Curve Ball!
A few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic caused all of our countries to react I was driving a hire car in the beautiful state of Texas on my way from an airport to a hotel.
I was on a highway with 4 lanes in each direction and I was in one of the middle 2 lanes following a large truck with cars both sides and behind me when a rear tyre on the truck in front burst and shredded sending a large piece of tyre straight at me.
Now I am an experienced driver (for that you can read getting on in years) so I did not panic but in a second reviewed my options, but penned in as I was, I took what I thought was the safest option by slowing down gently to give the driver behind time to react.
I knew in doing this that the tyre was going to impact the front of my car so I braced for the impact, now I was a little lucky in that the tyre was coming down when it hit me so it impacted the front of the car low down and was forced under it . I then slowly moved over and left the highway at the next exit with a grating noise coming from the front of the car.
On inspection the collision had loosened the front section of the car and the front spoiler was dragging on the ground, I did what I could to reattach it and completed my drive to the hotel without getting back on the highway.
I was actually very lucky that on that occasion I was with one of my colleagues Daniel and he helped me to better secure the front of the car with the help of almost a whole role of duck tape!
Unfortunately the only colour we could get at the local hardware store was bright orange!
I do regret not taking a picture of the finished article as it was quite a sight.
It just shows you that you can never be sure what is around the corner.
I wish you and your loved ones health, happiness and not too many surprises, stay safe.
Simon
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