My first breathalyzer!

We were coming back from Germany today and stopped at the rest stop in Spy. (Don't bother trying to be cute about this, Pop. We've already made all the jokes. Besides, it's pronounced "spee" in French, which is far less interesting.) As we were leaving, a gang of Belgian policemen waved me over to the side of the parking lot. After checking my license and registration (the first time anyone has asked to see my Belgian license!) the officer assigned to me asked if I had had anything alcoholic to drink. "Yes, officer. I had a cup of glühwein at the Christmas market in Cologne this morning." Only I said it in French, where glühwein is vin chaud, meaning hot wine. "No problem," he said--in fake English. I had to blow into the thing and passed. They wandered off with my license and registration to make a note of it for their stats, then we were on our way.

It's a good thing it wasn't a grease-alyzer, though. That I would have flunked big time. I had, after all, been to a German Christmas market.