On Saturday night Patrick invited 6 friends over to celebrate his birthday (a few weeks late) and go to an ice hockey game in Nice. This was the first hockey game that any of his friends had been to (they're French, remember). It was a fun game with quite a bit of scoring, some nice open-ice hits, and one big fight right in front of where we were sitting (no need to guess what their favorite part of the game was). In the end Nice defeated Montpillier 4-2 so everyone was happy. One of our friends from Le Rouret went with me to help drive and keep an eye on the boys -- that was a great help.
From left: Clement, Quentin, Danny, Nicholas, Patrick (what's with the thug look?), Isaiah and Luc
The same group. Only Patrick had ever been to a hockey match before.Two of his friends spent the night and in the morning when I went to take them home I drove through some deep water at the bottom of our hill (thanks to the massive storm last night) and my car stalled -- and wouldn't re-start. This wasn't the end of the world because Kerri just came in the other car and took the boys home. The only reason it was a slight inconvenience was because about 15 people were due at our house in couple of hourse since we were hosting an afternoon Christmas party for some of my colleagues.
But it all worked out well and we had a nice relaxing party with lots of good food and conversation. By 6:00pm everyone had left and I thought it might be a good idea to drive our other car to my car, which was still at the bottom of the hill, and try to start it. At this point it will just be easier to show a timeline of the next couple of hours:
- 6:15 - my car starts and I drive to a gas station to fill up for the week
- 6:25 - my car stalls again and won't start
- 6:35 - I begin the 15 minute walk back to where I had left our other car (yes, it pouring; yes, it's about 4 degrees; no, I do not have a coat on)
- 7:00 - my family laughs at me as I walk in the door
- 7:30 - I decide to drive back to the car to see if I can start it with the hopes of at least getting it to a garage or to our house
- 7:40 - it starts right up and runs well
- 7:41 - I realize that I am now sitting at a gas station with both our cars; I call Kerri and ask if I can come home, pick her and the kids up, return to my car and have them follow me as I drive home. She says yes.
- 8:00 - as I get near our house the rain that has been falling all afternoon turns to hail and picks up in intensity
- 8:10 - I pick up Kerri and the kids just as our electricity goes off
- 8:12 - there is now about 2 inches of hail/snow/ice on the ground
- 8:20 - we reach my car after creeping up the road in the hail/snow/ice/rain
- 8:30 - both cars reach the main road that leads to our house but it completely blocked by high water and ice (a car is stranded in the high water -- the very place, ironically, where my car stalled earlier in the morning!!)
- 8:35 - we try to go another way to our house but the road is way to steep and we can't get up due to the ice
- 8:40 - we head back to the main road to our house and find 5 other cars waiting to get through. None of them can.
- 8:41 - Patrick and Julia start getting excited because they think they might not have to go to school tomorrow.
- 8:45 - a guy in a Volvo stops next to us and says, 'I know another way. Follow me.
- 9:00 - it worked and we reach home.
- 9:02 - I flip a switch outside our gate and our electricity comes back on.
CJS
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