Bobby to the rescue

they have not-so-cool looking police cars over here

So, I had one of those mornings that was a bit more interesting than I would have liked today. My commute was almost over (only 8 miles from Norwich) when I heard a very loud POP and knew immediately that I had a flat tire (or shally I say "tyre" as they do here. . .). I was on a really busy motorway with lorries (semi trucks) whizzing by me on my right and a merge lane on my left (I was able to stop in the tiny median between the two). *don't worry mum, I was very careful*

I've changed many a tire, so I wasn't too freaked out. However, when I got to the trunk (or the car "boot" as it is here) the spare tire was screwed in so tight that I could not for the life of me get it loose. I called work to let them know what was going on. I tried (to no avail) to get ahold of a coworker who lived nearby when a police care pulled up (okay actually it was an oversized police van. . . weird I know). The "bobby" (police officers here) stopped and was really nice.

She started asking me questions. One of the things she asked was if I was a member of whatever the equivilent to the US AAA would be. I culturally didn't have a clue and thought she must have been asking me if I worked for someplace that would have a particular benefit or service for roadside assistance. I was really confused. So, roughly translated she asked "Do you belong to AAA?" to which I replied with the confused, I'm-a-clueless-American-in-a-foreign-land look and said, "I work at Newmarket House Clinic in Norwich." Talk about lost in translation.

She called a couple of traffic police to come and they saved my day and put the tire on for me (they were able to figure out where the jack was - it was buried in a very unobvious place in the trunk that I could not figure out for the life of me). They did have to provide a verbal and(handwritten in a little notebook) disclaimer that they were not certified to change tires and that I would need to have it checked right away that I had to agree to & sign. By that time I didn't care and was ready to sign anything just so I could get to work!

Work was busy today. We're having our Halloween party with the girls tomorrow so today entailed lunch out with a patient and lots of prep for the Thursday schedule. It should be fun. We get to go to the theatre on Friday to see Beauty & the Beast, so that should be really cool. The girls have really been looking forward to this week. Lots of activity is good because the poor things get really bored and you can only play board games for so many hours a day.