Saturday

After staying up for most of the night to watch us lose the cricket, I grabbed a few hours of sleep before going to Naomi's ice skating lesson. We were about a mile from the arena when Mindy commented that she had noticed a strange noise coming from the back of the car. I pulled over and we had a completely flat tyre (tire for the American readers!). I drove off the main road onto a side street and we considered our options. I could change it myself or we could call road service to help us out - but either of these options would mean Naomi missed her lesson. The other alternative was that only being about a mile from the place, I could run with Naomi/carry her/kind of drag her there and we should make it in time for the lesson...and Mindy could remain with Fiona and the mobile phone and wait for road service to arrive. We agreed that we would try to get here there so off I ran, holding Naomi's hand (figuring I would carry her when closer to the main road - it was quite safe where we were). As I left, Mindy shouted "Do you want the stroller?"...but with the ground being uneven at times, I figured this would not be of any help, so shouted back no and continued on.

About 1/2 way to the venue a car pulled up next to us and the lady driving asked if we needed any help. I guess she saw me carrying a young child and figured something was wrong. I told her the story but added that we were only about a 1/2 mile away and if she could give us a ride there, it would help. No problem - I buckled Naomi in the back and jumped in the front when a police car pulled in behind us. Now, there were a few possibilities here that came to mind - a routine check of a car pulled off on a main road perhaps, or perhaps he saw her pick us up and so was going to bust me for hitch-hiking?? At this stage I was thinking that what should have been an easy morning was quickly becoming much more complex.

The officer came to my window and asked: "Is everything OK?". I told him that we were trying to get to my daughter's ice skating lesson just a 1/2 mile away, told him about the flat etc. He then asked: "Did you two have an argument?". This was quite unexpected. I explained that we only just met and that my wife was about a 1/2 mile back with the car. He then asked: "Did you have an argument with your wife?". Now I was really confused and assured him that I did not. The lady then asked if she could go and the police officer said he would take care of us from here.

Upon getting out of the car, I noticed that there were now 3 police cars sitting there. The officer then said: "We had a report of a domestic dispute.". I asked: "And the person you were after matched my description?", the officer nodded. I was wearing my Newcastle Falcons jacket with bright red sleeves, so this was not too tough to believe. After telling him where Mindy was located, he dispatched a patrol car to check my story and then loaded Naomi and me into the back of his car to drive us to ice skating. Naomi was a little apprehensive and confused but I tried to assure her that everything was OK. We got to the ice rink and he made us wait around for a couple of minutes until he received confirmation from his buddy that all was OK with Mindy...and then we raced inside, got her skates and made it to the lesson with a minute to spare!

From Mindy's perspective...she had called road service when the police car arrived. The officer asked her: "How are you doing today?". Mindy then told him about the flat and that her husband and daughter were walking down the road to the ice skating rink. He replied: "Yes, we know". Mindy enquired further: "So did you help them out?". The answer: "Something like that.". So she was quite confused and completely in the dark about our adventure. In the end, the tyre was changed and she met us at the rink about 10 minutes after the class finished. Quite a strange way to spend a morning as it turned out.

The only thing we can figure is that the owner of the house that we stopped in front of saw us frantically discussing our options, probably gesturing toward the car. Next, I run off with a child, shouting something as I left - I guess it looked suspicious enough to deserve a call to the police!

After getting the tyre repaired we went home and then raced out again to a friend's child's birthday party. We were late but I guess we had a good excuse!

In the evening we watched Jackass 2. A quite amazing movie that you don't really want to watch at times but, much as with an accident on the road, you cannot stop yourself. Everything you would expect - entertaining, funny, gross, cringe-worthy and immature. Those guys deserve every cent thay make and I am amazed none of them has died doing some of these stunts. Certainly worth watching if you have 90 minutes to kill and want a good laugh.