9:17 a.m. - 2009-05-10
Near Death Experience
My brother-in-law and I drove to Fujairah for two planned dives and departed early to ensure that we didn't get held up in traffic. I wanted to leave at 0600, he at 0615 and we left at 0630. Perfect. I've been out that way but was not positive where exactly, the resort was located except somewhere along the Indian Ocean.
It was signposted really well all the way there 'except' at the very last roundabout. I 'thought' we may have past it but gave it an extra klik or two on the odometer to be sure. Nope. We passed it. We were at a little town on a two lane highway and I signaled 'left' to turn around in a driveway.
As I slowed and was about to turn, WHAM! A giant eight tonne (my estimation) Volvo tractor trailer sideswiped us. This could have been VERY nasty had I been perpendicular to him and I cursed loudly only thinking we were going to miss the dives which were scheduled to depart in about 30-40 minutes.
One needs to report formally to the police if you want to get a car repaired. I asked a bystander to ring up the police figuring they'd be able to tell them where we were better than I. Plus my phone is all screwed up. A sergeant showed up pretty quickly.
The guy that crashed into me was a sikh who's only English was 'no brakes' but we all remained cool. I don't know what he was thinking. If he wanted to avoid me, he should have done so on the right. Maybe he reacted due to his home country driving on the left but I'm just guessing. I had all my paperwork in order and he didn't seem to, but the cop had a translator in one of the witnesses and we all followed the sergeant to the police station, five minutes or so up the road (the wrong way from our dive destination).
While sitting quietly waiting for the guy to fill out the paperwork, the other driver came in and after a bit, momentarily rested his hand on my knee. It was a kind gesture where no English needed to be spoken. I think we were all coming to a realisation that this could have been fatal; at least for me as it would have been ME that was T-boned.
I felt fairly confident that we would make the dive for some reason and we did. We were actually able to modify their choices for equipment and be on the boat in plenty of time.
The dives were not as memorable as the last time I dove Fujairah. The water wasn't as clear and it was a hazy day. Still, the sun peaked out a little near the end of the second dive and you could see some of the smaller polyp colonies showing themselves.
Junior, our dive master and Greg were showing me an octopus but by the time I went over to see it, I assumed it was a sole buried in the bottom.
They had watched it change from orange to 'gravelly bottom' camouflage and wow, it fooled me! They also saw a large cuttlefish while I was busy filling up and clearing out my foggy mask. I forgot to spit in it before descending. There was also a strong current near the end of the second dive that was a bitch and pretty much made us want to get it over with.
But all in all it was a great day out even though I had to drive nearly two hours without an outside mirror which was plenty dodgy believe me.
I started Varenicline therapy to hopefully kick what little remaining smoking habit I have. One of the side effects might be 'vivid dreams' and I had a weird one the other night. To try and explain it would take forever but it took place at a pharmacy run by naturists and certain cousins made their first ever appearances (fully clothed). They tried to formulate the Cipro that I was going to get but said: 'Ya know what? This is kind of a bitch, so fuck it.' Then we ate lunch and watched TV. I know, it doesn't sound like much but it was amusing. Guess you had to be there.
Visitors Already Missed
My sister and her hubby just left after too short a stay with us; long enough to see Dubai in its current hot weather state though.
We went to Jumeirah Mosque on Sunday and a rather cool Islamic art gallery yesterday but we mostly did a lot eating, drinking and chillin' out.
It'll be about six weeks until we head to The States for much of the Summer, at least Lyra and I will. Poor Julie must come back sooner but at least she'll be able to have some child and husband free fun in Istanbul before coming back here.
The Toyota was picked up today. I'm guessing that it 'might' be ready in a few weeks but I don't really know. I'll ring them later today to ask how long I should rent a car. I'd be tempted to rent a Ferrari if it was for a couple of days but I won't because, well, that'd be stupid. It would just be cool to let Julie drive to work in one and for me to make the school run with it. There's some fun twisty curves on the way there.
2 comments
