The following events took place within the last few weeks.
Roughly a month ago we decided to go for a bicycle ride. It was a nice warm evening. Everything looked good. We put on sports clothes and were about to exit when I got an idea that it would be good wash the dishes. It took less than five minutes and off we went.
In 15 minutes we reached 1-1.5 km long and absolutely straight part of the road. Next minute, ahead of us rose 7-10 metres high column of what looked like a white smoke. It rose right next to the road and I thought that that was one strange place to make fire. In next couple of minutes, we got to the source of the "smoke". In fact, it was a steam from the radiator of a car in the ravine on the left side of the road. The other car - massive 4x4 vehicle - was in the ravine on right side of the road. There were no fatalities, but a young mother was trying comfort a child in deep shock.
As it turned out, the 4x4 thing drove into the opposite lane (to the left) and forced a smaller car off the road. Hence, the steam. However, there was a minor collision between the cars that sent the 4x4 to the right. Had I not washed the dishes, our trajectories would have crossed with rather high probability. For us, there would have been no way to dodge the car as it would have hit us from behind. Given its speed and mass, we would have flown 20-25 metres before hitting the ground in the bush.
I was driving on a roundabout couple of weeks ago, and while exiting it, I spotted a car that was approaching from a side road. It actually never stopped to give way, and I slipped through right in front of its nose. I don't think it was more than 2-3 metres away from the right front door of our car.
Then there was a very close lightning strike I wrote about elsewhere.
There was one more close call in the traffic when yet another car failed to give way to me. It was also no more than couple of metres away when I drove through.
There you are - all good reminders of a true state of affairs.
