Friday, August 24, 2007

long day

yesterday was a looong day...my whole family is in "sa7el" at the moment, so i try to spend the least time possible at home because it gets too boring...i was outdoors from 8:00 am till 4:30 am.

my day was pretty much normal until around 9:00pm - doing some errands in the morning, hanging out with friends in the afternoon.

i got a phone call from my dad at 9:00pm asking me to go home and look for some important papers.. i was in nasr city at the time.

the 6th of october bridge was jam packed. it usually isn't so crowded on wednesday nights but i guess there was an accident or something. my car's engine started to heat up, which usually happens in high traffic, but within the "normal" range.

only later did it exceed this level and i started to get worried.. i was about to stop the car before the temperature reaches the red zone, but i was too late... something exploded...steam was bursting out of the engine...alot of steam...i couldn't see through the windshield.

i got out of the car and i saw looks of sympathy on the people's faces. no less than 7 people in 4 different cars have stopped their cars, got out, came up to me and offered their help. i was amazed, no where else in the world would you find this helping attitude. unfortunately, there was little they could do.. the car's cooling system had burst...all the water in the car had either been spilled on the floor or evaporated...and i can't add more water obviously because it would all just leak instantly. they offered to give me a ride to my destination but i declined claiming that i can't just leave my car like that in the middle of the bridge. i thanked them anyways, telling them that their kind gesture meant alot to me.

so now i was left standing in the middle of a crowded bridge, not knowing what to do.
the car won't start because the engine is too hot, i can't call anyone to help because they won't be able to reach me in such crowded traffic, and i can't just leave the car and go home with a taxi (although i did consider that option seriously at one point.)

i finally decided to wait for 10 minutes until the car cools down a bit, take it off the bridge, then see what my options are.

as i was waiting, this police guy came up to me and told me to move my car since it was obstructing traffic...i flipped out and i started shouting my head off telling him to get the hell out of my face. after realizing how pissed off i was, he apologized and tried to cool me down..he then offered to push the car for me, which i declined..we were too far away from any exit... it would be too exhausting.


after 10 minutes of waiting i tried the ignition and it worked...so the car is now moving without any water in it, which is really dangerous since it's going to heat up much faster than before...especially in this awful traffic. as i was driving towards the nearest exit i found the temperature approaching the red zone again..luckily i found an emergency parking space ahead of me so i decided to park my car their until the traffic eases up. i considered leaving my car there until the next morning but i was afraid of it being towed by the police and i would have a really hard time finding it after that.

i waited for over 3 hours. the car had cooled down and the bridge now looked much better. i drove the car for over 15 minutes before it died on me again. .i was now 20 minutes away from home (remember i live in the 6th of Octboer city), so i had to stop the car and wait again...i waited for another hour this time... i repeated this process once more before i reached home feeling exhausted.


now that the situation is over, i think i learned something new about myself: i'm not comfortable asking for help.

i should have called any friend to come tow the car with me after the 6th of October bridge had cleared up, but instead i kept convincing myself that i could handle the situation on my own, without disturbing anyone.





P.S. i'm gonna be out of town starting saturday for around 12 days. probably won't have internet access.