How do you feel about the road toll? Have you ever witnessed an accident?
March 25th 2008 08:59
Andrew and I had such a wonderful weekend. It was a cute but large old house looking out across its own beach and out to the water, at night one could hear the pounding of the waves as they broke on the shore and by morning it was just a soft rising and swelling of the sea.
The air was clean and you could smell the sea and its salty freshness, I can remember how my dear old great granny used to talk about it. She just loved the sea and would walk along its shores even as she grew frail and elderly.
We all awoke early and true to her word mum and dad just came and went without worrying about us at all, it was just so different from being at home with them. They seemed to eat out all the time and Andrew and I had to find our own way around the little local villages but there were plenty of places to choose to eat at very modest prices and the fish was out of this world. It was just so fresh.
We did go to Church as expected and mum and dad were good enough to sit with us, I was beginning to wonder if they were going to desert us altogether. But, obviously, going to Church Friday and Sunday put our stakes up. It was a very small congregation taken by a lay preacher but they had a good pianist and we enjoyed the singing, Andrew having a really good voice which he had not let on about, mine would only just do but as in any good Church everyone is accepted no matter what the quality of the singing. We had the usual Easter messages of course but then the preacher moved on to the current day problems of the young and the poor moral standards and foul language which had become so prevalent. It was a pleasure to hear someone speaking who did not have to resort to such crude expressions as the ones we are regularly bombarded with.
We left each service feeling the richer for it and Andrew and I talked about a lot of things which we had never discussed before.
The rest of the weekend, other than looking for food outlets we spent on the sandy beach and going off into the surrounding bush. I have always loved the bush and the dear natural little tracks to be found.
We met another couple of walkers and teemed up with them a few times as they knew the area better than we did.
Andrew insisted on going swimming, I chickened out as the water was quite cold.
He is a good swimmer and loves surfing the waves which surprised me, I had never thought of him as the athletic type.
One night we lit a fire on the beach with twigs and branches we found lying around, it's probably against the law but we were very careful and cooked some sausages out there and made some billy tea. It was great fun, we'd taken with us some buttered rolls and just popped the sausages straight in.
We sat for the rest of the time watching the fire burn itself out and enjoying its warmth until there were only red embers left and we covered them in sand and waited a while to make sure it was well and truly out before strolling back to the cottage and into the warm comfort of our beds.
Another day we got up early and after breakfast bought ourselves some picnic food and drink and with backpacks on went for a very long stroll along the beach where we had out picnic, Andrew going swimming again and I just paddling at the shore in the shallow water.
It's amazing how well food tastes out in the open like that.
Just like all good things the weekend came to an end and we hit the road for home, getting caught in the traffic and crawling along for about two hours. We went past a traffic accident which looked really bad, the ambulance was there and there were several bodies on the road and we did not know whether they were alive or dead.
Have you ever witnessed a traffic accident and how did it make you feel? It was a rude awakening after such a fantastic weekend.
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Comment by Babyjrulz
Comment by AmyHuang
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I have witnessed a few accidents, some were minor, some really bad. The other day I was driving home from work and there was a sheet covered body next to a bike and a truck. I could almost picture the actual accident by looking at that. It wasn't pretty....
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Comment by Louie
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Glad you had such a great weekend.
I still remember the bad accident i saw on Christmas day as a child. ....just awful.
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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We'd stopped at a pedestrian crossing on a four-lane thoroughfare to allow an elderly woman and what appeared to be her granddaughter of around 6 or 7 to cross - when my mother screamed (having seen in her rear-view mirror what was about to happen).
The screech of brakes came too late as I witnessed the older lady be hit first and the little girl tossed like a rag doll 10 metres down the road.
What happened next I will always remember for the quick thinking and selfless actions of not only my mother but other motorists and bystanders.
It's a memory I'll never forget.
Other than this - there's been a few others - most recently a month or so ago when a speeding vehicle raced past us on the freeway to the Central Coast - changed lanes (hopelesslessly not in control of either their vehicle, the conditions and their own driving ability) about 20 metres in front of us - slid across three lanes into the safety rail - rebounded across two lanes and came to rest - a mess.
How we (two children in our car at the time) and other motorists were seriously involved I suggest came as a result of both luck and the fact we'd seen this idiot and collectively decided to give him a wide berth and take our foot off the pedal.
God help us all.
Sorry to be such a downer.
Cheers
MNG
Comment by The wonderful Peter Yang
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I think it is alright
Comment by Techno
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Comment by Krystal
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Amy, yes accidents are a shock and a big wake up call, a nasty ending to what was, as you say, a lovely weekend. It was great, it seems such a long time ago already.
Raven, glad someone else loves the surf too, but that road toll is perilous ( pardon the pun) a depressing reality shock.
Louie, Christmas day as a child, to witness an accident must have been awful, and I did know not to light a fire on the beach, but legal or illegal, sensible people know the limits, this is a crazy world we live in.
Mr. NG that was one dreadful road experience, how we do take life for granted, what you experienced was horrific, what is wrong with those sort of drivers do you think? They are not right in the head but such a danger to others, they don’t seem to care about them or themselves. This is a crazy world.
Peter, surely you don’t mean that, think a little, why should anyone’s life be ended prematurely by such means. It’s just plain awful, think when you get behind that wheel and don’t let the dog drive.
You’re quite right about stats techno, they make all of life’s tragedies seem so trite.
Thank you all for your comments about such tragic circumstances.