Unlucky trucks and rubber-neckers

Posted on July 22, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Irony Anyone? | 4 Comments

This Thursday on the way home from work, I experienced a massive slow-down on the free way. Now, normally, this might not be so odd as traffic picks up after 2:30 but the past 2 weeks have been school holidays and the traffic has been light both ways.

I crawled along wondering what the hold-up was. Perhaps a car broke down and they needed to close a lane? Maybe some debris fell off a truck and was causing a bit of havoc. Well, finally the knot loosened up and I proceeded off the free way at my usual exit getting only a glimpse of something happening up ahead - ambulances and police etc..
Upon getting home, Brian asks me if I saw the accident.

“Not really,” I replied, “How bad was it?”

As it turns out, a little white Commodore lost control on the south-bound side of the Mitchell free way and the 18-wheeler truck behind it trying desperately not to hit the little car, jack-knifed, slammed into the car and tipped over spilling it’s contents everywhere and ending up blocking all three lanes and crashing into the centre of the free way blocking the train as well.  The free way was blocked for hours and people were turning around and going back up the on ramp. Train serviced stopped for several hours as well as they cleaned the debris off the track.  So, the slow down on my side was simply people slowing down to gawk at the wreckage. The man in the white car suffered a broken arm and some scrapes. The truck driver was shaken but unharmed. WHEW! Could have been so much worse.

This Friday on the way home from work, I experienced a massive slow-down on the free way…are we picking up a pattern here?

As I once again, crawled towards my exit, I was stumped a to what it could possibly be this time. Just before I got off, I saw ANOTHER truck on it’s side, broken, smashed cars everywhere. They were totalled. I thought to myself that there was NO WAY people had survived that. Police and ambulance workers buzzed all over the place. Again, it was on the other side of the free way and the delays on my side was from rubber-neckers alone.

After watching the news (again), I discovered (to my relief and slight embarrassment) that the truck driver had tried to turn too hard in the rain and had tipped over the massive 18-wheeler, spilling it’s contents of crushed cars all over the road. So, no fatalities or even big injuries. Just another shaken driver and a bunch of car shells going to be recycled. WHEW! (again)

How odd is that? Twice in two days, huge trucks tipping over and causing hours and hours of delay in virtually the same spot?? Each incident happened within a few hundred metres of the other.

Must be something in the air….roll on spring!

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Decisions, decisons..

Posted on July 22, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under | 4 Comments

I had forgotten exactly how many different themes there were out there! It’s so hard to choose just one. Then, when you DO manage to choose one that suits you…it doesn’t work! That, or it doesn’t offer all of the options that you require and you must “make do.”

I am slowly narrowing down the options and getting what I want out of a theme.

*Note to self* Must remember to blog about truck accidents last week

I will get around to it. In the meantime… back to the drawing board.

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Just testing

Posted on July 20, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under | 2 Comments

For those of you who may pop in this weekend, I’m playing around with my theme so it may change frequently, abruptly and there may be content that doesn’t work from time to time…

Truth be told, I’m just bored of my old theme. Feel free to let me know which ones YOU like and which ones…well.. suck.

Ta!

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Road Rage

Posted on July 11, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness | 2 Comments

I was watching a news show the other day when a story came up that I found hard to believe. The interview was with a woman who had been the victim of road rage. I must admit, when I hear the term “road rage” I automatically think of places like New York City or Los Angeles or some other fast-driving, aggressive city. First, the story…

This woman was entering the free way with her baby son in a car seat in the back. She merged into the next lane (thereby getting out of the exiting lane) and the driver coming up behind her threw a fit. He pulled up beside her and shouted abuse while gesturing emphatically. Obviously, this was not enough to get across that he felt she’d cut him off, so he then proceeded to pull ahead of her, cut her off in her lane, then SLAM on his brakes forcing her to do the same. She lost control of her car, which bashed into the side wall and then rolled twice leaving her and her son dangling upside down in the car. She managed to get free but could not remove her baby until help arrived a few minutes later.

The driver of the other car, who MUST have seen the whole thing in his rear-view mirror, sped off and to my knowledge, has not yet been caught.

The woman suffered a broken collar bone, ripped off three of her nails and lost her pinky finger. The baby, thankfully, was unharmed.

