Scoter
Been a long week, let me tell you. I needed to go out, have a decent time, and get to know my colleagues on a more social basis. So last night, around 9:40pm, I was heading to the night market to meet up with one of them there.
I was going through the tunnel south on KeeLung road, and pretty close to the right side of the tunnel. There was a girl on a scooter front-left of me, and I figured I'd move over to the right a bit more. You know, follow the rules of the road, observe, assess the situation. What I didn't expect was for anyone to actually be in that tight space to my right, and he was (I guess) trying to pass me on the right.
And that's when the fun began: our handlebars clinked, and I lost control.
My bike wavered, wobbled, and slid on its right. Luckily, my leg wasn't caught under the scooter as it fell over. Instead, I did the shake, rattle, and roll -- probably not unlike what you see in movies, actually. I have injuries, but it's all scratches and scrapes across my back, shoulders, and my elbows are banged up. And asphalt is embedded in my pants (and skin). Neck and waist are sore and a bit stiff, but that's to be expected. I need to buy a new helmet, of course -- because this one's had an impact and the gouges to show for it -- and my t-shirt is wrecked.
Him? He walked away with a little scratch on his bike, and he had a cut on his right hand.
I was going a pretty good clip. Probably 70kmph -- wait, no, probably not -- probably 60-65. I mean, that's not extreme, because I noticed that a lot of traffic flow is around that range anyhow. And he was going faster.
But the guy was nice during the aftermath; stayed with me, called the cops, went to the hospital with me and stayed until I got out. He had been hit by a car before when he was on a scooter, so he was pretty understanding and he was nice about everything. (That's pretty good, as far as Taiwanese people are in accidents.)
M nursed my wounds and I crashed at her place (instead of going all the way home), and I took this morning off work.
Anyway, this constant pain all over my body is a pain in the ass. Sucks. But all in all, worst hurt in this was my ego.
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* "Scoter" is a common misspelling of the word "scooter" here. So common that one of our clients' project codenames is "scoter", even though they say it as "scooter". Just waiting for project "umbrerra" to come along now ...
6 comments:
Hope you get better soon man.
Thank god you didn't get seriously hurt specially going at that speed in a tunnel.
That's why I do not like scooter. There's no protection at all. Did you wear leather jacket and pants? Glad you are fine. Take care!
Aigh... I'm glad you're okay. Get better. =\
I was wearing a T-shirt and cargo pants at the time.
You can't imagine the kind of pain there is when they clean out your open wounds with saline and antiseptic, and then have you lie on that hospital bed while they take a toothbrush to each of your scrapes in order to brush out all the asphalt that the road left under your skin. (Okay, if you went through labour, then ... maybe you can imagine this.) But the real b!tch of it all is the constant (i.e. twice a day) changing of bandages, reapplying of topical ointments, and taking medicine every 6 hours. Plus, I'm literally in continuous pain with whatever I do.
But I still rode my scooter all over the place (for about 2 hours) on Friday night to get it checked out by the Yamaha shop. Apparently, the fear of riding again hasn't set into me yet, or as much as I thought it would have. Of course, I'll be extra careful now, and I have this thing that I have to keep shoulder-checking over my right shoulder all the time. But that's not too bad, I suppose, overall.
2 words benben: leather chaps
HOT!
with all the taiwanese coin you're making, it's time to invest in some leather racing gear. turen
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