What I wouldn't give for a capful of cherry flavored Nyquil right about now. I am finished up the third day of an absolutely miserable cold and, aside from my nose being all chapped (Pidgeon over Shabbos declared that I looked like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) and I'm dry as a bone, I haven't slept well at all! I hate breathing through my mouth and so, for the past two nights, I kept dozing off only to wake up because I felt like I was suffocating.
I had planned on cooking for Shabbos Thursday afternoon but, while we were picking up some baby scissors and other toiletries at Mozezim in Talpiot, my mother-in-law called and invited us to Ashkelon for Shabbos. I jumped at the invitation and, Friday afternoon after a short morning interview for work, we were on the road.
I love going to Ashkelon in the fall/winter. It's just beautiful to be on the beach with the balmy weather and the low-humidity. The summer is just too hot to for us in Ashkelon and, while I enjoy the pool, it's much more pleasant for me to be there when it's cooler. Unfortunately, I was pretty miserable with my cold, so I couldn't really take advantage of the scenery. Had I been feeling better, I would have gone with Pidgeon for a nice, long walk on the boardwalk. I was surprised to see some people actually taking a dip in the Ocean over Shabbos, but with the sun out the weather was really nice and warm.
Since I was feeling so gross, Pidgeon hurried us up after Shabbos so we could hit the road back to Jerusalem early. While we were near Shaar Hagay, there was an accident with two buses and the police blocked one of the three lanes. We were already in the left lane, and Pidgeon was courteous to let cars in the right lane merge into ours so that traffic could flow nicely.
Suddenly, Egged bus #417 decided to speed up and merge into our lane. Pidgeon put on the brakes to let the huge bus go through but the driver wasn't paying attention to his spacing and all of a sudden we hear this huge CRUNCH and the car starts to rock. The freaking BUS hit us! Pidgeon sat on the horn but the bus just kept going and when we drove up to the driver's side window, the driver just put the pedal to the metal and kept going. He didn't even pull over to assess the damage!
Well, I always carry a pad and pen in my purse so I wrote down the time, bus number, license plate number and we called Egged. The woman told us what numbers to call to report damages and I was just seething.
People, this was my side of the car. This was right outside of my door. This stupid driver was in such a rush to go from Ramat Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem? Seriously, what was the big emergency that he should be so reckless with his driving? Pidgeon was furious and it wasn't until we got home that we could assess the damage. The entire paint on the right side of car, right above the tires, is scatched and almost gone. There is even green paint from the Egged bus now on our car - so calling all CSI's to come by and scrape off proof of the accident.
We are now dealing with our insurance agency and on Wednesday, Pidgeon has to take the car into the garage to see how much damage we have on the car. I am not paying one red cent. And, what's worse, is that I want the driver of bus #417 to be reprimanded and to take responsibility for what he did to our car!
I guess I should look on the bright side. B"H, neither one of us was hurt. But still, how many times do I need to write on this blog how reckless drivers in this country are? And people wonder why I haven't jumped behind the wheel of our car. It's not because I doubt my driving abilities, it's because I don't have faith in anyone elses in this Country.
We could avoid so many accidents and deaths if Israelis would just be more careful with their driving.
Come on people, so many other factors against our survival exists. Why should we do this to ourselves?
Be careful on the roads everyone!
Layla Tov from Baka!
No comments:
Post a Comment