Now, this is the part that freaked me out a bit. This all happened about 2 exits from where I get on and off the free way everyday to go to work. Yep, good old Perth. Sleepy little Perth. Easy going, beach loving, surfer-style, laid back PERTH. Impossible! And yet, it happened.

I’ve never even had anyone flip me off before, much less abuse me or attempt to “get even” however, this brings me to my next worry. How many people are capable are this? And more importantly, could I be capable of such heinous behaviour?

I must admit, I really hate being behind a slow-poke. I cannot stand it when people don’t indicate and I loathe when people come screaming around blind corners of the car park in MY lane! I do an awful lot of muttering to myself and even talk to the other driver under my breath.

“Ok, where you going, buddy? Oh, you ARE turning right! Thanks for indicating, Mate! Sheeeeeesh!”

“Oi! Speedy, where’s the fire?”

“Move over Grampa, 60 in and 80 zone for crying out loud. The left lane is for slow-pokes.”

I also find myself saying, “You stay in your lane, and I’ll stay in mine,” an awful lot. This seems to amuse the kids to no end.

Does this mean there are a lot of bad driver’s about, or am I just too impatient? I certainly can’t imagine being bold enough to give someone the finger, much less yell at them, but I suppose I’m not a very confrontational person. This convinces me that I just don’t have it in me to be on the giving end of a road rage incident but that’s not going to stop someone else from abusing me!

Guess I’d better make sure I’m a good middling driver. Not too slow, not too fast, don’t cut people off no matter how desperate you are to change lanes, stay in your own lane, don’t cut corners, always indicate and for goodness sake, don’t make eye contact!

I’m muttering already…

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What a Monday!

Posted on July 3, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under | 4 Comments

I had a great start to my week yesterday. After having a relatively sleepless night because a certain puppy felt the need to go toilet at 2am and then decided that a wander around the backyard was in order, I rushed through my morning routine in a bit of haze, barely even getting a sip of my coffee.

After a weekend of torrential rain and wind, the roads were full of broken tree limbs and driving was a bit like doing an obstacle course…until I reached the freeway that is. For all you Canadians out there, Australians respond to rain in Perth the way Torontonians respond to snow. Badly. Of course, I’ve never seen it rain as hard as it does here and visibility is very limited but even after the rain, traffic is still slowed to a crawl, which on the freeway means I sat on the Mitchell car park for over 40 minutes.

After finally arriving in the city, the car park I use daily was almost full, forcing me to park on the 9th level. I, of course, head for the lift to go down to street level. after about 10 seconds in the lift, my stomach flies into my throat and a very nasty grating noise fills the air as we plummet about 5 floors. Myself and the two women in there with me laugh nervously as the free fall ends and we slow to a halt.

Somewhere between the second and third floors.

After trying fruitlessly to open the doors or get the elevator going again, we decide to ring the alarm for help. About five minutes later we get a reply.

“A mechanic is on his way. It’ll be about half and hour.”

“!!???!!”

So we sit, making little jokes about the movie Speed and wishing we all had a coffee. (I’m really hanging out for a coffee now…remember, I only got a sip at home.) I call Brian and my boss to advise them of my situation and they both laugh at me… great.

Over 30 minutes later, the lift drops really quickly the last two floors and the doors open and start to close again really quickly. We throw ourselves in the way to keep them open and climb over the foot or so gap between the floor of the lift and the ground.

Off to work I go. Upon arrival I get waylaid by “A” who is in a rush to leave and needs me to take care of some stuff for her, before I finally get to the kitchen to make my coffee. I turn the water on and…nothing.

The water has been shut off as the people working on the office upstairs have caused damage to a valve or something. ARGHHHHHHHHHH!

“N” (my boss) suggests that if I were brave enough, I could go across the street to DOME and get us both a coffee and a muffin there. (Remember, still raining and blowing a gale.)

My desperate need for caffeine overrides my common sense and I agree, borrowing A’s Mercedes umbrella as I had forgotten mine. Her pride and joy apparently.

On exiting the building, I promptly open said umbrella which immediately flips itself backwards in the wind. *sigh* A kind passer-by helped me to right it thank goodness because the lack of caffeine in my bloodstream and the events of the morning are making me feel kind of woozy and a little like sitting down and crying.

I did get the coffee and a blueberry danish (for the blood sugar, you know) and thankfully, the rest of the day passed pretty much uneventfully with the exception of driving home in a hurricane (OK, but it FELT like one.)

On the bright side… it was payday. :D

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