Scribbling #13: The Day I Nearly Died. Again.

Well, maybe not died, but quite probably seriously hurt and/or crippled.

Yesterday, I was happily going about my own business driving to work (yes, I do have a day job, thank goodness) when several things happened. First, a few cars ahead of me, one guy decided to slow down and stop in order to turn right. No big deal. Except that the guy behind him left it a bit late and according to Slovak (mostly male) driving tradition (i.e. he was tailgating anyway) nearly meant that the second driver would be sharing boot (translation for Canadians and other exotic creatures: 'trunk') space with him. Then there was the driver behind him, who had to emergency stop. And then there was me, who checked my mirror, braked and found that no matter how hard I was pushing the pedal I would probably be sharing tea and biscuits with the Big Man Upstairs if I didn't do something. And then the little voice at the back of my head ordered me - very calmly due to the sudden rush of adrenaline - that I should turn to the left because there is no oncoming traffic. This was when I was on a blind corner...

Anyway.

I braked, I swerved, I scored.

And then there was the matter of the car behind me. Who swerved right and basically parked alongside me. Yes, he was tailgating me too. All this from 90 km/h to 0 in a space of seconds.

I knew someone was trying to tell me something earlier on when I saw a car that had rolled over on its side, with the (rather hairy) driver standing outside of it, nervously puffing away at his cigarette.

This whole escapade isn't all that uncommon here. Talking to people at work, that kind of situation does happen - some come out of it ok, sometimes not. On the other hand, there is a lot less traffic in Slovakia than in England and a lot less traffic in, say, Bucharest...

Ah, adventures...