That Old Contraption Again..

It was raining dogs and cats (tak de pulak nampak kucing atau anjing jatuh dari langit hehe) last thursday evening. It has been like that, heavy rain even with thunder and lightning, for the whole week this week and before that. It was already past 6.00 pm and I told my YM mate that I would have to brace the rain to go home. In case it would continue to rain so heavily right into the night. I was still driving my father's car and I did not want to be stranded in the middle of the road at night.

So, I drove the car out in the heavy rain, almost confidently that I would be able to make through the stretch of rain water on the road. The water splashed up, as high as the windsheild when I drove through it and I push my foot down on the pedal trying to make sure that the engine would not stop. I was wrong, apparently. About 1 km from the factory premise, the engine just stopped, Right in the middle of the road and I could not start the car again. Oh my,what now???!!

It was quite some time that I was in the middle of the road, trying to re-start the car without success. Luckily the road was not the main road with heavy traffic, it was a lane connecting the factories within the area. The incident happened when the factory workers had gone home at 5.00 pm shift, and the next shift would proably be at 7.00 pm. Not much traffict passing through the road at that time of the day. Luckily, 2 factory workers asked if they could help and I asked them to help push my car to the roadside as not to hinder traffic. It was nice of them to ask.

I called hubby to tell him of my predicament, to highlight that I would be late and he asked if he needed to pick me up. I said that I would telll him if I need to be picked up. Called Shah and asked for his opinion. He said that there is a possibility that water had entered the engine, and tow ait a while and to re-start it again later. I waited for 15 mins and when I tried to re-start nothing happened still. Again, I called Shah and told him to go and talk to the mechanic who has a workshop next to his house. This is the same mechanic who repaired the gear box for my car.

Shah later told me that he had alerted the mechanic on my situation and position. It was getting darker, and maghrib was already advancing into isyak, my handphone battery was also running out. I had to make a decision to stay put or to walk back to the office. If I were to walk back, then I could perform the prayer at the surau while waiting for the mechanic to arrive. Texted a msg to Shah to tell him that I would be walking back to my office. Luckily the rain had stopped. He replied saying that he had informed the mechanic my handphone no and the location of my office.

Armed with an umbrella, I locked the car and walked about 1 km back to the office. There were not many street lamps and I keep on looking behind me, staying alert of the surrounding for prowlers and the like. There were some factory workers waiting on the road to be picked up to go home, otherwise the whole road was empty. Seriau jugaklah makcik ni berjalan sorang-sorang dalam gelap tu hehe. Nasib le siapa-siapa yang kacau sure kena belasah dengan payung malam tu hehe.

When I arrived at the office, went to take the phone charger and headed to the surau. Had the time to even completed the isyak prayer when the mechanic called to ask for location of my office. Since he was already in the vacinity then it took him less and 10 minutes to arrived at the office gate. He surveyed the problem for the old contraption and he still couldn't get it started, so he called the tow truck to have the car towed back to his workshop. Meanwhile, since my own car was already OK, (he drove my car to pick me up) we drove back to his workshop and later I took the car home.

Pheew, the following morning I told Abang Long what happened and told him that I would be returning the car back to him. I do hope that I don't have to use the old car again. My kaki and pinggang are still painful. Anyhow, I do not want to be an ungrateful person because the old contraption had made my journey to work possible for the last 2 months.

I now pray that no more mishap will befall me after this. Amiinn.