I had three hours to burn until I needed to be at work, but what to do? Wednesdays always provide this wonderful dilemma of too much time to myself. Food, I decided, was first on the list. Bowling and some billiards would follow. Yes. Splendid.
Off I went.
I bought it last week, by the way. Two-hundred cc's of iron, steel, and speed; quite an upgrade from an aging 125cc plastic scooter. George I call him, short for George Hanson. He crouched easily on the sidewalk, looking solid and expectant. Nine days of driving had totally convinced me that my scooter was a waste of time; this was what two-wheeled transportation was all about: chrome, gears, and style.
I strode easily across the street, strapping on my helmet as I went. Afternoon sunshine slid hotly down from over the rooftops and onto my bike. I unlocked the bike and it started like a burst of hungry thunder. I backed out and left. The first light ahead of me turned green as I got to it and I went across the intersection with a burst of throttle.
Past the market I went, and then around an old woman on a 50cc junker that belched blue-black smoke like some kind of rotting dragon. A touch of brakes as I went over the canal. The beast beneath me grumbled and I gave it 4th gear.
45km/hr, then 50.
The road was straight and brightly lit by the hazy Asian sun. Traffic was light and the dotted center line skipped past my tires. The next light turned yellow and I slipped past. A few blocks to Chong De Road and then on to Subway.
Hah.
Taiwan is full of tiny intersections that lack both stoplights and stop signs. Instead, they leave right of way and all that important stuff to the judgement of the people on the road, and if you've ever driven in Asia that's not necessarily a good idea. I approached one of these intersections, as I had done a hundred times before, and then, as they say, shit happened.
As I breasted the crosswalk a white sedan slid half-way into the intersection and then stopped to check for cross-traffic. I jumped on the brakes and the front of the bike jackknifed, searching for purchase, and then disappeared. I guess I was airborne, I don't really know. I remember the pavement rushing up to my face at a speed too horrible to contemplate. I remember the crunch and grind of metal on asphault, accented by the plastic slap of my helmet. I slid, rolled, and stood up, staggering to the side of the road trailed by a string of expletives.
Jesus. I just dumped the bike.
I ripped my helmet off and looked up.
A Taiwanese woman was standing on the corner with that "Oh-my-God-he-crashed" look on her face. She babbled something at me in Chinese.
"I just fucking crashed," I said, I think.
Then I turned, went back to my defunct motorcycle and we helped each other limp to the street corner. I dropped the kickstand and took a deep breath.
My right hand was missing several ounces of flesh, some of which was dangling on a two inch strip from my palm. Road burns coated both of my elbows and I could feel more on my left shoulder. I could see blood and more road rash through the hole in my jeans on my right knee. Nothing broken. No dizziness. Right. Next.
I called Micki, but she was in class. I called my boss, Betty, and she answered. I gave her the short version and she made sure I was alright and then telephoned my branch. I called Jon and he said he was going to jump on his scooter and head down right away, he'd be there in five minutes. Phoebe, my head CT called me and I explained the last few, unfortunate minutes to her as tersely as I could. She assured me help was on the way.
Then I heard the sirens.
How strange, I thought. I just bit the dust in front of half a dozen people at least, driving or otherwise, and was offered no help of any kind. It struck me as odd that someone would call an ambulance.
I peered up the street and saw several police officers waving cars to a standstill and scooters off the road. What the...
I answered my cell phone.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Nik. It's Betty. Listen, we have a big situation, no one can drive in the streets."
I looked at the intersection with confusion. My bike wasn't in the road, and neither was I. No one else was bothered by my crash. What was she talking about?
"What?" I said. The sirens rose and fell.
"No one can drive" she said. "No traffic from 3:30 until 4:00 because of the air raid drill."
"Those are the Sirens?"
"Yes."
"Oh," I said. "Shit."
I checked the time: 3:33.
Now, I'm certain, I think, that if I was greviously injured an ambulance would have been allowed on the street to help me. But, as it was, I was mostly fine, and had no choice but to stand on the side of the road and bleed quietly.
It is with considerable difficulty that I write this, my first entry in several months. It just took me around 45 minutes to change all of my bandages. My hand is the worst. There is a circle about and inch and a half across on the heel of my hand that is without several layers of skin. Iodine feels like napalm on a wound like that, by the way. There is a smaller, similar wound, right beneath my pinky, but that one is considerably easier to deal with. I've got a good deal of road rash on my elbows and left shoulder and my right knee is bloodied and sore. My right elbow and left shoulder feel as though they were hit with a baseball bat.
Other than that, though, yea, I'm ok.
And yes, you're right, it could have been worse. My friend Andrew went headfirst into a car on Shwang Shi road and broke both of his legs. Luckily, I wear a really big helmet and the only thing I hit was the pavement. The bike is a little worse for wear, but overall the damage for both of us is strictly cosmetic. My thanks to the folks at China Medical for patching me up.
I took Wednesday and today off to rest up. I have three classes to teach before Sunday and then I'm a camp counselor/teacher for a week-long Hess summer camp in Singapore. So, I need to be as healed as I can get in 3 days; which won't be much. I know I'm way overdue for this entry, so here it is. Somehow, standing on a backstreet corner bleeding slightly into a wad of tissue after my first driving accident in Taiwan during an air raid drill struck me as a good story.
Drive safe.
Nik