Yesterday was definitely NOT my day.....

My son Anthony had an appt in town at 3:30 pm yesterday.
We also had a couple of errands to run beforehand so we left home a bit before 2 pm

We ran the errands and still had a bit over an hour left till his appt, so decided to go to the library.

When we finished and I went to the car, I realized I had left the keys in it, and of course, nice and tightly locked. I went back inside and asked the security guard for help. He came out with his cell and a phone book and started calling locksmiths.
Most couldn't come for 2-3 hours and the one that could come soonest said it would be 45 minutes.....by then it was almost 3 pm so the guard started calling taxis.

After two calls, he got one that said they would be there in 15 minutes....but while he was on phone with them, a taxi rolled up to the library...Anthony went to talk to the driver and found out he was just using the library parking area to turn around, so he was able to give Anthony a ride to the doctors. Taxi ride to doctor = $10

When the locksmith showed up, they had no cash to give me change, so I had to go across the street to the Dairy Queen to get change to pay them - 2 minutes to open the door = $65!!!

Anyway, got the door open and went on my way after giving the guard a little bonus toward his phone bill for using his cell.
Phone calls = $5

Anthony did not come out of the doctors until after 5 pm and we were both hungry, so we decided to go to a restaurant for some Chinese food.

We sat, we ate, we took our time.....then left to go to the supermarket just down the street.

While Anthony was in the store, I realized I had left my handbag at the restaurant. I panicked and ran in the store to let Anthony know I was driving back to the restaurant and would pick him up as soon as I could.

At the restaurant, the manager and an employee were sitting where we had sat earlier and no one had seen the handbag and of course, it wasn't where I had left it any longer.

The feeling in my stomach was not good.... the manager asked some questions as to more or less what time it was when we came in and when we left, etc....then she went in the back to look in their computer screen at the security tapes. I told her I would be right back and went back to the supermarket to get Anthony.

When I returned, she told me she had found the section of tape where you can see someone reaching over to get my bag and then you could see him folding the long strap around the bag as he walked to the side door and exited.

We called the police and an officer was there in about 5 minutes. First thing he did was give me copy of the little piece of paper they give you with a report # on it - in the back was a list of phone numbers where you could call to cancel credit cards.

I called asap while Anthony was giving a report to the officer. So got the cards cancelled with no problem and the woman at Bank of Hawaii in Honolulu said there had been no activity with either of my cards since Oct 1 (when I used one of them last)

Meantime, the officer took one of those little "memory sticks" and downloaded the video to take back to the station and have someone run it and see if they could find when the guy walked in the restaurant and see if they could see his face clearly as he went through the line and paid at the register....and they gave us the case # and phones to call the station and talk to him or his desk sergeant.

Fast forward to 7 am today.

I got a phone call from a woman to tell me they had my purse and phone. She said her husband "found it" at the restaurant and didn't trust the restaurant to give it back to the owner.... aha, right! I hate to think ill of anyone, but it seems strange he would not turn it in to the manager.

What we and the police think is that after he got home someone probably mentioned about all the security cameras in the place....because we sure got him on camera reaching over to get it.

So they tried to see if they could reach me, but there is no other address than the PO Box on my drivers license. So they pressed SEND on my phone and the last call I got was from my brother Tony, so that is who they reached - sometime in the middle of the night in NC! - there is a 6 hour difference in time between Eastern and Hawaii time.   Poor Tony gave them our home phone and that is how they called here today.

I got their name and phone number and told them I would call them back to make arrangements to get it. Then I called the desk sergeant at the police station in Hilo and explained what was going on. He told me NOT to meet with them - meantime he ran the phone number through, while we were talking - and got their name and address in Kurtistown, in the Puna area.

He told me he would talk to them and arrange for the bag to be picked up at their house by police or for them to drop it off at the nearest station, which is in Kea'au, still aways from me. He called them and then called me back.

They agreed to drop it off at Kea'au. I just got a call to tell me my handbag and phone are at the Kea'au station and they will try to get it to the Hilo station today.

So........the last 24 hours have not been the best in my life....I was so angry at myself for first locking the keys in the car and then losing my handbag - or "the baguette" as Anthony calls it.

Let's hope the $ I had in the purse is still there.....if not then the whole caper cost me about $140 counting the money in the purse and the expenses of getting the car door opened and the cab for Anthony!

Hopefully today things will be calmer, but I won't feel right until I get my 'baguette' back!