big mistakie !

Today I got into my first "incident". I drove into a parking lot for my duty. When I reported to the officer in charge, he told me to park my vehicle closer to where the activity was conducted. When I reached my vehicle, what had previously been an empty space behind me was taken up by a civilian car !

I honked the horn a few times but the driver did not appear. I waited for 5 minutes, before I decided to move off. I made the decision impaired by the fact that the officer was waiting for my vehicle as well as my impatience to move off asap (the sun at that time was fucking hot, the kind that gives you a headache if you stay under it for too long, and the kind that turns soft leather seats in the minibus into freaking hot grills).


I thought I could squeeze through the civilian car and exit smoothly ! I failed to notice the freaking uncovered drain hole nearer to the exit .... I reversed and subsequently drove the back left tire of the van into the drain hole. Engaging first gear and moving forward did nothing to help, and the wheel was left dangling in the ditch on its axle

The rush of fear with a combination of adrenaline was UNFATHOMABLE ! But surprisingly, I think partly due to army conditioning, I did not panic (I am damn sure I would have fucking panicked and called back to the office if it happened before NS).

My first thought was try to jack up the back wheel so that it would be out of the ditch and then drive off with the fucking jack still under the cabin ! Damn stupid I tell you ! I immediately ditched that idea and began thinking of new ones. My next would be the try to push the vehicle forward, and SOMEHOW manage to roll the back wheel over the covered drain slab and out of the ditch. This ofcourse would require someone to drive forward while I pushed.

Miraculously, the owner of the civilian car appeared at this very moment. His first move was to appologise to me and get the hell out of there. Just as he was reversing, I walked up to his car and asked him to help me. Luckily he agreed. His plan was more sound, he wanted to jack up the minibus and place a stone slab from another part of the drain under the wheel, following which I will continue to bridge my way backwards or forwards till I reached solid ground.

Just then, a group of his buddies (they looked like regulars) came by to see what was happening and to say hi to him. He managed to rope them in (at this point I was beginning to feel a great sense of relief and embarrassment, but LL suck thumb need their help). With 5 men, they lifted the van BY hand without the jack and another placed the slab under the wheel, at an angle, such that all I needed to do was to full lock right whilst moving forward and more the 3/4 of my wheel would be out, and I would be free form the bog WITHOUT needing to bridge :)

The whole episode lasted a good 20minutes but I was finally out of the ditch (both literally and metaphorically :D ). I reported the the officer and he said nothing of my late coming. Anyway, I definitely learnt a few important lessons today. I believe God was teaching me something and I can only be thankful to the uncle and his 6 friends (though if he did not freaking park there in the first place i would not have done what I did ...)