What a day!

Alright I had one of those really crazy days yesterday where after awhile you start thinking you just should have stayed in bed, or at least in your home.


I started out by going to get my car washed and Cush's laundry from the cleaner. When I got to my car I looked over at the very pathetic looking Hardcore 4x4 which had been sitting for a good long while. It was covered in dust, bits of tree and paw prints so I decided to get it washed when I got back....if I could get it to start and if the family of cats that sometimes live under the hood weren't there or could be persuaded to leave.

I got back, brought the laundry upstairs, changed my shoes because I cannot drive the beast with flip flops on, grabbed the keys and went back out.

I had the same silent conversation with the Hardcore 4x4 that I always do before I attempt to do anything with it.

-Alright 4x4...you don't like me and I don't like you nor do I trust you but we are going to get this done. Please, please don't die on the side of a busy road.

I opened the door and pulled the hood latch open so that I could check for cats (I'm not joking) living in the engine.

I popped the hood and climbed up on the front bull bars (I think it's called) and took a good look. I didn't see any cats but when I climbed down I heard a meow come from under the the 4x4.

It wasn't a cat living in the car but rather just one that happened to be chilling out in the shade.

I gave it some food to get it out from under the car and then climbed in.

Even though I thought we had had the seat fixed it turns out that it's broken again. I reached down, grabbed the handle, dug my ass into the seat and my feet into the floor and pulled with all my might. After giving it some grunt it slid all the way forward but then I couldn't push it back again. Luckily I'm short and it was only an inch or so too close to the wheel.

I stuck the key in and turned it.

The 4x4 only hesitated slightly, as if to say, who me? before springing to life.

I thought it would be wise to drive it around the block a few times just in case it was going to die and then headed off to the car wash.

The man who is sometimes very pleasent and jokey with me and also sometimes very brusque and annoyed with me greated me with a smile because hadn't he just seen me 20 minutes before?

I smiled back because I found it funny that only 20 minutes ago I was driving my very nice VW and then I came back with my piece of crap awesome but very dirty 4x4.

As he could see that the car wash would have it's work cut out for it, he grabbed the power washer and started to spray the 4x4 down. As it turns out the 4x4 is no longer water proof and I got soaked even though the windows were closed.

I made gestures like hey stop it! the waters coming in! which I guess must have just looked like me waving or something because the man just smiled and kept on spraying.

Eventually he stopped and I opened the window and said that the windows leaked and he grabbed a cloth and wiped down the inside of my window.

I pulled into the car wash and went through no problems aside from water coming in.

Since she was running so well I decided that I would take her for a run out to the Wave roundabout and back.

I was going no problems until I drove over a pot hole and the hood popped up. Not all the way up mind you it was still latched but I could see that the wind was catching it and it was floating and it really freaked me out.

All I could think was that the hood was going to come flying up and I wouldn't be able to see where I was going. The road is still under construction so there's no shoulder in places and there were no more off ramps until the Wave roundabout.

It seemed a bit funny though that usually I'm very anti going under the speed limit but here I was like so many I'd seen before- too close to the steering wheel, white knuckled, looking terrified and doing 80 on a 100 km/h...


I pulled into the Wave and called Cush to see how I could fix this...I was thinking I would have to get a bungee cord and crawl underneath and somehow strap things together, but no, really I just had to push the hood release back in from above the clutch pedal! Oh man all that worry for nothing. But while I was on the phone with him he invited me out to lunch.


I had nothing better to do and I really like my husband's company so I said yes.


I went home, cleaned up (because just setting foot into the 4x4 somehow makes you dirty), got ready and headed out in my car to meet Cush in Shatti. On the way I was a car behind a car that had very obviously had a bad car accident and was a bit timid and driving slowly, the car behind that car was the kind of impatient guy who tailgates and causes unnecessary stress on an already scared shitless driver.


Me being me, left a fair amount of stopping distance, because I don't want to be the asshole who tailgates a tailgater and gets into a 3 car accident because ...well anyway it would be a 4 car accident because I had some impatient asshole tailgating me as well.


So I did what I usually do, I brake checked him just a little to say hey, back off please because you never know if I have to slam on my brakes for real.


Usually this works like a charm. This time it didn't.


The guy actually passed me on the hard shoulder while doing 60 km/h, pulled right back in front of me by less then a foot and then brake checked me! Can you even fucking believe that?


This shoulder as you might know is under construction all the was from Boushar Police Station to ...like the roundabout just past the Opera House.


I was completely shaken and decided that this time I wasn't going to take it.


I met up with Cush and told him what had happened and that I wanted to to go the police about it.


He said he would check with an Omani friend about the process and whatnot. Luckily our Omani friend got right back to us and said to go for it if that's what I wanted to do. (thanks by the way :) )


We ate lunch and I headed off to the cop shop and told them what had happened.


I was super surprised that they took me so seriously because back home I'm not sure that they would have the time to deal with it.


The ROP looked up the phone number attached to the license plate and called the man who spoke Arabic, and they had a chat. Then the ROP told me to speak to the man.


I was shocked...like seriously, I have to talk to the bugger who could have potientially, seriously harmed me? What on earth would I say that wouldn't get me into trouble? And I don't speak Arabic, so...what's going to be the point?


Also, I'm not actually good at confrontation, I can bitch and complain and moan like the rest of them but to say it to someones face well I guess I'm a bit of a coward because I just can't.

Then the ROP said it was the English speaking sponsor on the phone so that made it a both a bit easier and a bit harder because on the one hand you want to say, hey fuck you for being so wreckless with my life, and other the other hand there's no sense in telling someone else off for what happened. That's not fair either.

So I spoke to the man on the phone and he told me that the man driving the car was ...get this! his driver!


I couldn't believe it! This man is entrusted to drive OTHER people around! Hilarious! I wanted to suggest he train a chimp to drive instead.

We actually had a very civilised conversation that I'm not sure would have been the same if the ROP officer wasn't sitting beside me.

Then again like I said...it wasn't man I was actually speaking to at fault, so really it wouldn't be fair to be all classic Angry In Oman on him.

So...to all those drive like their cars like they stole them you better watch the fuck out that you aren't in front of me, behind me or beside me because I really have nothing better to do then to go to the ROP and report you, and I seriously encourage others to do the same. It really only took 15 minutes tops.