Ending June with a Bang

 

Here in Australia they have these little phone booths.  They offer free phones and wifi sponsored by Vodafone, an Australian carrier.  I see this little booth every day on my way to work. Didn't think much of them until today.

We had two friends from our ward over for lunch today, Geof Dean and Richard Cordis.  We made roast beef, peas, yams, mashed potatoes and brownie sundaes.  We had a good visit afterwards.  Geof is 94 years old and Richard is our age.  Geof got up to do something and fell and hit the back of his head on the wooden arm of one of our chairs.  Well, if you know head injuries, you know it started bleeding a lot.  We stopped the bleeding and I shaved the spot so that I could see the damage.  I didn't think he needed stitches but I was worried because of his age.  Of course he didn't want to go to the emergency room.  He had 2 cuts and we cleaned them and tried to bandage them but the strips wouldn't stick to his head.

Long story short, I ran out to the van where I thought I had some steri-strips and before I had a chance to go back in, Tim, Richard and Geof were coming out of the gate.  We wanted to get Geof home as soon as possible to his wife so I jumped into the van.  Geof's car was at the temple so we drove there first.  On the way, I called Mabel, Geof's wife, and told her what happened.  I wanted Tim to drive Geof home but Geof insisted on driving.  I made Tim go with him and I was going to follow in our van.  It was about a 15 minute drive to his house.  I had left my phone, my wallet, and my glasses (not required to drive but I like to have them in unknown territory) back at our apartment.  We headed out and they lost me at the first red traffic light only 2 blocks away!  I thought, "I'm never going to catch up to them!"  

Well, I didn't and at one point I thought I saw them and started following them onto the motorway but it was not them.  I got off on the next exit.  I was lost without my phone.  Then, I remembered these little phone booths that are free!  I pulled into a BP petrol station and asked where the nearest phone booth was and luckily it was around the corner.  I also needed a toilet, as they say here, and there was not one to be found, not even at the petrol station!  I drove around the corner, saw the phone booth, parked and set out to find a toilet. There was a walking trail nearby and I asked a couple if they knew where the nearest toilet was.  They looked it up on their phone and luckily it wasn't too far away. Walk, walk, walk, walk. Pray, pray, pray.  

Tried the GPS on our van but I found out pretty quickly that it only hooks up to a cell phone for GPS.    : ( Back to the phone booth to call Tim.  I actually have his phone number memorized!  Tender mercy.  I called him and they had already reached Geof's home. Tim was outside waiting for me.  He realized I didn't have a phone when he realized he had picked it up thinking it was Geof's!  I gave him the two intersecting streets I was on and he looked up directions for me.  I was writing down streets and A7s (arterial roads) and M3s as fast as I could--the Ms are motorways (like interstates,).  He had also given me some landmarks like Hungry Jacks and Nissan.

My first turn was at the gas station I had just come from.  When I got there, it was a one-way street and I couldn't turn right.  The next hour was full of one-way streets, closed streets, detours!  It was scary. More praying. I remembered Tim saying follow A7 and I caught sight of a sign with A7 on it.  After what seemed like an eternity, I saw Tim standing on the corner.  Hallelujah, praise be to God!  Could not have gotten myself out of this mess without God's intervention!

I am NEVER leaving the house without my phone again! There I was:  no phone, no GPS, no bathroom, no money, it was Sunday and everything was closed and I was in a foreign country in a city I did not know!  So grateful that God watched over me and got me back to my sweetheart.  I was so scared.