So the point is it’s my lucky day, things go wrong but I still feel privileged beyond belief. The first incident is on the highway between here and there where the police lights are flashing at me. I’m in a hurry to get to a cleaning job but seriously eighty two – in an eighty zone? Oh well he’s only doing his job and look out, he’s coming my way. I take a breath, relax my mind and wind down the window.
“It’s okay,” he says as he eases closer, his not so shiny boots crunching on the wet gravel, “you were a little over the limit but not as much as the car up front.”
I peer in the direction of the red and blue upturned coffee cups balancing like miniature light houses at a disco on the top of his vehicle and sure enough there’s a car parked in front of his.
“Have a good day and drive safely,” I watch him go and I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding, look bewilderingly at my Clean Team side kick and regroup my faculties into driving mode.
Well that one is definitely going on my “Didn’t think I’d ever hear anyone say that” List. Incident two – the “could’ve electrocuted myself but survived situation mentioned in the previous blog post of Moving Day”
And lastly, the third incident, the car accident on the way to the next appointment at Fern Tree Tavern to organise a book Launch.
Shadows flit in and out of the trees as we wind our way up the narrow back road of Strickland Ave, still bathed in the glow and fumes of vinegar and soda from a cleaning job well done and topped up with bellies popping from the usual obligatory feel good feed the Minions Pizza. Bonus points – our arrival is perfectly timed to meet the Tavern manager and miss the lunchtime madness before the dinner guests arrive. It’s a popular place at any time, a catch up with friends, relax with a hot choccy after a bush walk or go the whole hog on their delightful dinner menu.
Sounds like an advert but it’s more like a knowing from the necessary research on my latest book, Mountain of Secrets. Yep this is where the party scene takes place, where friends meet family for the first time and we battle with those awkward moments of oversharing and under caring – perhaps trying to impress but remain chill at the same. I’m sure we’ve all been there. Back to topic. Car crash on Strickland. Didn’t see it coming, the accident that is – not the bus – the bus was big and looming. No way we didn’t see that coming, in fact we pulled over to a crawl and reduced to a stop as it maneuvered around a parked car on the opposite curb. We sat for a second wiping the stress from our brows and commenting on the fact that we were aware enough to see it coming. A victory short lived. What we didn’t see coming was the car, so distracted by the natural beauty of the kunanyi bush land surroundings, until he rammed us from behind. A complete surprise to both cars involved because as he said, he was looking out the side window at the time of the collision. But remember this is my lucky day and thankfully he has insurance. He no longer has a number plate and there’s a gaping hole the shape of my bike rack, in the front grill of his girlfriend’s daughters car, but let me say it again, lucky for us - he does have insurance.
My car’s instantly illegal with no back lighting and a dicky indicator, a boot that will neither open nor close but is just somehow caught in a twilight experience of being shut enough to see out the back like normal and open enough to have a constant beeping sound of “Caution – boot open” flash on, flash off, Caution boot open, flash on flash off – hit entry and repeat ad nauseam. All this in one day and still feeling the privilege of being a well fed, well supported, un-electrocuted, off with less than a warning, insured, unemployed writer without whiplash. And double, double bonus I now have more to write about. Isn’t life Great!
