Last night, when we arrived home Mrs Sensible said she could smell a strange odour, she thought somebody was burning rubbish and then I heard the sound of squealing tyres. I went off in hot pursuit to find out which idiot was squealing his tyres along our little dirt track of a road.

There hiding in the bushes was a little green and white police car. The driver had managed to wedge the little car pretty deeply in my garden hedge.

Hiding in the bushes was a little green and white police car.

The gravel track he had slid down doesn’t look too steep, but his police car wasn’t going anywhere, except deeper into the bushes.

Policeman: “Hello, I am stuck I was trying to find my way to the village.”

Me: “Yes, Road closed, go roundabout first right,  turn right next…. Erh place where dead people are.”

The policeman looked at me a little strangely. “Dead people??”

Me: (scratching my head and trying to remember the correct word)… cemetery. turn right near cemetery.

And then his phone rang and he looked even more unhappy.

Yes, I won’t be long, just sorting out a little problem

When he put his phone away, He asked me to drive his little police car while he tried pushing it. This was a complete and utter failure, however it was fun driving my first police car, even if I only managed to slide it further into the bushes. We then swapped places and I was relegated to car pusher and again we slid sideways into my hedge.

I decided to give him some valuable advice. “Stay here” not that he was going anywhere!

I walked home and returned with some bits of wood.

We pushed and we pulled, but the little car wasn’t going anywhere.

In every situation like this, there is always somebody who states the obvious.

Me: “We need a tractor” For just one second the policeman looked excited.

Policeman “Do you have one”

Me “No”

I took out my phone and called Dottoressa Paula. I did this for two reasons, one she knows a man with a tractor and two I thought she would be upset if she missed out on all the fun.

The good Dottoressa quickly arrived, mainly because her house is next to mine and the car was stuck outside her front gate. She phoned the man with the tractor, but alas he was not at home.

The policeman came up with a good idea, after wedging my wood under his car tyres, he suggested Dr Paula should drive his car and we would push the car, and just to make sure we would be successful, he stuck some wood under the rear wheels. Hmm!

His shoes were perfect for pushing the car, he only slipped over three times

I was pushing so this is the best picture I could find

Shoulder to shoulder the policeman and I , pushed and heaved and Dottoressa Paula revved the engine, slipped the clutch and disappeared up the hill and down our gravel road.

After I had ran down our lane and caught up with Dr Paula, I took a quick photo, unfortunately it is not as good as I would have liked. There is a much better picture here, which was when the carabinieri arrived a couple of years ago

Not the best picture of Dr Paula

The local policeman and I were suitably impressed with Dr Paula’s exceptional rallying skill, the policeman shook our hands two or three times.  I only hope the next time the police stop me, it is our friend who likes to park in my garden hedge.