It happened again.

Back in May, I wrote about how The Lovely Mrs. byoolin's trebuchet and I were carjacked by a little old lady who asked us - in a how can you refuse me, I'm just a little old lady kind of way - to take her to her bank.

It happened to us again. This time, we were going in the opposite direction on the same road, and there she was, stooping in wait.

"She's very aggressive," said The Lovely Mrs. byoolin's trebuchet as the woman approached. When she saw us, she started across the street in what I now realize was a game of Ride-or-Roadkill.

We stopped, not wanting the blood of a little old lady on our consciences, not to mention her faceprint in our windshield, and prepared to tell her we couldn't take her to the bank when she threw us a curve.

She asked to go to a different bank, one that was not out of our way. She clambered into the back seat and nattered for the three minutes it took us to get where she was going. We dropped her off in the parking lot and wished her luck with her return trip.

I would have liked to have parked across the street and watched as she tried to cross five lanes of traffic to catch a ride back home, but we had places to go. I'm sure we'll see her again; after all, Wheeling has more than two banks.

The Lovely Mrs. byoolin's trebuchet and I were carjacked by a little old lady earlier today.

We were driving home from the grocery store (a.k.a. "The Kroger") when a little old lady - height: five foot nothing, weight: a handful of dry leaves - stepped out onto the pavement of Edgwood [sic] Street and flagged us down.

My wife lowered her window as we pulled to a stop. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Would you happen to be going to or near the Chase Bank by the Exxon station?" the little old lady asked.

I started to say no, because we weren't, but The Lovely Mrs. byoolin's trebuchet remembered that she did, in fact, have to go to the bank and interrupted me to invite her to hop in.

She got in the car and sat in the back seat, alternating between gasping for breath and repeating to herself, "Marcella, Marcella." She explained the gasping as being something she does all the time whenever she exerts herself now but did not explain "Marcella." I assumed it was her name. She told us that today was the day her Social Security check gets deposited and that she had been waiting for the bus but thought the chances were good that someone going through the neighbourhood might be going to the bank.

I thought about warning her of the dangers of hitch-hiking but decided against it. What centenarian wants to be lectured on lifestyle choices by a forty-something whippersnapper, after all?

We had a lovely chat as we drove to the bank - my wife volunteered us to bring her back, too - and they both went in and did their business. We dropped off the little old lady and her wallet stuffed with Social Security cash in front of her house.

If anyone asks, that's the last time we saw her. Okay?

Julie, Your Cruise Director - one of the teachers at The Kid's high school - organizes a trip to Europe every year for students; this year's is to Madrid and Paris. We told The Kid we would spring for it as her graduation present and so she's one of about fifteen students going.

JYCD has held meetings every few weeks since last fall to prepare the students for their week abroad. For every meeting she provides a handout which is virtually identical to the handout provided at the previous one and which is only occasionally referred to for the rest of the meeting.

JYCD's favoured subjects of discussion are topics like: students on previous trips being robbed; fundraising; students on previous trips having wallets stolen; inappropriate clothing to wear while abroad; students on previous trips having cameras stolen; going out for tapas in Madrid; students on previous trips losing their money; and ways in which "those people" will figure out the group is American.

This evening's meeting was the second-last in the series, and since the students are expected to cover the costs of their meals and souvenirs, JYCD wanted to talk about money. She had several recommendations for the carrying of money in Europe.

After the standard recommendations - carry a mix of travelers' checks, cash and debit or credit cards, don't carry all of your money on your person, don't leave your purse unattended - she took questions.

"What should my child carry, then?" was the standard query. "Should it be all Euros?"

"If you want to," JYCD replied.

"How much in cash?"

"As much as you want to. But not too much."

"Well, how much in travelers' checks?"

"Some," she advised.

"In American dollars or Euros?"

"Whichever you'd prefer," JYCD advised. "But there's a fee to convert it over there. So you might want Euros. But then if you don't spend it all over there, they might not let you convert it back when you get back here."

"So it should be American dollars?"

"Well, then, some places will charge you a hefty fee to convert it there."

"So, Euros?"

"Maybe."

And what about actual Euros, or, as JYCD called the currency more than once, "their funny money"? (Presumably the funniest thing about it is that 1€ is worth about 35% more than $1 these days.) Where could they get some, and how much should each student carry?

JYCD told us that each student should give her $100USD, which she would convert to Euros at the airport.

"So $100?" asked one parent.

"Maybe."

One mom sitting near us asked her daughter if that meant she should give JYCD 100€ in travelers' checks, so that she could buy American cash and then convert it to Euro cash.

There then followed an extended discussion about the use of debit cards and credit cards. The woman who worked at Kroger said she called the numbers on the back of each of the pre-loaded credit cards carried by her store, and not one of them explicitly declared that their card would work in both Spain and France. Another said her bank told her their debit cards would work, but that she didn't believe them. Someone else said they'd heard that the US had declared Spain "a terrorist state" and wouldn't provide credit or debit cards for use there. And JYCD mentioned one student whose card didn't work once on the class trip seven years ago.

"So how much cash should we bring?" someone asked.

"As much as you want to. But not too much," she said. "One girl, a couple of years ago, put her purse down" - and JYCD indicated between her feet - "to take a picture, and someone took her wallet."

"So, we should use bank cards?" asked someone else.

Her assistant piped up. "When I lived there, I had a bank card that my bank swore would work, and when I got there it didn't. I panicked," she said, helpfully, "so just make sure you have something else, too."

"You mean like cash? Should we have US dollars or Euros? And how much?"

"Whichever you'd prefer," came the reply. "And as much as you want to. But not too much."