And now, we visit the good cops...

EDITOR'S NOTE - The current state of affairs in the GTA is simply deplorable. It is a waste of time, money and effort on both sides and only serves to prove that those who govern us are idiots and have a police board that is highly ineffective. Those that protect us have a union league that is power tripping with too much self importance. We thought we got rid of the mob boss and it is VERY obvious that the mob still rules.

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So, here is the story.

I was on the way from the T-dot to Frogtown along the good old 401 East. I was clocking some heavy numbers in my standard edition, heavily overworked, 1987 Skoda. This little workhorse had a sewing machine engine with a very high compression rate, flat floor pan, boot in the front and a transverse-mounted read engine. It was one of the cheapest cars you could get at the time (and miles ahead of the nasty Lada). Anyhow, I drove this thing hard; first as a courier vehicle and then back and forth to visit my brother in Ottawa, Whitby then Georgetown. Four years and around 170,000km will tax anything (two cracked cylinder heads and a toasted clutch amongst the casualties). I drove this thing so hard, so far, so fast that the guy who sold it to us was amazed it was as in good a condition by the time it left my hands.

Anyhow, there I was on the way to a wedding and I was late. I had to hit the Capital first to join up with my Aunt and Uncle, as they too were going to Frogtown. So, to say the least, the little motor was singing something fierce and my foot rarely left the floor. At one point, just outside of Kingston, I was pretty sure that the OPP spotted my warp speed within the local solar system and was going to grab some island to turn around and investigate. I was going to press my luck a little and then flatten out to a reasonable speed for a while when it happened; pop...slide.

My passenger-side rear tired had got a flat and I was at full speed, downhill, on a corner. Thankfully, no one was around so I was able to gently guide it off the road and onto the side gravel to investigate the damage. Yep, flat tire. Need to try to fish out the jack. Well, while I was looking for the jack, up came the OPP behind me. By the look they gave me and the questions they started with, they were hot on my tail and would have busted me at 160 in a 100 zone if not for my timely flat. When they realized that I needed assistance for real though, they broke out their flashlights (which I did not have) and ensured any traffic gave us a wide berth.

Very nice of them, as they did not have to do that, but I would need their help even more. It seems that somehow my jack and another one at home (my Dad was a mechanic) got mixed up and I could not get the wheel off. The OPP duo knew of a garage nearby and gave me a lift to the place, woke the guy, and we searched for comparable jack. It took a while to do this, but we finally found a couple for me to try. When we got back with one that finally worked (there were at least two trips involved), the night got worst (this was like 4AM at the time).

The spare that I verified was in the vehicle, was itself, flat. So, the OPP duo drove me back again in order for the guy to check the two tires, and fill the one least likely to go flat again. They then drove me back, as the sun was starting to peak through, and stayed with me until I got the tire on and the car back on the road. They even took back the tools I borrowed to the garage as they were going in the general direction and it was out of my way. With that, and a sly warning to "take it easy" on the rest of my journey, they were off.

So, once I was well away from there, I obviously kicked it into Ludicrous Speed (165km/h) as I was super duper late now. I arrived in time to grab some tea and head back out with my Aunt and Uncle. Once I found the church, I parked up front and went to sleep. I actually overslept so I slipped into the back as the ceremony had gotten underway already. My ex-girlfriend and some other friends from high school were the only folks outside of family invited. I, unfortunately, was on the very short list and would not be attending Lama's (my nickname for my Abu Dhabian friend) reception. Yes, I drove all that way, went through all of that, simply to attend the wedding ceremony.

As for the OPP duo, I am very ashamed. I totally forgot to register their badge numbers or car number or anything that would identify them and their very good deed. They stayed with me for at least two hours when they could have had the garage tow me back and be done with it. Not all of any group is bad, and we must recognize the good along with the bad. We just really must work hard to make sure the majority is on the right side of the equation.

Peace.