Car accidents are really a pain. On a fateful Friday night last month, I was unfortunate enough to "get acquainted" with a Ford Escape. Driven by some drunk bai fella. Doctor some more. I was on my way home on Jalan Ma'arof on the left lane when Dr. decided that the road belonged to him. Flicked right into my left on right and right into the left side of the road. What to do? At that distance I might as well have not applied the brakes. Post-collision practice dictates that both drivers confront each other. The driver, obvious by his stagger that he had one too many, alighted. I could smell the alcohol a mile away. The following conversation ensued:-

Me: Hello? Friend. Where's your signal?
Driver: Aie.. put my signal. You din see yawr problem.
Me: You were on the right lane. You just swerved into the left. Have you been drinking?
Driver: Er...Nawt reallly.
Me: So, is it more to the "nawt" or the "really"?

Cut the story short, we exchanged particulars and got on our way. Da fella didn't admit to anything and making out case against him would have been futile. Belakang mari into a bai isn't what I had in mind in light of the weekend. On hindsight, I should've taken out my camera phone to record the conversation...the man can hardly articulate his words!! Well, that's history now.

You know how miraculously how fast the tow truck fellas arrived? Well, one did just minutes after the incident. I called my friend, Gerard Anthony. He came with Vincent, another friend of mine. Some call agent named Vijay attended to me. It was late and I was tired. Decided to let them take care of the matter and was advised to make the report the next day, save as the 24-hour period had not expired.

Well, car's back after nearly 7 weeks. Took too long for the workshop people to work on it. The call agent that attended to me was suddenly bereaved. It took 2 weeks for anyone to attend to the claim with my insurers. Now you're asking, "why didn't you make a case with the other driver since it was his fault?" Well, I had no witnesses and by the time we made the report the next day, all traces of alcohol in his body would have long since dissipated.

The adventure does not stop there. After I got my car, the alternator went bust. Francis had taken me to retrieve the car. The idiots, having known that the car would be sitting for weeks did not detach the battery terminals. So, the battery was almost gone to. When they purportedly charged up my battery, they told me the alternator was giving way. Francis noticed how they tried to show that by removing one of the terminals when the car was still running. THIS IS A NO NO> doing so will cause the voltage to spike and potentially leading to the diode in the alternator to overload and consequently, burn out.

To makes matters worse, my car stalled on the LDP AT the bloody toll plaza. So embarrassing. Caused a jam like a mile long. Am I so lucky to have Francis who swung around to exchange batteries with me. That affair lasted about 40 minutes. And mind you, we were doing this in the searing heat!! Once the battery was in I had but 20 minutes of drive time left, so I promptly drove the car to my workshop.

The events which transpired during the next 2 days were even better!

After rectifying the electrics, I lost cooling in the air conditioning. Went back to my workshop again and discovered that the magnetic clutch plate of the compressor had lost its screw. Had a screw replacement.

Never mind....the next problem on route back from the office...the car just jerks whenever I accelerate. Thought it was the drivetrain or the injectors. Francis took it for a ride last nite and notice the jerks too.

Today, on route to Court, the bloody thing lost cooling again and this time a very distinct sound of something coming off in the engine bay. Very metallic. Figured the screw went flying off again. But lo and behold. This time, the magnetic clutch plate was missing altogether! So, what to do? Brought it in again for a check- up. The replacement screw had broken inside the compressor. That's it!!! Compressor's gone. So, have to drive with the windows open. In the current heat wave, that's really something to be reckoned with. But, the silver lining was that the foreman discovered the cause of the jerks...a filthy throttle body. He purged the thing with petrol and she launches like a stallion again...thank God for that.

So, next thing to do on my to-do-list: get compressor replaced.

Can't wait to see what's coming next..NOT!