Lessons for the day.

Did you know that cop cars have some kind of push bumpers (?) that are used to push a stranded car off the road? Well, I learnt that bit of info today. You know it's like some days are designed to make one learn these things. So I drop the Scout off at daycare and turn the car around and wait at a red light on my way to work. I notice that the clock on the car's dashboard is showing the wrong time. I wonder why. I.. wonder.. if.. the.. car.. battery.. had.. died.. sometime. Even before I can complete that sentence in thought, the car went dead on me. Sooo dead that I couldn't even turn on the hazard lights. I'm sitting there wondering what to do. Being the resourceful person that I'm, I do the first thing that I do in any tough situation. That is, I call the GI. And nice guy that he is, says "Don't worry. I'm coming and I'll call AAA" although he has almost reached his office which is about 40 mins away and he has some important meetings to attend. Like I said he is a nice guy, unlike me, who would have definitely shouted something like "can you deal with it? this might not have happened if you took better care of your car". Anyway after the call, I decide to step out of the car and wave people around me. I put the hood up to indicate to people that the car is dead and not going anywhere. While I stand there and give sad smiles to people driving by, a cop car comes and for once I was happy to see the officer. He asks me to put the hood down, get in and put the car to neutral and steer it so he can push it across the traffic intersection and to the side of the road. In under a minute we were nicely parked on the side of the road. He then jump-starts the car and says it could probably live till I went home or to a mechanic. I get out of the car to thank the officer and before I know it I press the automatic lock button on the door and close the door, with the key still inside and the car still running. My brain hasn't registered what I just did although I did feel it short-circuit and send a "you moron" alarm out. But I still haven't fully realized it yet, so I just smile at the officer and thank him and he is on his way. Only after he has sped away do I realize that I'm locked out of my car, and the car is still running and might go dead anytime. I call the GI again and sheepishly tell him what I had done. He again says calmly, "OK, I'm coming" redeeming himself of all his faults by this act of calmness. *Smart guy!* I just stand there and wait and thank God that the Scout is safe at the daycare and not sitting inside the locked car. The GI comes and makes some joke about my stupidity. I bear with it as he has the spare key to my car and he opens the door. The car is dead but he jump-starts it again and says the battery had a loose contact. He tightens it in like 10 seconds and says the car should be good to go. He teaches me how to tighten it if it becomes loose again. No rocket science that. I smite my fore-head and decide to relinquish my engineering degree. Like I said, some days are meant to teach you many a lessons including ones like I couldawouldashoulda kissed the GI in the middle of the road... :)