So, if you follow me on Twitter you might be aware that this morning I got caught up in a police chase on our street.

(Actually, not a lot of people follow me on Twitter, because I had banned myself until this week. I was getting a sore finger from hitting the refresh button. But now I am back, with Tweetdeck and shake updates enabled, and will try not to get too obsessive so that I don’t have to go cold turkey again. Moving on…)

You have probably gathered by now that we live in a very quiet suburban neighborhood. It’s a nice neighborhood. It has trees and people are always out jogging and walking their dogs. Neighbors know each other but not so well it becomes a nuisance. You know the drill.

And, being as this is suburban Houston, we know not what crime is. The last time I saw a police car on our street was when someone moved into the street and found one of his newly installed path lamps on its side one morning. He was convinced it was vandalism but it was probably someone else’s dog. Or the fact that he paid about 2c to have the lamps installed.

Which is why I was surprised to see a Sheriffs truck parked up on the way home from the supermarket today. I actually briefly contemplated stopping to ask if we should be concerned about the note someone stuck on the community mailbox about thefts happening from surrounding yards.

I didn’t, but only because I didn’t know what to call him. I have never talked to a policeman in the US and I have heard you are supposed to call them “officer” but I suddenly thought what if he was actually The Sheriff or something and he got mad at me addressing him as a lowly officer? Maybe I was supposed to call him Sheriff? I haven’t had this problem anywhere else I have lived. You can be rude to police officers overseas and just call them nothing. Or call them something if you want, something really rude and they can’t do anything about it. Here in Texas I am pretty sure that would land my butt in jail and not a salubrious one at that.

I know, this story is progressing rather slowly isn’t it. This is actually what it is like listening to me in real life. The Daddy  has been caught banging his head on the table and yelling “Get to the Point!” on many an occasion.

So I continue to the intersection with my street. It’s a four way stop. And there, at the stop sign opposite me, is another cop car. He has right of way and he isn’t moving. First, I think “Well, what are the odds? Two police cars in one day!” . Next, I think “Entrapment?”. He still doesn’t move so I decide to look all ways very very carefully so that it will be super evident to him that I am a careful driver who is looking very carefully and I didn’t take his turn because I didn’t see him, but because he was so damn slow.

(Do I sound suspicious? It’s because it has happened to me. An attempt at making me drive too fast by policemen in an unmarked car. In another country. I won’t say which. But one you would assume was civilized. Now please stop banging your head on that table.)

I looked right and down the road was another police car.

It’s lucky I stopped because suddenly we were surrounded by police cars. A  blue car with a desperate looking man at the wheel skidded past me into the intersection and disappeared, trailed by all the sheriffmobiles with lights flashing.

IN OUR STREET.

And then we drove the 300 feet home and I took some photos and video of the TV helicopter hovering over our yard and unloaded the groceries while the children jumped up and down and waved. Our street came alive with more people than is healthy in 95 degree heat. People with cameras, people riding bikes, people casually driving up and down the road pretending to be going somewhere.  There was a rumor that the man had bailed and was running around back yards…

Which made it so so clever of all of us to be out there having a street party. But I joined in the festivities, because I am not above watching Cops once in a while, and my money was on a police stop just up from where I had seen him.

Now we are waiting to see if we make the evening news.

Which is a bit of a bummer because now I will have to actually watch the evening news.

Now, for anyone who is concerned about our shooting last week, I would like to stress that the shooter was a neighbor’s kid, and he was actually aiming not at our house but at his friend’s backside. No harm done! He was just getting in some practice for the Darwin Awards!

Yes I know, it seems improbable. A shooting and a police chase in the same month! In this neck of the woods…

But we don’t feel like we have to pack up and leave just yet