Kissed！

Our ill-fated car has been 'kissed' by other vehicles from (1) the front, (2) the rear and (3) the left. Didn't have any problems of this nature with my previous cars, so it beats me why it is that other automobiles have such a high affinity to this particular poor Nissan Latio?

The latest incident happened just this morning, during the really short trip from our residence to MIL's, which is located just a few blocks away on the same street. We were turning from the main road into the access road for the flat clusters, there was this Toyota minibus ahead of us. Angie remarked that the bus ferried students from some special school, probably on its way to pick up more students. Once into the access road, that minibus veered left into a road pocket which is sort of a drop off point, presumably the pickup area. Naturally, I proceeded ahead. That was when it happened. For reasons unknown, the minibus didn't stop. It went ahead and swerved back onto the access road just as our car was passing by. I blasted my horn but it was too late. There was a heart-wrenching screech as the front of the minibus impacted onto the front passenger side of my car, just a wee bit ahead of where Angie was seated, with little Jaimie on her lap.

My heart sank. First thing that flashed across my mind was "Why so sway huh?? This is the third time in the one-and-a-half-years that this car has been on the road that others have slammed into it. I took a deep breath, opened the door and got out, expecting to find an apologetic driver, exchange some particulars and then be each on our ways.

Boy was I wrong.

He was the one to speak first. A slim, tanned man in his fifties, the first thing out of his old stinky mouth was:

"Eh, 我要停在这边then你这样驾过来..."

That was it. Mr Hyde was standing there in the place of Dr Jackell. I didn't even have time to take another breath before I heard myself blasting out:

"喂!！你这是什么意思！？你敢他妈的恶人先告状！？"

I think he didn't expect that kinda outburst from me, so for a moment he appeared a little stunned. Then he promptly recomposed himself and retorted:

"喂！你说什么他妈的？！你这种读书人怎么可以骂粗话？！我是没有受教育的。你戴眼镜的还讲什么他妈的？!" (Wah like dat oso can ah??)

And the dispute went on and on, revolving on one end around how the party obviously in the wrong could still point the finger at the innocent victim, and how a bespectacled "读书人" can utter profanity on the other. It was a frakking ugly scene, attracting its fair share of busybody onlookers.

Anyhows, our vehicles were blocking incoming traffic, so just when the argument proceeded to the point where I was demanding that he show me his driver's liscence or NRIC, which he was refusing to do ("不用IC的啦! 这个是公司车来的！"), a man in his thirties appeared, presumably one of the drivers that was blocked by us.

"I think you all don't need to argue further. Just exchange your drivers' liscence so you all can file reports."

I turned and glanced triumphantly at the minibus driver, while shoving my NRIC into his face. With a third party now speaking up against him, he has no choice but to hand over his ID card. Angie helped me take down the particulars.

It was only then that I became sufficiently collected to realise that my MIL had also arrived at the scene, and was carrying Jaimie in her arms. The little one appeared calm and was just gazing intently at the commotion. I guess she must be thinking why was it that Papa, who had always told her "Not so loud. Softer, ok?", was then shouting to another uncle so bloody loudly.

*Sigh* Yes, I totally lost my cool. My bad.

And it was even later, when we departed from the scene, that I calmed down even further and realised that despite the unfortunate turn of events, the saving grace was that nobody was hurt physically. The students onboard the minibus were fine, and so were my girls. The slow speeds of the vehicles helped prevent the consequence of this accident from being something worse. Much, much worse. I shudder just to think of what could have happened if the impact had been stronger.

For that alone, I shall remain forever grateful to my lucky stars.

Oh, I am now driving a courtesy car from the workshop. It's a purplish (yeesh) Nissan Sunny. What is the car plate number, you ask? Well, its the same number as the 头奖 for this coming weekend's 4D, hahaha!

大难不死，必有后福。Right?