Skip to main content

A roll of carpet in the road.

I just had to jot down this random experience before it disappered into wherever forgotten thing disappear to.

As I was driving home this afternoon I decided to try out the alternative entry point to my road (the road is going to get dug up and things put in the ground...don't ask me for details, coz I'll have to make them up). As I slowly drove down the gravel (note: temporary road), I spotted a long roll of black carpet rolled up. I wondered why it was there at the bottom of the gravel, but assumed that if it was left there, it should be possible to quite easily drive over it. I was wrong. What happened was that I managed to drive over it with the front wheels of the car, but then the back wheels kind of got stuck on it, and instead of gently driving over the carpet, they dragged it along, and unrolled part of it. This continued until one side of it got stuck at the side of the road. This was all downhill. I tried to reverse, and had a few looks to find creative ways of solving the problem, but my blond little self couldn't manage. To be honest, once I smelt a burnt smell and saw smoke coming up from under the car, I stopped trying.

I took my mobile out and rang my brothers (oh, how grateful I am to have brothers near by when the car gets stuck on carpet). While I was waiting for them I got a bucket of water which I tried to sort of throw under the car (I figured the burnt smell and smoke was probably the car melting the carpet). My vivid imagination, fuelled by many a exploding-car scene on films, made me slightly concerned as to what this smoke could develop into, but after the water had been chucked the smoke stopped. I also wrote a little note "SORRY. Car is stuck, help is on the way. If any questions I'm in number 6", and stuck it under the windscreen wiper. Then I went home to wait (the car got stuck sort of on the roadbit between my and my neighbours house). None of the neighbours seemed to be home, which was nice, coz I felt quite embarrased. I mean, how many people get the car stuck on a roll of road-carpet; in the snow or sand, fine, but carpet???

The end of the story was that 2 of my brothers and one of their friends came quickly to my rescue, and managed to get the car unstuck (I don't now if that's a real word, but the car wasn't stuck any more) and on closer expection only a few bits of the carpet were melted. Their friend very kindly said that when he got a car he'd never lend it to me, to which I replied that I probably wouldn't be attempting to drive over road-carpet should I encounter it in the road again.

The moral of this story is: if you spot a roll of road-carpet in the road, take another route.

Popular posts from this blog

Small moments that mean a lot

Walking home on the crunchy snow that lights up a December evening,  I felt so thankful. The revelation that fellowship and being together is the best gift you can give someone, and realising that although it might seem small, it can turn into something big when a person feels seen and valued.  Yesterday I helped out with a crafts workshop for a group of lovely women volunteering for Crux where I worked before (well, in all honesty: they were making angels while I ate Christmas cookies, Quality Street chocolate, and chatted). I love walking alongside people in conversation, and realise sharing life for 2 hours can last so much longer in value and experience.  This evening we had our Christmas dinner for volunteers and people who are part of my current job. It was a delightful evening with many nations gathered around the same table…. eating the same food… and for a few hours creating a small fellowship moment that will become a good memory for the future. Often in my job ...

Single-tasking September: The art of single-tasking.

To change habits and ways of life, the motivation for change has to be strong, and the benefits outweigh the effort it takes to make the change.  For so long it’s seemed like the ability to multitask has been regarded as a great skill, but is it really a good thing? Recovering from burn-out, one of the effects I noticed was that it was harder to concentrate, and especially tricky trying to focus on many things at once. I’d try to multitask, only to realise that all tasks suffered from lack of capacity to complete any one of them. The challenge is that the habit of always doing many things at once goes deep, and when I tried to focus on just one thing, I found that it was actually really difficult.  As I did a little google search on the matter, I found it seems like multitasking isn’t as healthy as once thought, and that it doesn’t help productivity. Some even referred to it as “switch tasking”, in the sense that the brain isn’t doing many things at once, but shifting rapidly...

My heart is full

I sat waiting for the train while drinking chocolate milk and eating what we call solbolle for lunch (which is a large cinnamon roll with custard in the middle). My heart was overflowing with gratitude and love, and such a deep sense of fellowship and “family”. I’d spent the morning drinking coffee at my old job at Crux , catching up with all the amazing people that make that fellowship and sense of togetherness what it is. Since many are fully vaccinated I got to give and receive quite a few good hugs. Hugs that communicate so much more than one can put into words. It was strange being back after 4.5 months, and yet it felt so very normal. Conversations on deeper levels, sharing victories and joys, and putting into words the good we see in each other, filled my heart until there was simply no more room. Waiting for the train it felt like my heart was overflowing. My new job is great. I love the team I work with, enjoy the challenges, and feel humbled by the privilege of being invited...