You never really know how close you are to death until after you
have escaped it or until, you are well, dead. I never felt it while I was
driving today, although I was chanting prayers throughout the journey to and
fro Kudat today. I wasn't feeling very confident of subjecting my car to the
3-hour drive on the unexpected roads and traffic of the Sabah outskirts since
the flood incident. My car is just never the same again and I have lost
confidence and a sense of security in it. It has, after all, been through a
helluva flood and damage.
But two of my best friends came and I really wanted to bring them
around Kudat to experience the culture and lifestyle of the local people there.
During the journey there, my car just went all weird (don't know the technical term
for it). It started to jerk and lose power all of a sudden, as if the battery
had suddenly gone dead. Initially, I thought it was because of the car battery
as the batt light always came on during these episodes of car 'fits'. Not only
that, the scary thing was, when that happened, my brake became all weird as
well, it kinda lost its grip and I thought then and there that my time must be
up. The steering wheel would became quite rigid as well. I had no idea when
these fits would occur. Just when I thought all was well and started
accelerating, it would occur again. To make matters worse, on my way back, I
was still 2 hours away from KK when the sky turned dark. I was driving my
fitful car in the dark on dangerous, uneven, landslide-prone roads.
Thinking about it now gives me the chills. I was that close to
death. I am exaggerating, you say. Maybe, maybe not. There were so many times
when I could have met with an accident. But I didn’t. I arrived at Kudat and
then back in KK safely. This may not be those hair-raising testimonies that you
hear but it is for me. God kept us (my friends and I) safe. He kept us in that
bubble of protection where no harm could come our way.
I am also incredibly regretful and sorry to have put my friends in
danger- 2 of my oldest friends, Lynn and Bee and the 2 Caucasian
backpackers, whom I gave a lift to, as well as my best buddies here, Chand and
Nad. Chand and Nad purposely waited for me for 2 hours to accompany me on the
drive back when they could have gone back in the SPU bus. If anything were to
happen to anyone of them, it would be nobody's fault but mine. *shudder* Let's
hope I won't get nightmares tonight.
After consulting a few people, they all thought that the problem
was probably due to some fuse or circuit problem. Sigh... I love my car but I
don't feel good driving it now...don't feel safe, secure and confident driving
it...I don't speak cars but I know the flood must have damaged it badly. It's
like when a person has epilepsy. You don't know when the fits are going to
occur. There may be precipitating factors or some premonition before a fit in
epilepsy but there may also be none. The fits can occur anytime, anywhere. I
feel like that with my car. :(
No comments:
Post a Comment