Curve Ball!
A few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic caused all of our countries to react I was driving a hire car in the beautiful state of Texas on my way from an airport to a hotel.
I was on a highway with 4 lanes in each direction and I was in one of the middle 2 lanes following a large truck with cars both sides and behind me when a rear tyre on the truck in front burst and shredded sending a large piece of tyre straight at me.
Now I am an experienced driver (for that you can read getting on in years) so I did not panic but in a second reviewed my options, but penned in as I was, I took what I thought was the safest option by slowing down gently to give the driver behind time to react.
I knew in doing this that the tyre was going to impact the front of my car so I braced for the impact, now I was a little lucky in that the tyre was coming down when it hit me so it impacted the front of the car low down and was forced under it . I then slowly moved over and left the highway at the next exit with a grating noise coming from the front of the car.
On inspection the collision had loosened the front section of the car and the front spoiler was dragging on the ground, I did what I could to reattach it and completed my drive to the hotel without getting back on the highway.
I was actually very lucky that on that occasion I was with one of my colleagues Daniel and he helped me to better secure the front of the car with the help of almost a whole role of duck tape!
Unfortunately the only colour we could get at the local hardware store was bright orange!
I do regret not taking a picture of the finished article as it was quite a sight.
It just shows you that you can never be sure what is around the corner.
I wish you and your loved ones health, happiness and not too many surprises, stay safe.
Simon
- Share this:
- More news:
-
Merida – A city with a rich Roman heritage
Despite COVID and all its issues I was able to drive to the city of Merida in the region of Extremadura in Western Spain. It is about 400kn North West of Malaga not too far from the Portuguese border. I stayed in a hotel in the centre – the chain is well known for converting Convents and Castles into good hotels, they were fastidious about cleaning and social distancing. The food was good as well.
-
School of Athens
I was probably 13 when I read my first philosophy book, Candide written by Voltaire… since then I’ve read around 200 books, Friedrich Nietzsche being my favorite.