Poorly Beast

(and I'm not talking about me but the car)

You know the day is not off to a great start when the 'work experience' yodler at the mosque wakes you up instead of the melodic tuneful sound I usually hear. I honestly thought someone was standing over my bed, with a loudspeaker trying to convert me to Islam.

Not long later, but still bleary eyed, I stumbled into the lift and as soon as the doors closed I was alerted to a frantic buzzing sound. Aarrghh. I was sharing the lift with two rather irate hornets. Trapped again! After squealing and dashing around while flapping my hands (thank god we don't have cctv in the lifts) I fell out at the fourth floor and decided to take the stairs. Bearing in mind that it is still dark and our building are obvioulsy too tight to actually provide lights on the stairs it was quite a mission.

Amazingly the day passed without episode and I glady left ready to pack for the upcoming Hari Raya break. After dropping Nic at Central Station, me and Ed (year 4 colleague and hero) happily chatted about our upcoming trips. Pausing at the lights in Brickfields I lamented the lack of aircon and central locking in my new vehicle. Both of which decided to pack it in within days of new ownership.

As the lights turned green I put my foot on the gas. Nothing. I turned the key again. Nothing. Rush hour in Brickfields meant untold amount of horn honking and light flashing behind me. Trying to keep my cool - quite a feat in an unairconditioned car - I tried again, but to no avail. Superstar Ed managed to push the beast to the side of the road (helpfully I was in the outside lane!), with bikes, buses and jeeps whizzing by, and we stood around scratching our heads.

Within seconds Alezandu introduced himself as a mechanic who just happened to be shopping across the road. Out came the tool kit and he tinkered for a good 3/4 of an hour while we sweltered in the sun. Declaring that it was beyond him he disappeared off for help.

Not long later Sara (the boy) joined us and declared it was the coil that was bust - but not before every Tom, Dick and Hari had put their 2 Ringgits worth in. Apparently it was not fixable on the side of the road and we were towed to the most rural part of KL that you could possibly find.

Dozens of mozzie bites and much revving and flicking of switches later we finally convinced Sara to nick the coil from a jeep he happened to be servicing so we could get home. Ed promised that we would go back and return it and be fitted with a new one and I have convinced him it would be bad Karma not to.

It has to be the longest journey home from work ever (and prob the last time Ed will ask for a lift), however it was amazing to be so looked after by random people in the street - What a truly friendly, helpful place this is.