On Christmas evening at around 10pm, we were driving home from an xmas get together with relatives. While on Point Pleasant Pike (between Rt 413 and Wismer) our vehicle went dead. The section of road that it died on is two lane, no passing, 50 mph speed limit and no shoulder to pull off on. All efforts to ressurrect ol' bessie were to no avail. She simply wasn’t going to budge. We had the vehicle stuffed with family, food, gifts and our trusted canine. After coaxing the cell phone to sputter out an SOS (on a cell battery that had been on all day), we finally reached family and a local towing company. During the 60 minute wait for assistance, maybe 65 cars passed our dead vehicle (stalled in the middle of the east bound lane). Now, it's Christmas eve on a lonely stretch of country road and maybe a three mile walk to the nearest pay phone. Out of the 65 or so cars that passed, three very nice folks stopped to see if we needed help. The rest just whished by at 50mph. After the tow truck arrived and we got back home, I got thinking . .
We were stuck in the middle of the road in an effluent section of Bucks County and only one in twenty people thought to stop and offer assistance to a family stranded on Christmas eve. A pretty bleak revelation in retrospect! Maybe if we'd been driving one of the late model BMW's that zoomed past us the numbers would have been different.
At any rate, it was an added slice of excitement to the evening. Presently, it's 4pm on the 25th and the first real snowfall on Christmas day (in years)  has arrived. Family, friends, work, food, shelter and a few kind strangers - what else could a person ask for! A happy and safe holiday to all.

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