The Police Escort

Saturday March 25th – We finally got to sleep in today. So we had a lazy start, made some phone calls back home and did some laundry. Once we got ready to face the day we drove first to the closest Starbuck’s which had a wireless internet connection. We spent an hour drinking coffee and catching up on email etc. After getting our internet fix we drove to Glenfarrie road which is one of the nearby shopping areas we had been in with our simulators. I needed to buy a bike lock, so that I can ride my bike to the gym, and we poked around some of the shops. By this time we were feeling pretty confident about our ability to navigate the city so we decided to try and find another shopping area that Jhaneen had told us about. The problem was our directions were based out of the GDV center. We decided to wing it from where we were already and started driving. About 20 minutes later we ended up in the middle of Melbourne, with crazy Commonwealth games traffic and random lanes blocked off for the games. OOPS! As we drove around, lost, we pulled up to a red light next to a police car. I rolled down the window and asked for directions. Naturally they realized immediately we were total foreigners, and told us to pull over after the intersection and they would give us directions. They were very nice and helpful and did their best to talk slowly so we could understand them (those Aussies talk SO fast!). Part of our problem was that the street we wanted to go to existed in several towns and we didn’t know which one we needed. The officers decided to direct us to another nearby shopping and restaurant area and started giving us new directions. Faced with yet another set of directions the vacant looks on our faces gave us away. They stopped and said, “Just follow us, we’ll take you there. Follow closely and if we go through a light or on a blocked off road, just follow”. It was hilarious! We zoomed through the city following the police car; the only thing that could have made it better was if they had the lights and siren going. They dropped us at Chapel Street, an enormous strip mall type of shopping area with plenty of cafes and restaurants. We had lunch and walked around for awhile before using the map to plan our next route before we began driving. We finally found the original area we had been shooting for (only about 5 miles from GDV). Once back at campus, Susan got the bug to go to the gym. I was feeling lazy and probably wouldn’t have gone on my own, but with her urging we headed off for another workout. It seems we are well balanced in this area, I force her to go in the mornings and she forces me to go in the evenings. We should both be in good shape by the time we get home.