Working for a better tomorrow

I needed to put petrol in my car so I drove to the filling station in Temple Fortune and instead of going back on my route I ventured on a detour via Hampstead Way. (Coffee consumption hadn't taken place just yet).

There, I noted a car that had ended up on the grass verge and an elderly gentleman was next to it looking rather anxious. It was quite obvious that it was his car and I thought maybe he had lost control and veered the vehicle 'off road'.

I pondered and looked to see if there was any other forthcoming help - a very British attribute - but nonetheless a cautious one. I recalled Starsky, as in Starsky and Hutch, and wondered what he would have done in this situation. Luckily he had his side kick to help him - who did I have?

I quickly forgot about being morose, I parked my car - and wandered towards the man. I asked him if he needed some help. He was delighted that someone had bothered to stop. He explained that he had reversed and managed to end up on the verge and just couldn’t get his car out of it. I failed to tell him that as I was female - and I although I did once own a pair of dungarees and DMs (It was fashionable at the time) - I lacked much car mechanical expertise.

However, he agreed with me that I had to get hold of some burly strong men to sort out the situation, and I thought I could manage that!

The first car I hailed down was of course a Volvo and I could see the outline of a male head. He got out and he was the skinniest Yeshiva Bocha I had ever seen, decorated with bunches of keys and at least two mobile phones and a pager hanging from his belt. Tzizit flaying he got into the man’s car and instead of switching the ignition on he managed to tune in to Radio 2 – Woman’s Hour.

He then tried to push the car out of the ditch but it wasn't budging. I then decided to pursue my quest. Yankel, the young boy's name, wanted to get in on the act but despite his 'charm' no driver was going to stop for him.

I hailed down two Polish men in a white van, rather than just a man in a white van, who knew what they were doing. They instructed me that they needed more men. I was wondering at this point whether to help them push but decided that feminism wasn't 'de rigueur' on a Tuesday afternoon and it was much more fun to watch.

I ran, well walked, the street and picked up a rather delicious Asian man and then stopped a South Korean ambulance driver who was escorting a sprightly 95 year old. He gestured to me that his patient was in the back and for a moment I thought he was suggesting that she could help push the car - so I smiled and said something like that I didn't think it was such a good idea as Barnet Health Authority wouldn't be too pleased. Then he rolled down the window and explained that as she was in the back of his ambulance he had to get her home. Shame.

Last, but not least, I found a rather reluctant African man who was smoking something that made me feel a bit light headed later on - and boy did he huff and puff to get that car out of the ditch.

So imagine this, an Asian, an orthodox Jew, two Poles, an African and an elderly South African - pushing this car out of a ditch. It was a moment where all cultures were aiming to achieve a common purpose....they might have been riddled with guilt if they hadn't. And that's it. You see, those experiments from the 1960s are true to this very day. If someone is in distress and there are plenty of people around no one stops to help – unless you ask them.

I felt very self righteous on my way home but I also thought what would have been the ‘Hollywood ending’. Would our heroine have paired up with the African smoking man? Or would the elderly South African man have invited her to his home for a cup of tea and a Jammy Dodger. Well the ending was quite simple. The 'man on the verge' said ‘thanks’ and we all went our separate ways. This is Golders Green after all. A mediocre ending to what was a nearly amusing incident.