Brick Walls Crumble

It’s amazing, sometimes, just how an errand that shouldn’t really be a big deal at all can just wipe you out! In my case, it was a trip to the Registry of Motor Vehicles in Beverly, MA to transfer ownership of my mother’s car (she has had an aneurysm behind the retina in one eye and can no longer see well enough to drive) to me.

Most of the paperwork was already complete, I found the Title quickly enough and filled in the last bit of information while at home. My father had some difficulty removing the number plates but, that was to be expected … they had been on the car for a little more than five years and it was the dealership mechanics that had put them on in the first place … obviously with the thought that those number plates were NEVER to be removed!

Finally, after one last cup of tea, I drove to the Registry using my father’s Ford Ranger pick-up. It’s not a difficult truck to drive, in fact, it’s an automatic and it’s also one of those small trucks. But, I don’t drive it that often and I had to drive it through a small but busy city.

I found a parking space much easier than I expected and filled the meter to capacity! I thought at first that I’d just put in enough for one hour’s time but then decided to put in enough for two hours instead. Good thing I did!

There didn’t seem to be as much activity around the Registry building as I had expected, especially being the 2nd of January but, much to my shock and disappointment, all of the people seemed to be inside the building … two and three rows deep … I swear I didn’t know they could get that many people in there!

I had no idea where to start either but, one of the other customers told me that I had to go to the information or service desk first. I thought that was very nice of her, considering the number of people in there, crowding around, some tempers already flaring even though it was just about 9 or 10 o’clock.

The line in front of the service desk moved much faster than I expected too … I got number A198 … it said on the ticket that there were “just” 19 people ahead of me and I was told to stay in the general area where I had come in. Okay! I saw one of those ticker tape sort of signs with the number A179 on it … that’s a lot of people ahead of me and there were certainly many, many more than just nineteen other folks in there. Still, not all were there for registrations, many were there for licenses too. So, maybe, just maybe, this won’t take as long as I had thought when I first came in!

How silly of me to think that! After a time, I saw some openings on a bench. I pointed them out to my mother and we both quickly moved in to take the seats. (I had asked my mother to come with me for the simple fact that, even though all of the paperwork was done, even though it said that her signature was not needed, I felt it was better to be prepared than sorry!) It was a good thing we got those seats … I still haven’t figured out their numbering system … for a short time, the numbers moved as one would think, A180, A181, A182 … then F497, F498, F499 … then back to A183 and so on. Poor guy sitting next to me, his number had a D in front of it and, all the while that I was there, not once did a D number come up.

Well, after more than one hour’s time, after a few numbers were called in between and no one showed, finally it was my turn. And, it’s a good thing I had asked my mother to come along too. While she didn’t need to sign anything, she was asked to I.D. herself. Had she not accompanied me, I’d have to do this errand all over again on Monday!

So, I know it doesn’t really sound like much of an ordeal. Mostly, I must admit, it was just a very long wait. Still, sometimes, it’s just the time, the “uncertainty” of whether or not you’re really in the right place, the crowds, the griping, … you know what I mean! That’s what can make it an exhausting experience.