Some times smelling the roses is OK , even if things still happen.

Have allowed myself an indulgent day today.
Does not happen very often.
It is nice to allow oneself to smell the roses, read a book, go for a walk and not feel consumed with the thoughts "I should be doing something more worthwhile than this".
But when you are a carer there is precious little time to smell the roses before another request, another demand, another 'must do' duty intrudes into the picture.
Today nothing, so far, has intruded.
However I am packing up some things to take to Lily.

I have enjoyed a day without having to think about what 'should' I do next.
And i needed a little time out for myself.

Yesterday evening I was with a friend who was driving. We had just left the hospital after a visit to Lily. My friend was driving. The car was stopped until the lights turned green. We were just chatting looking at all the traffic moving ahead of us through the intersection.
There was a lot of traffic all around.
All of a sudden we both lurched forward.
It was good that we both had seat belts on. I could feel the car being pushed forward from behind.
It was frightening. I felt as if a Mack Truck had just run into the back of the car.
But no, it was two young boys in a car behind us. They were moving too quickly and were too close to the back of the car I was in.
To their credit they did go around us and then they stopped their car well ahead of us. But we were not certain what would happen next as they made no move to get out of the car to inspect the damage to their car nor the car they had hit.
We could see both of the boys in the car ahead appearing to shake their arms at each other. From a distance it looked as if they were arguing.
We took the car number plate down and the car details - just in case the boys drove off before speaking to us.
But finally one of the boys came down to speak to us. The other boy stayed in the car.
That is when the 'fun' (not) started.
The boy was aggressive and told us not to report the accident.
Then worse he did not have his drivers license on him.
And worse again, he said the car he was driving was not his.
I was worried that he was driving a stolen car.
My friend tried to explain that due to the damage the accident would have to be reported.
Then he became more aggressive and kicked the car, and said to my friend "your car does not have much damage"
But the car did have damage and my friend did not cause the damage.
He said again, "you don't need to report this".
It felt an intimidating situation.
I was worried about how things were going and I looked around for the boy who had been the passenger in the other car.
He was no where to be seen.
But then my friend pointed him out - he was running away from the car. It did not make sense to me. Because the boy was running away, yet had not been the driver.
So I asked the driver, "why is your passenger running away?"
Then the driver denied he had ever had a passenger in the car he was driving.
So now I knew I was also speaking to a liar.
But we were lucky.
I saw a police car across the road.
I waved it down.
The Policeman did a U-turn and approached us. He was pretty smart.
He sized up the situation.
The police officer asked us some details and he took some notes.

In front of the police I asked the boy, "why did you deny you had a passenger in your car. The other boy, who ran away?" The driver was scornful to me, 'get some glasses, your eyes are no good. There was no one in the car. Only me."

But my friend backed me up and said, "there was a blonde boy, heavier build than you, but he was in the car with you, before he ran away". The boy shook his head at us, denying again that he's ever had a passenger.

The police officer looked at that aggressive boy and asked, "how much have you had to drink tonight?"
I had not even thought the boy had been drinking, because he was not slurring his words.
And the answer the boy gave? It was priceless. He said, "no need for a breathalyser officer, I'll be over. You don't need to give me that test"
The officer just smiled.
His fellow officer approached with the machine to test the boy.

And Guess what?
Yes that boy was over the limit.

Then the fact that he was not driving his own car, would not tell the police who was the owner of the car, and he did not have his driver's license on him. And he was over the alcohol limit to drive. It was all adding up, against that aggressive boy.

And when the police asked the boy how the accident happened the boy made this comment, "we were looking at some girls who got off the bus. We were just trying to get the girls to look at us."
And this was from a man who not a moment before had denied there was anyone else in the car except himself.
Then the other police officer took photos of the damage to both cars.

The Police officer told him, "sorry sir, but you are coming with us"
Then the silly boy tried to argue with the police officer, to no avail.

And the police escorted the boy to their police car.

Locked up the other car, after they had looked through it. Then they gave contact details to my friend and we were free to drive off.

We thought we were so lucky. The boys could have driven off. Or the boys could have been even more intimidating and aggressive.
The accident could have been worse. And the police could have been miles away and this would have turned out differently.
And I have written up a statement on the accident to give to my friend.
When I see Lily I will not mention the accident, as it would only worry her. And besides I am perfectly OK. It will all work out OK. My friend at least knows that the accident was entirely the fault of the other driver.