till I find the correct department. 

Waiting at hospitals in inevitable and after the appointment finally came around it was time to say goodbye to Nicky and Megan and head home.  I was in the new part of the hospital so was not quite sure where to go.   I know, I’ll ask at the Reception desk.  Down that corridor and up those stairs, I was told, so off I went.  It was dark and cold outside but I was on the wrong side of the building.  That car park wasn’t the one I was looking for.  So back I went, retracing my steps and exited around the other side.  Climbing back up the hill, I finally came across the car park.  Now, where had I left my car?  Not here, not there, I started to panic, don’t tell me it’s been stolen, or towed away!  I walked around again, looking closely at all the cars.  Then I noticed another car park, a little higher up.  There she is, my little blue Astra, waiting for me in the dark.  Thankfully, I slid behind the wheel, handed over my money to the parking attendant, and started the long drive home.  No sense of direction, that’s me.  What a day.