Deep Scratch

Is this a self fulfilling prophesy again? Today is the 13th of the month, almost the middle of the month near which I was trying to be extra careful in order not to make a new accident, bump or scratch for my i10. I had in mind to watch out for the 15th of the month, but hey, it happened today, unfortunately.

I was trying to park at night yet the narrow street I was at was so busy. I usually went to that place on Friday mornings when it was rather uncrowded. Today I went on a Wednesday evening. Not finding a place to park I waited a few moments on one side of the road with my emergency flashers on to allow the traffic in this narrow two-way side street to pass. I then reversed moving backwards and stopped to give more rooms for the rest of the traffic to pass by. After the street was finally empty from any traffic, I attempted to move backwards in search for a place to park in. I heard a load a long bumping sound, it came from my left side. It turned out that I was sharply scratching against a perpendicularly parked car on my left side while I was reversing back. I was shocked and extremely unhappy about that.

Later on when I checked the damage after I had parked I found that the scratch in my car was deeper than anyone I had before, yet thank God its length was not much.

Lesson: No matter what, whenever you are reversing make sure you are at a safe distance from cars parked next to you. Then and only then can you start reversing.

Sharp Braking

Yesterday I was saved from an almost sure accident. I was driving back home on the fast lane and there was that car in front of me going forward with high speed. I was driving behind that car and matching its speed. Never had it crossed my mind that the car in front of me might suddenly make a sharp stop, which it actually did. Seems there was some sort of speed bump or actually low remnants of some sort of 'unofficial' speed bum which the car at my front did not notice until the very last moment causing the driver to take a sudden decision to stop sharply. Me being behind that car and not expecting it to stop sharply I had to hit the brakes even more sharply managing to get my car to a complete stop just a few inches before colliding with it. In my brain, the the last split second I believed I was going to collide with it. Thank God I have not. Anyway, now I have a new lesson to learn, and learn well I should.

Lesson: No matter what, even if you are not expecting the speeding car in front of you to make any sudden sharp stops, keep a good distance between it and your car just in case anything unexpected happens. It's worth it.

Forgetting Parking Lights On

The day before yesterday, which coincided with the last day of 2009, I forgot my parking lights on after parking the car and went upstairs to my house without noticing they were on.

The reason why I forgot them on was that I was driving during the day and normally when I drive during the day I do not turn the parking lights (nor headlights for sure) on. So that is why as I parked the car I left it without noticing that the lights were on, since it was still daylight and I know I do not switch the lights on when during the day.

It was not until I looked at the car from the window as the night approached that I observed my front lights were not dim but were shining. At first I believed it was the reflection of the street lights next to the car that made them shine. Yet observing that all the cars parked next to mine had their front lights so dim I realized that indeed my parking lights were on. I thought of getting down and switching them off but was a bit lazy to do so. I was planning to go out in an hour or so anyway so I postponed switching them off right then. As the night approached more, it was so clear my parking lights were on for they shone brightly in the darkening street.

Although I was about to change my mind about going out yet the state of my parking lights being left on encouraged me to go out. I waited till the time came and went down stairs to shut the parking lights off. I then went to the place I was going to, it was close by my house so I went walking.

Lesson: Remember to make sure that your parking lights (and headlights) are turned off as you take your keys out and get out of the car. This can be easily checked from the dashboard which is lit up when the parking lights (or headlights) are still on.

Speeding Bump

Seems like it's a self-fulfilling prophesy. Upon looking back at the posts in this blog that included bumps I noticed that the last couple of bumps happened at the 'corners' of a month or at its middle, that is near the 30th or 15th of the month! Today I had a new bump, and hey, today is the 29th of the month!

