Keep calm & stay in touch

Around 1 a.m., I woke up because my mobile phone lit up the bedroom. I had been bugged by spam calls lately, so I was annoyed and rejected the call. They called again, with the same response.

As my brain woke up and slowly shifted into gear, I wondered why spammers would bother me in the middle of the night. I checked my phone and recognized our area code. That was different from the usual spam calls.

To avoid waking my wife, I got out of bed and went into the next room to investigate. I searched for the phone number and found it belonged to the regional policy emergency center.

That woke me up.

I called them back but got an automatic answering machine. At least it confirmed that this was no spam call. Or they were really good. While listening to the answering machine, I got a call from a mobile number which I initially ignored, still puzzled. When I called the mobile number back, there was no answer. I wondered what was happening, anxious to figure out how to proceed.

Then the mobile number rang again, and this time I answered it.

A Dutch police officer introduced himself and told me that my car had been found under suspicious circumstances in a town 45 kilometers away from our hometown. Some youngsters at a local hangout spot had observed two men abandoning the vehicle, the motor still running. I asked for more details, but the officer provided very little information, as if he wanted to hear me out. But I was confused and wondered if this could be some kind of prank.

I could hardly help out because, at that moment, we were on holiday in Greece, over 2500 kilometers away from home. I explained that my son was borrowing our car during our holiday and that he might be able to shed some light on this mysterious case. I provided my son's mobile number and, after hanging up, immediately called him to check how he was doing. Luckily, he answered instantly, and I was relieved to hear his voice. I explained the situation and that he was about to receive a phone call from the police. He told me he had parked the car at a local train station earlier that evening. We quickly ended our call so the police could reach him on his mobile.

To verify everything was in order, we continued exchanging messages. We kept calm, waiting for the story to unfold and knowing we could only take it from there.

Long story short: after the police called my son, they picked him up and drove him to the abandoned car because he still had the keys. It seemed that some folks had spotted my car in the deserted parking lot and taken it for a joy ride. Luckily, they hadn't caused any damage and abandoned the vehicle somewhere. My son drove my car back to his place and parked it in a paid parking garage this time.

Valuable lessons from this story:

• unsolicited phone calls can seem annoying but may be helpful
• youngsters at hangouts can seem apathetic but may be attentive
• holding back information restricts open communication
• when you are extremely alert, it becomes hard to trust others
• if you have the keys, you might not have the car
• the further away you are, the less it matters to get upset
• there is no such thing as free parking

Which valuable lessons have you learned lately?

Take care and till next time!

Kind regards,

Herman / Scrumpy Dad

I inspire people to create more happiness in their lives and improve the world around them.??

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