of lost & broke down

i had to attend an interesting presentation on benchmarking and comparative study of malaysia government portals and websites by mscHQ last friday, hoping they would cover more details on best practices that i could emulate to our KM project. (boring stuff i know). anyway it was my 2nd visit, going there was smooth sailing but i encountered a series of unfortunate events on my way back.

i was never good with directions, blamed it to my ignorance. during my 1st trip, i had rinie to depend to so yeah, minus heavy traffic jam i reached keramat easily. but last friday, i was alone. rinie pesan, call aku kalau sesat tau!

dang..rinie, mulut ko masin babe

at first i missed kajang hiway exit. but as i was heading to puchong, i saw an exit to serdang. hesitantly made a right turn towards the exit. okay i had used this route before, when the whole place was still hutan belukar. but this time, i saw rows of new link houses, pasar bor0ng selangor etc.. alamak.. mana jalan keluar ni? and then, my memory failed on me. needless to say, i was lost. and then i saw PLUS sign, following the direction. while driving, called rinie for recue 911

babe, aku sesat
aku dah agak dah... hahahaha..ko kat mana?
kat taman serdang utama (reading big signboard)

suddenly the car slowed down and halted

babe, i'll call you back. kereta aku rosak le pulak...
where are you?
kat depan srk(c) serdang utama

panic attack 1
bismillah... (try to start engine) but unfortunately fate had written my car would break down in front of zebra crossing line. the temperature rose to H.

i knew i should release the hot air but was not brave enough to open the front hood. kalau melecur naya je.. so i waited for good 30 mins, opened the hood, checked the water.. zero! the tank was empty.

but fate also had written that beautiful caring people will come forward to help poor me. thanks to uncle cha ya (forgot to ask his name) who went beyond than he should, checking the radiator, risking himself to melecur. it was close to 7 when i finally able to start engine, following uncle cha ya's direction. ahhh okay i know this place.. when i saw upm's hostel on my right.

i managed to get into the highway when i notice the temperature was reaching H again.. alamak, uncle cha ya kata tak bocor.. apehal pulak ni? then i braved myself (and my poor car) towards r&r serdang. okay, i know refill water at the storage tank. few trips to the loo but air tak penuh². start engine... sheeesh.. i saw water coming out from a hose near the gear box.. patut la.. bocor... tadi tak bocor pon.. cam mana boleh bocor pulak?

panic attack2
makin gabra sebab 1. dah maghrib 2. bocor = takleh drive keta balik 3. battery phone weak. ya Allah..horror nyaaaaa!

again, ade sorang hamba Allah came forward to lend a helping hand. he advised me to break fast first and promised to replug the leaking stopper. i said okay, my hubby was on his way anyway.

while waiting for hubby to arrive, he sellotaped the leak part and advised me to drive slowly cos the jam was pretty bad. i offered some cash notes but he politely refused. so sweet *terharu

at 8 pm, hubby reached, together with alif & his doraemon tool box.. nampak hubby relief sangat²..nampak alif... terus hilang worries :) hubby swapped stopper and i managed to reach keramat albeit slowly.

so you all, please learn from my mistakes. though you service your car regularly, things could go wrong. a reminder: things to always keep in your car:

1. torch light
2. water
3. emergency tool box

a different note, hubby commented

mpphh lelaki, kalau pompuan rosak kereta, gatal nak tolong!!

so being a woman helps a lot.. *winks :P