The "Rehearsal" from Hell

Spent most of the day in my hometown.  Ventnor was jammed, of course, as I'm sure the rest of Absecon Island was.  People seem to have suddenly realized summer is waning, so they rush to the sea to broil themselves red.  Parkway was bumper to bumper, natch.
The "rehearsal" was simply an exercise in wasted time.  It started at 1:00 and we were there for three and a half solid hours.  (If it had been up to Rachel, we'd still be there.) Incredibly, we never did do a complete run-through.  Several of us, including the nasty, most vocal one, yours truly, had said we were leaving at 4:30, come hell or missed lines, and we did. 
Most of us brought our costumes and Rachel objected to my white shirt--said she wanted to avoid black and white, although I had a very colorful wide scarf to use as a cummerbund.  Said she'd bring one of her husband's shirts, instead.  Sure, sure, fine, let's just get on with the rehearsal.
But that never actually happened.  It's impossible to adequately describe Rachel's indecision, meandering speech, pulverizing lack of coherence, and time-wasting, off-topic forays into theatrical Neverland, so I won't even try.  I might mention, though, that we didn't even start to rehearse anything until twenty of four, and never did finish. 
Bobbi was very late--didn't get there until almost 3:00--and, typical of how bereft Rachel is of even the most elementary system of organization, she didn't have Bobbi's phone number.  Of course, she didn't have anyone else's number, either, so couldn't contact us in case of a sudden change in the schedule.   
(I was interrupted after writing the above for a welcome reason: a Skype call from Tokyo.  All well there and we had a nice chat.  I picked up Susan for our walk and now I'm back.)
After the "rehearsal" (aagh!), I went to Betty's for a delicious meal of tilapia, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and salad.  Helen C. then joined us and we went around the corner for ice cream cones.  Left by 7:00 and was home just as darkness came over the world--or at least, over Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey.