8/9/16 or 9/8/16 A Mix-up With A Date

We are having busy days. In fact, the last 2 days have been so busy that I barely got time to eat. But yesterday was a special. I had a passenger pickup at 9:45 at a B+B and another down the road at 10:00am. We all had a great tour around the island and I was back at the visitor center with both parties at 1:15pm, when the next party came up to the van. At the same time my phone rang. And there was a lady telling me she would expect me at the Fireside Restaurant at 3pm. Checking my watch, I knew it would be a tight fit but I promised to be there on time. After all, I could just ad the new party underway. At 2:45 we were at the Fireside Restaurant, where I saw a tour bus parked in the shade. And that was the moment when I thought my heart skipped a beat or two. Was my mind playing tricks with me or what was going on? Slowly, two numbers appeared in my memory:  8/9 and 9/8 and then “3pm”.  My reservation list contained a note for a bus-guiding on September 8 with a pickup at the Fireside Restaurant. at 3pm …….or was it August 9???  When the confusion cleared, I realized what had happened. Whoever was waiting for me inside the restaurant was not a single couple but an entire bus load! I had mixed up the dates. In Canada we usually put the day before the month. The U.S. does otherwise.  OMG.. I had to find a solution and preferably right darn quick. There was only one person who could do a bus guiding right now and that would be Bea. I called the hotel where they told me she had gone home. Good heavens…she would be available. I tried to call home but the landline was still forwarded to my cell, so it didn’t work. Had to take my van party home to our house where I found Bea in the kitchen. After a short-cut explanation she was racing up the stairs to get dressed. Moments later, we were both out on the road again. Bea was heading to the Fireside while I continued my tour with my passengers.  It sure was a tense afternoon but at the end it all worked out. When we both had returned home, Bea showed me a pile of US Dollar bills on our dining table – her tip came to 41 Bucks! Not too shabby for 2 hours of work.