Okay, this time the bump was really my mistake. I'm even ashamed to disclose completely what happened. But let's just say I was driving in the middle lane and wanted to turn right. I signaled right to move to the right lane first before the right turn came. There was a car in the right lane from behind which did not want me to move to the right lane and kept honking. So I let that car move ahead of me then moved to the right lane behind it. I speeded ahead to catch up with it, and yes that was my mistake, I admit it with a bit of shame. The right turn approached and I did not know if that care in front of me was turning right or going straight, I guess he signaled right but I can't remember now. Anyway, when I got right next to the right turn I discovered he was not turning right and he was going straight. Now here was my real mistake: I speeded ahead turning right yet something I was not expected happened, the car in front of me which did not turn right and was moving straight ahead stopped! That car stopped I guess due to traffic in front of it. I was honking all my way behind that car even before the right turn. I honked, moved forward and turned right bumping the car from its right side rear and my car from its front left side! It was my first time (and hopefully last) to bump my car from the front left side. Now I have my car bumped and scratched from the four corners (funny, but true).

Lesson: Never speed behind a car no matter how much it honked or annoyed you. This is childish behavior. I repeat, this is childish behavior and could cause your car to be scratched or worse yet might result in a serous accident. Don't go crazy when driving. Safety first.

Night Bump while Turning

Yesternight I bumped the car, lightly thank God, while relatively slowly turning right. I bumped into a parked car. It was a considerably soundy bump. It's been a long time (two months exactly) since I last bumped my car.

I'm writing this now so it can be a lesson learnt for me. I was moving off in a side street and about to turn right. I car was coming from the opposite direction. The two mistakes I did were:

1. Turning my lights off!
2. Focusing too much attention on the opposite car approaching while giving less attention to the parked car on my right side.

I thus heard a soundy bumping sound upon my turning to the right. I was unable to notice the car parked at the corner of the road due to my putting the lights off (courtesy to the opposite car approaching) and focusing too much on that approaching car.

Lesson: When turning to the right side always pay attention to any cars parked at the corner of the street. Always keep the lights on at night even if a car is approaching from the opposite direction.

i10 Takes a Bath

In Dire Need of Cleaning

Ever since I bought my i10 I have not cleaned it from inside. After making a few trips: one to Ain Sokhna another to Kalyoub for my first 1000 km maintenance and a third to El Khatatba to visit a farm there after these three trips the car was in bad need of cleaning from inside.

Shining at Last

Today I finally went to Caltex for a car wash from inside and outside. After around one hour of deep cleaning the light blue i10 was shiny from outside and pleasingly clean from inside. I paid only 20 Egyptian pounds and tipped the guy who did all the work with an extra 3 Egyptian pounds. Was a pleasant experience all in all except for the long wait before and during the cleaning process. Perhaps next time I'll do an engine cleaning as well. I've also asked if they had waxing but it turned out that they did not. Perhaps I'll by my own wax and do it myself back home. We'll see how things turn out regarding this.

Charity Errand Again

Phone Ringing

My phone rang around noon today, I thought it was someone congratulating me for Eid yet it turned out to be a phone call from Resala. It was the employee responsible for the charity errand at the Nasr City branch of Resala once again. She first thanked me for my efforts the day before then asked me if I was free today. I replied confirming I was free. She asked me if I could participate in the charity errand today as well. I told her that I would love to. I asked her when they needed me, she said "now". I told her I'll be there within an hour, which I did (perhaps I was just a few minutes late).

Two Rounds

Today was similar to yesterday. Again two Resala representatives (employees) accompanied me in the car and we visited around 4 places in Nasr City where donors donated meat and calf skin. We went back to Resala with the donations, emptied the car trunk then two other employees came with me for a second round after a few minutes. We finished our round, brought the meat and stuff back to Resala and off I went back home.

Tilt Wheel

Having entertained the idea of tilting my steering wheel, since the option is present in the i10, for quite a while, today I did take the 'brave' step of actually tilting it. I tilted it down a bit and locked it at the middle. I then adjusted my chair and later the mirrors to go with the change in steering wheel height. Contrary to my expectations, the change in steering wheel height did make a real difference in driving comfort. I am glad I finally made that change today!