Look out it's the popo!

I totally got pulled over today by the turkish police (again)!

Wait...let me back up a bit and throw a little expositional info at you. I drive in Istanbul, along with the other 12 million inhabitants of this city. However, unlike the other 12 million, I obey traffic laws. The manuevers these people pull in their cars...lets just say I have a mini stroke every time I am behind the wheel. Which brings me to my next point. I drive a British car. So in other words, I've been driving around this city on the wrong side of the car. They gave me the option of driving either the car with the stick shift or the car with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Yeah, I'll admit it, I don't know how to drive a stick shift, so I opted to learn how to drive from the passenger seat. Lastly, the car I drive has a special type of liscense plate number, one that makes the driver confident that when the police see said special number, they'll wave you right on. That is, unless you happen to be driving on the wrong side of the car.

Ok, back to the story. The police always have a road stop set up at this one underpass on my route to and from the girls' nursery. I have passed it, I don't know how many times since I've been driving here. The first time I got pulled over, we were on our way home from picking up Ruby and there they were. And they were letting some people pass and pulling others over. And suddenly this portly officer starts waving at me to pull over. I am in shock. But I manage to pull over and that's when they see it's a british car, and the officer asks, Do you speak turkish? And I sort of laughed (in a flirty manner if you will) and said, No. Then he asks, English? And I smile my biggest smile and say, Yes. And he smiled and laughed and waved at me to go. I've never felt so relieved in all my life. Plus, as I was driving away, he saluted us and the girls waved at him.

I assumed that after my brush with the authorities, I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. Wrong! Today, exact same place, we get waved over to stop. Lo and behold, it's the same portly officer as last time. Why is this man pulling me over again? is the thought racing through my mind. Answer: He waved me over so that he could show the other officers (all of whom looked to be 12 years old) the British drivers side car. And I let him. You pretty much do anything for a man carrying a semi-automatic weapon. After a couple minutes of them inspecting the drivers side, my portly officer thanked me and sent us on our way.

Yeah.