‘When the car’s going well, I purr like a kitten.’
– Buddy Rice, American celebrity.
How precious is your car to you?
For me, my car is very precious even though it is quite old. You see, without it, I am helpless and housebound.
Without it, I also cannot go to work because my office is more than 40 minutes’ away from my house. I live in Kuching City South but work in Kuching City North and it is inconvenient and expensive to use public transport, especially late at night.
However, even though I try very hard to take good care of my car, sometimes, it lets me down unexpectedly.
My friends, how many times have you encountered problems with your cars? I have faced many since I started driving decades ago.
Yesterday afternoon, I had a problem with my car again. It broke down unexpectedly on a busy road while I was on my way to work. I suspected something was not right the night before.
When my son checked the car yesterday morning, he could not find anything wrong after refilling the water in a tank and taking the vehicle for a ride.With that assurance, when i
t was time to go to work, I drove my car with my mind at peace.
However, the first thing I noticed shortly after I started my journey was the terrible heat in the car. The air conditioner did not seem to be working so I just wound down the window to let some fresh air in.
After that, I quickly messaged my son, “Something wrong with car. No air con. So hot.”
As I drove on, I noticed something was slightly wrong with the car when I stepped on the pedal.
Soon, I arrived at a traffic light and had to decide which road to take to go to Metrocity.
I could use the narrow, hilly road which passed by the Sarawak Museum ground or the less hilly and wider road which passed by the Kuching Civic Centre and the Sarawak Club.
Call it a woman’s sixth sense. “What if the car breaks down on the narrow, hilly road and I have to pull up the brake?” I wondered.
“Better play safe,” I told myself.
Five minutes later, I was glad I followed my instinct. After the traffic light, the car just stalled on the right side of the two-lane road.
Luckily, yesterday was Saturday and the traffic was not that heavy. On weekdays, the road is usually full of vehicles bringing schoolchildren back from nearby SMK St Joseph, SMK St Teresa and St Joseph’s Private Secondary School.
Naturally shocked, I quickly messaged my son, ”Apu … Battery habis (battery finished) while on a hill in front of civic centre.”
He called back and told me to wait. When I looked at my phone, it was 13.38 pm.
I waited and waited. At first, I sat inside the car. Now, that was a stupid thing to do. It is actually quite dangerous to sit inside a stationary car, even on a two-lane road.
As I looked at the rear window, I noticed that many drivers, especially of big cars, did not pay attention to the road or things in front of them. Many drove very near and had to stop suddenly.
Then my son called me and asked to open the boot to warn oncoming cars that my car was stationary. After that, I decided to stand in the hot sun on the road verge with an umbrella over my head.
Bored with waiting, I took out my handphone and began to take pictures of my car, the Kuching Civic Centre and the Sarawak Club.
I also jokingly messaged my friend, “It’s time for me to admire the civic centre.”
Do you know that of the hundreds of motorists who passed by me and my car yesterday afternoon, only one young man stopped his car and asked me, across the road, whether I needed help?
“It is O.K. Battery problem. Thank you,” I shouted back and thanked him with my action.
God bless that young man for being so caring.
My son turned up about one hour later with the mechanic in his car. The mechanic checked my car and found out that there was no water in one of the tanks.
He drove my car to the civic centre where my son had to look high and low for tap water to fill the tank.
To cut a long story short, the mechanic had to drive my car back to his garage at Foochow Road which was on the other side of Kuching City.
My son and I later learnt that the car battery and air conditioner were still good. The car had stalled because it had overheated because of a leaking hose or pipe.
It took about an hour for the hose or pipe to be replaced. Yesterday, I was late for work for a few hours. Luckily, I had good colleagues who took good care of things while I was away.
Anyway, I was glad to have my car running again in such a short time.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
