Thunderstorm in Johannisholm Two police cars and they were waving down cars…There was just enough time for me to register before I was “invited” to stop. As things go the minute that happens you go mentally through all things you could have done wrong (Seat belts? Check. Speed limit? Check. The car? A-okay. Drivers license? Check. O god, insurance and car papers are in Husbands pocket..What else?) And then you are on the side of the road, nervously smiling, unbuckling, trying to locate why the annoying beep is going on.
Police officer: Good afternoon ma’am, shall we try English?
Me: yeah, let’s, my Swedish is a bit rusty (clever haha)
Police officer: can you show me your license?
Me oozing confidence: sure!
While I am frantically searching my purse, my wallet, trying to ignore the beep, the officer chastizes me for not having my headlights on which is obligatory during the day in Sweden, I haven’t? No Ma’am. Still rooting around in my wallet, where did I leave the darn license. It is warm in here isn’t it? Okay got it. Quick glance, officer tries a small smile to calm down my nervous chattering. Beep is pointer, switch it off, silence. From one of his pockets the officer has extracted some device. Good. Alcohol check. It is only midday! Seen this one before, on tv, I can do this.
Me: oh ah, you have to help me here, never done this before.
Officer: you don’t have these in your country?
Me: yes, we do, but never had to do this in 20 years of driving.
Officer raises his brow, offers me the device, I take a deep breath and he goes in Swedish: go on, go on, go on, bit more, yes thank you. (Wow, just like on tv, only no subtitles here)
While he waits to read the scale, I suddenly see a spot of my lipstick on the plastic and try to wipe it clean…..
Officer, deadpan while unclipping the mouthpiece: We only use this once…
We earned our ice-cream that day.
Scaring the natives, love?
ReplyDeleteAre you serious...They're doing alcohol checks in mid-day? Wild...must have a serious problem.
ReplyDeleteI always find it amazing how upsetting it is to get pulled over. Usually when is anything other than speeding, you don't have a clue what they're going to get you with.
Yes, you earned ice-cream that day.
I would have fainted!
ReplyDeleteAt least I hope he was a good-looking police officer!
Thank you for visiting my site and for the nice comments about the banana bread! Very much appreciated! I have added your site to my limited cooking blogger list and will look forward to visiting it often. Loved the police story and your hiking pictures brought back memories of some great trips!
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