Worst day of my life
Tumie Modise | Monday January 30, 2017 14:05
I don’t know about everybody else, but I always look forward to resting after a long day, it is what drives me during the day.
Around six late in the afternoon, a friend called to ask for a favour. Now my second weakness after Coke is, I am very loyal to loyal people and I never forget people who have in the past dropped everything to come through for me. It is rare to come across such people and so if you are lucky enough to have such people in your life, you better hold on to them, and tightly. The devil you know. So this favour was in the form of an errand to another side of town where I was to drop off some ‘parcel’ for someone, Broadhurst area.
Tired as I was, I agreed. At that point, I was wearing the shortest dress in my closet, the dress I only wear when I am indoors because it is both comfortable and very light.
On a normal day, if I run errands in town I usually slip into something more decent because you will never know who you will bump into. On this occasion, I threw all caution to the wind because in my mind, that was an in-and-out quick errand and night was falling.
Flip flops on my feet, phone and a card holder in my hand, off I went to run this errand for this dear friend. Because I hardly ever carry cash on me, I was then forced to make a quick stop by Squaremart mall in the CBD. I quickly went to the nearest ATM, drew some money then quickly drove off. A minute or two later a police officer appeared from nowhere and like a ninja motioned me to pull over by the road side. This is in CBD, just in front of Squaremart, a few metres from the main road. Apparently I had made an ‘illegal turn’ I had earned myself a P1,000 ticket, just like that! You got to be kidding me! An ‘illegal’ turn? What illegal turn when that is the only way of exiting the mall? The last time I got a ticket from cops must have been five years ago. I was in no mood to argue, I mean I could have if I wanted, even begged, rolled on the ground if I wanted to. I just wasn’t in that mood, the tiny dress I was wearing wasn’t helping either and worse, I was already late for this errand. It was now after 6pm.
Unfortunately for me, I had to get out of the car to settle this matter with the second cop whose duty is to simply issue the ticket. And these cops mean business; their receipt book is pre-filled in except for the parts about culprit’s personal details. The P1,000 was already there in black and white, shutting any possibility of negotiations. The amount itself knocked some air out of me; turns out our police or whoever came up with these hefty charges are loaded with some village mentality where the assumption is always that every motorist is loaded like the Guptas. Nothing could be further from the truth and I say this with the outmost respect.
Minutes later, ticket in hand I was off to Broadhurst. A few metres from my destination the car steering wheel started feeling heavy and funny. I drove on and a minute later I arrived and delivered the parcel. Walking around the car my heart sank, the left tyre was completely flat! This cannot be happening! Did I just have two misfortunes in a space of 30 minutes? Worse, I did not have a spare wheel with me; after all, this was just a quick errand. I hit the hazards, drove the car off to the nearest filling station near Airport Junction. Now that’s a stretch, not near by any measure. I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally arrived after what felt like eternity. More bad news awaited me, Satan wasn’t done with me yet; a minute later the petrol attendant announced that the tyre appeared to be, in his own words, ‘kaput’. God no, this was not happening!
An hour later after a few calls, a friend arrived to rescue me. Satan wasn’t done with me yet. Getting out of my car, my phone slipped out of its pouch and hit the pavement face down! Let’s just say the phone can make a good deposit for a decent car in Mogoditshane. I picked it up, looked at the smashed screen then left.