The Day My Car Refused to Budge

Yesterday as I prepared to head out to hubby’s shop to collect food, I was greeted with an unexpected ordeal - my car's engine refused to start. Little did I know that this day would turn into a series of unfortunate events.

As I turned the key in the ignition, all I heard was a feeble choke. Panic set in, and I immediately assumed the car's battery had gone flat. Since I had faced similar issues in the past, I felt relatively confident that it was nothing more than a routine inconvenience.  I informed Hubs who was busy at work and he told me to call our regular mechanic, Ah Heng.

Ah Heng sent his son who’s almost the same age as Alycia (aged 20-21) over to our condo. He’s currently pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. Very quickly, he managed to replace my car’s battery with a new one.  But still, my car wouldn’t budge and only let out a feeble click.  I called Ah Heng and he told me to get my car towed to his workshop for him to check.   

Ah Heng informed me that many car insurance policies provide free towing services as part of their coverage. I have been driving for years but had never utilized this benefit or was even aware that such a benefit existed. He suggested I contact my insurance provider to arrange for the towing, and that's exactly what I did.  It turned out my policy did indeed cover free towing, saving me the extra expense during this stressful situation.  The waiting time for the tow truck to arrive at my condo was pretty fast,  i.e. in less than an hour from the time the call was made this morning. 

My heart sank. If the problem wasn’t the battery, what could it be?  Just last month, my car needed a replacement for a major component of the electronic unit which cost Hubs quite an amount. This new problem would undoubtedly put a dent in his finances as his own car got discharged from the workshop just last week. Again!  The last thing I want is another hefty repair bill, especially after he had spent a significant amount on car maintenance on both our cars over the past three years.

So I guess it’s time to get ourselves new cars to prevent all these problems from regularly (monthly issue, to be precise 😥) creeping up on our cars!  🤑💸💸💸

My car is being towed out of the condo basement.  I also found out from the tow truck operator that charges for basement towing are more expensive than roadside towing as it's trickier to tow a vehicle out from the basement via the narrow, winding ramps.

My Pepper Spray 'Backfired' And I Was The Victim

Hubby bought me this pepper spray a few years back and I have been carrying this with me each time I go jogging. So far, I've not really used the pepper spray to ward off perpetrators. I would however test the spray once in a while to see if it still works. Well, I now know that it works perfectly well coz the other day, it 'backfired'. That fateful morning, I saw a pack of dogs from a distance. I quickly took out my pepper spray and tested it. After I had jogged past the dog without any incidence, I put the pepper spray back into my pocket. The next minute, I felt a stinging sensation on my nostrils. The stinging sensation gradually became burning. I had rubbed my nose with the same hand that I used to hold the pepper spray. The liquid didn't even come in contact with my hand yet my nose was 'burning'! I think whoever gets in direct contact with the liquid pepper would go blind or be in severe pain coz the liquid is frigging hot and burning! The burning sensation on my nose and nostrils was really unbearable. My eyes and nose were watery and I felt as though I had inhaled a big spoon of chilli powder. I immediately jogged back to my condo and made a mad dash to the washroom at the lobby and washed my face and nose. Wuah, the contact of water on my face and nose was such a relief. I spent a good 10 minutes washing my face in the toilet, afterwhich I continued jogging. For the next 1 hour, my nose was numb, as if I was given an anesthetic on it!

Stroller Mishap

That's how Baby C and I looked after the stroller accident yesterday.


Baby C smiling after she woke up from her nap, after the fall. This smile gave me a consolation that she's A-ok.

Black Cloud Hanging Upon Us

The black cloud has been hanging on our family lately. Today, hubby met with an accident after his appointment with his client in PJ. A man in another car who despite saw hubby's MPV coming, made a quick U-turn but stepped on his brake all of a sudden when he saw another on-coming car. Hubby could not brake on time and crashed onto the car. The front of hubby's MPV was badly wrecked, so is the other party's car. It so happens that the other party is a driving instructor and invigilator! Now we are left with no car and hubby has to borrow a friend's car. He may even have to rent an MPV until his own MPV is fixed. What a bummer right? This is hubby's first major car accident in his 20 years of driving as he has always always been quite an adept driver. Our only consolation is that hubby is unscathed in the accident, though he will have to burn a big hole in his wallet if he rents a car.

Black Saturday

It was a black Saturday for Sherilyn yesterday. She had a fall once, knocked her chin against a table, got her fingers pinched by a door and had a near miss serious case of having her 4 fingers squashed by the same steel door which broke her thumb last year.

Sherilyn my little fearless samseng was jumping on the couch as if it was a trampoline yesterday. She loves doing that and despite me warning her, threatening her and smacking her for doing so, she is still fearless. I was busy preparing for dinner yesterday when Sherilyn was jumping on the couch. I told her to stop jumping but she wouldn't listen. Seconds later, I heard a loud thud and she had fallen off the couch, forehead landing on the floor. She bawled but luckily there wasn't any bruise on her forehead. Less than an hour later, she had forgotten about the fall and started to jump on the couch again, so out came the whip and she stopped jumping.

About half an hour later, I was outside at the wet kitchen trying to shoo a cat away from tearing up the garbage bag. Sherilyn rushed to the kitchen to see what was happening. When I came inside and was about to close the steel kitchen door, I almost wedged 4 of Sherilyn's fingers on her left hand which she had placed on the back opening of the door, i.e. the exact same place where she broke her thumb when she was playing with the door last year. Luckily, I didn't shut the door fast enough and my maid was quick enough to pull Sherilyn's hand away. Phew.... gave me a real fright.

A few hours later, Sherilyn accidentally knocked her chin on the table when daddy was catching her and again, luckily there wasn't any bruises. Just before bedtime as I was coming into the bedroom from the bathroom attached to my room, I didn't see Sherilyn behind me and she had placed her right hand on the opening of the door. I shut the door and this time, her fingers got wedged but luckily again, there was no bruise.... she just got a shock and so did I!

What a black Saturday it was and I must thank God that Sherilyn had escaped all the minor accidents unscathed. I hope she has learnt her lessons.

Hubby's Car Got Hit

2 nights ago after a game of basketball, DH went for supper with his basketball mates. After supper, as DH was about to make a right turn at a corner, a drunkard hit his new car and the bugger wanted to escape. There were dents and scratches across the left doors. Fortunately DH's basketball mates are all lanky and muscular and they jumped out from DH's car and tried to prevent the drunkard from escaping. The drunkard whose breath smelled heavily of alcohol got intimated by the group of muscular guys and without any coercion admitted his fault, gave his identity card and business card to DH and agreed to pay the repair cost and end of story. Now, DH got to get his car fixed. Sigh, DH seems to be unlucky driving MPVs... his first MPV was submerged in flood water last year, then when the MPV was fixed, it got stolen and now the 2nd MPV got hit pulak. Really freaky!