AA saves the day

I met the AA guy at our car this morning, and I have to say I am totally impressed with the AA. AAA guys know how to tow a car, fix a flat tire, and jump a car and that's really all they can do. If they know how to fill out a form or figure out street directions you've gotten the best AAA has to offer. But the AA guys (or gals if there are any) are superb! I walked up to my car and popped the hood so he could look at the car. I was thinking to myself "right this guy will just jump the car like I've already done and then tow it to the garage." But no, he immediately saw that our little clunker was missing her fan belt! How embarrassing! At first I thought someone had stolen it while it was parked on the street, but then he said that was probably the reason the car died. Again I thought to myself "right, he's going to have to tow the car to the garage now.... why is he still looking at my engine and fiddling?" Then he tells me he'll be right back with a fan belt replacement. I'm thinking "there's no way he has a spare belt just sitting in his van for my 1998 Vauxhall Corsa!" But sure enough, he comes back with a belt, actually three of them and one eventually works with quite a bit of fiddling and crow barring. He pulls out a crowbar and hammer, telling me they are his "precision and calibrating machinery." Hey whatever works! Then I'm thinking to myself, great how much is this work going to cost me? But, in the end it was all free! He didn't charge me because he said the belt he used was the wrong size, and while it would work just fine for me, he'll officially label it as a "temporary fix" making it free!!! Yippie! I was worried about having to shell out £100 pounds on the little death mobile for some repair in a garage. What a lovely beginning to my day.
Marius had his first birthday party to attend today - here‘s a picture of him in front of the ball pit/car at their house. Man, this kid has tons of toys! Am I a bad parent because Marius only has one little shelf full of toys, and most of them are either wooden blocks or soft alphabet shapes? He only has two plastic toys that light up and make noise, two large and two small stuffed animals, a wire bead toy, a push cart, and some other random small soft/stuffed type of things…. He has no plastic car to ride in with a horn, no blow up car full of balls, no big music/instrument centre with flashing lights and music, and no huge crate full of plastic toys. I’m really trying to resist the competitive mother urge in me to go out and buy a bunch of things for the boy for Christmas…. My rational is that he doesn't need a bunch of fancy toys, because he has mamma around all day and I play with him, read to him, and take him around town to see stuff, as opposed to throwing him in a corner with a pile of plastic. He'll get enough of that when I go back to work and he's in day care. Anyhow, I was thinking about getting him a scooter bug thing that he could ride around on though - they’re pricey, but totally cute and not plastic and made in China! Oh and I (errr I mean "Santa") aready bought him some books for his stocking, but those don't count... One can never have too many books.
Anyhow, getting to this party was a bit interesting, as it required me to drive through areas that I had never driven through before. I had figured I wouldn't have my car and would have to navigate several buses to get to the house. So, I hadn’t psyched myself up to take a drive in the city. I was a bit nervous about driving to a new place in the city, but it really wasn't bad at all. I'm actually getting quite used to the whole driving on the right side of the road thing.
In fact, both Simon and I are to used to being on the right hand side, that when we were watching Heroes (we downloaded the entire first season and are rationing ourselves to one or two a week because we're TOTALLY addicted!) last night, we had to do a double take when there was a scene of Niki driving down a desert road on the left side. At first we were like, wait she's on the wrong side. It was a little weird. Simon thinks that when he goes back to Cali for his conference in 2 weeks, he's going to get all disoriented with the directions. The driving isn't nearly as bad as walking and crossing the street though. I've caught myself in the middle of the street and walking because I see no cars, only to realize that I was VERY lucky because I was looking the wrong way when I first put my foot off the curb. Don't worry about Marius though people, that's only when I jaywalk and I only jaywalk when I'm alone. Intersections are actually a lot safer here than in the states, because everyone has a red light when pedestrians have the green, and you can't turn on a red here like you can in the US. So, when you get the little green walking sign, you have no fear about someone turning in front of you, actually you can walk diagonally in the intersection since all the cars are stopped. I love it! I feel like I'm in Vegas every time I do that here! Except without the neon lights and casinos and stuff.