When I heard that one of my very closest friends had been
involved in a car accident, my first thought was to her well being and hoping
that she had not been hurt. Remembering back to when another dear friend of
Curious Adventures had a nasty bike crash some time ago, my fears for dear Jan
were somewhat serious. Fortunately Jan climbed from her ruined car almost
unscathed, a miracle for which we are thankful.
So once she was home safe and wine had been drunk, we
planned on how to retrieve the bits that she had been forced to leave in the
knackered car. So last Monday I got my bike out of the garage and picked up Jan
from her flat and we set out for the dealership that was assessing Jan’s car. After
an hour we admitted defeat and stopped, pulling over into a safe place where
Jan phoned the dealer. After a quick chat we rode home. The dealership had
relocated from Weston Super Mare to Bristol. The rain had soaked us both.
On Tuesday I had a day with another dear friend which
involved tasting Japanese fast food as a celebration of his Birthday. The
evening passed joyously and upon my return home I pondered a trip to Bristol the following morning with Jan. I
borrowed Carol’s Sat Nav unit and picked up Jan once again. This time we set
out for Bristol, heading down the A370 towards the motorway. As we exited
the roundabout and swooped into the sixty miles per hour speed limit I
accelerated my precious Sylvie and we tore down the road towards the next
roundabout, as our speed dropped we entered our lane and I brought the bike to
a halt at the roundabout and waited for a safe moment to pull out. As we pulled
away and curved into the corner the back tyre gave way and went completely
flat. I managed to stop the bike safely and Jan and I were forced to push the
bike to the safety of the side of the road.
Once parked safely in the supermarket car park, I phoned
our friends Steve and Sue of Bridge Motor Works and requested a pick up and
repair. Despite being swamped with work, Steve collected us in his fantastic
works truck and loaded Sylvie into the back of the truck. She was carefully
strapped down and Jan and I climbed into cab of Steve’s truck. We then unloaded
from the truck once we had got back to Steve and Sue’s workshop. Sylvie was sat
on a paddock stand and her back wheel removed, the hole was located and
worryingly it was almost too large to repair. However we were lucky and Steve
was able to patch us up. By the time we were ready to go again it had got too
late and so we retired for the evening.
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| Jackie the dog, Sue & Steve our rescuers. |
Thursday dawned bright and dry, so Jan and I decided to set
out once again. The injury to my shoulder was now horribly painful due to the
amount of exercise I had undertaken trying to ride my bike, so we decided to
take Jan’s van. The engine purred into life and we prepared to go. I stepped
out into the street and waved to Jan to back the van out. The gear box screamed
and growled as she tried to get it into gear. The van resolutely refused to
move, the clutch was completely unable to disengage the drive from the gear box
making it impossible to change or even engage a gear. Defeated once again, we
phoned Steve and Sue and arranged for the van to be picked up and repaired.
This was after I spent two hours trying to adjust the clutch cable which was at
the limit of its adjustment. That evening we retired to Scallys and played
cards.
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| They are good Folks at Bridge Motors. |
Friday dawned once again bright and sunny, a perfect spring
morning and I was just about able to climb out of bed and climb into my bike
gear. Jan was ready bright and early and finally we had run out of time, after
Friday the car would be taken away and crushed. So once again we pulled Sylvie
out of the garage, loaded up the tank bag and set off from Bristol. The pain in my arm, hand,
shoulder and neck was horrible before we even passed the point of our puncture.
We passed over the motorway and descended onto the A370 to
Congresbury, we had a lovely ride on quiet roads and I managed to keep just
below the speed limit. Finally we hit the limits of Bristol and once again I pulled over to a
quick rest and to switch on Carol’s Sat Nav. Once the Sat Nav was on, we
promptly got lost and went in completely the wrong direction. After a hundred
meters of travel, the small screen suddenly flipped as it worked out which
direction we were moving in and by then it was too late to turn around, we were
committed to a road of heavy traffic.
We stopped for another rest a short while later after
nearly running a red light. The light had changed to amber as we approached and I had pulled on the brakes but
with our momentum I had to pull a little harder, this made the bike dip her nose down
and Jan slid forwards on her seat a little. As she slid forwards, she slid into me and I
was pushed into the fuel tank, however we were still moving forward and I had to
brake a little harder, which in turn caused Jan to slide a little harder into
me! We stopped at the lights in fits of giggles and Jan readjusted her seating
position!
Our break was in a lay by behind a resting coach, we spent a
couple of minutes chatting as I rested my arm and shoulder before we remounted
and set off once again. From there it was a few more minutes before we were
pulling up outside the dealership. We parked up and wandered inside before being
directed back outside and into the car park. Sat in the far corner was Jan’s
Mazda, looking almost fine, yet as we drew closer I started to see the damage
and was suddenly shocked and grateful for the safety of my friend.
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| One crunched car |
The car was crooked, shorter on one side that it was on the
other. The drivers door was staved in and firmly jammed closed. The drivers
seat was stuck fast and would not move back or forward no matter how hard we
pushed it. The rear door would not close due to the bent chassis and the
drivers window would not fit in the door frame anymore. How Jan managed to
avoid being hurt I just do not know and when she showed me how she had to crawl
from the front to the rear of the car to exit though the left hand rear passenger
door.
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| Jan and her protector |
We cleaned out the car of the various things that gather in
a car when it is used every day, empty bottles, a few biscuits and a duvet
cover! We also found the few things that we needed like the CDs and the little
mascots that we decorate our cars with. It was an emotional moment and then we
climbed back onto Sylvie and headed our way back home.
In the day to day running of our lives do we ever think
about those we hold dear to us? When I heard that one of my most beloved
friends was in an accident, my response was of worry and fear. Seeing the car
confirmed that I had been right to worry. On the way home I was thankful for
the safety of my friend and when I needed a rest so we popped into see Wayne,
another person I am thankful for.
Be safe out there folks, the roads that we love can be a
dangerous playground.
