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

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...
Read more

There was a before and there will be an after.

“Do you really think it will go over?” A question posed as I was chatting to someone over coffee this week (with distance of course). My immediate response was that yes, I really do think it will go over, but I don’t know when or what it will look like. I don’t know when we’ll be back to “normal.” But to be honest, I am not sure I really want things to go back to being as they were before ... The past seven weeks have been so very different. Social distancing, staying one meter away from others, having permanently dry hands from antibac and washing hands a lot, and having to limit most interaction with others to a screen, have become part of everyday life. And of course the distance and isolating part of this “normal” I have no desire of seeing become part of the after . But at the same time I see good growing in this time of crisis; good that I do want to bring into the after , and what will become my normal when this crisis comes to an end. Time. Whether we like it or not, o...
Read more

Finding pockets of life (and a bubble-tea metaphor).

“Where can I find life?” has been a question I have asked myself a lot recently (but really for years). And really the deeper question is: “What is life, and what does it look like?” I guess the simple answer is whatever makes you feel alive on the inside; that brings a smile to your face; and that gives you energy and increases your capacity. There are so many side-effects of burn-out; or maybe they are rather causes of burn-out, which when combined become a huge mountain that can topple even the strongest of people. But once you have been depleted of your capacity to stand in the face of the challenges around you, one of the things that can help increase your energy and capacity is finding pockets of life. (And of course a lot of other things like rest, exercise, patience when the process is slow, setting boundaries etc. but that’s for another blogpost). The past months I’ve been watching and searching and paying attention. Searching for choices that will bring life, and paying att...
Read more