The Locomotion!

I just thought I'd do a public service announcement, or PSA, to promote the continent with the nicest people on the planet--Australia! I should probably start by thanking the late Matthew Flinders who not only was the first to navigate that beautiful continent, but he also named it "Australia"--what a name! Without him--we may never have come to know and love some of the most famous Australians--like--Ned Kelly, Mic Dundee!, Mel Gibson, Slim Dusty, and of course--Kylie Minogue-whose 1988 remake of "The Locomotion" changed dance styles forever! I know you're singing that great tune in your head right now. I like to think of that song as a happy place, although it'll stay in your head for about 4 days! That's how long it's been in mine--since Misty and I met our nice Australian auto man Tuesday. As soon as he spoke I started singing (in my head)..."dooo the locomotion with me--you gotta sway your hips now---come on baby"... you get the idea. So you're probably wondering what brought this mysterious Camry driving Australian into our lives--well, it was Misty's inability to close her back door/hatch! :-) We met to shop and hang out for a couple of hours Tuesday, and when the kids informed us it was time to leave--by behaving like they were REALLY having a great time--we decided to pack it in and go home. The Sequoia had other plans! Once Misty maneuvered her way into the back of her SUV by crawling over seats because we couldn't open the back door!--only to discover there were no jumper cables, but she did have a very nice roadside blanket--we decided we could handle this. After all, we were in front of Target who happens to sell the item we needed. I pulled my car in beside hers and we decided to pop the hoods and take a look. ENTER our Australian auto man. We're assuming that he, like everyone else who saw us gazing under the hoods, felt sorry for the prego lady with a 3year old hanging out of her car window and for the mom with twins hanging out in their stroller in the one shady spot we could find!
He asked Misty to try and start it (like we hadn't tried that, we just wanted to see if Toyota was making HEMI's!), and he also decided YEP it must be the battery. We didn't really need him for that, but when Misty got back with the cables we realized we had never done this and weren't exactly sure where things went. I think this made him feel great--he stepped right in and hooked the cables to our cars and watched as the 4Runner brought the Sequoia back to life! (Just so you know, the cables are color-coded black & red and hook to the matching black & red thingies on the battery--always good to know!) He was super nice and was indeed the only of the "concerned" bystanders that offered us help. So--THANK YOU--Australian auto man. You are now ranked with Mel and Kylie in my top 3 Australians!