Small mercies..........

I made a decision last week that I will not be buying my usual bus card, since I will soon be off to Naija. The consequences of this decision has been that I have been forced to ride my bicycle......everywhere. When I mean everywhere, I really mean it, to the mall, to the grocery store, to the city, everywhere. So far, it has been going well, except that one time I decided to cut across the woods cos I couldn't be bothered to go around the fucking forest. That was a very bad idea, first of all, there were no paths or trails, and it was scary as hell, I kept expecting to meet a few devil worshippers or something. Anyway, I decided to go swimming today, yep, first swim of the year, I love outdoor pools, something about the environment, kids, teenagers, sausages, ice-cream, sun cream, I just love it, I'll blog about that next time. Anyway, I rode there with my friend Maria, we had a great time, decided to head to her house for lunch. Her house was quite far and the journey quite gruelling, over and under tunnels, across parks, highways, woods, men, I thought it will never end. Just as we were getting to the end of our journey(10mins left), the bicycle track was downhill and split in two, I saw Maria in front, making a right, I was riding down, in full speed, for some unknown reason, Maria suddenly slowed down, look, I was in my own world, by the time I noticed her, I knew a collision was going to take place, there was nothing I could do.......I hit her bicycle right in the middle....everything was like slow motion......I saw myself flying across her.....my head first......right before my head hit the asphalt, I thought..... blood...ambulance......blood.......I am done for......my head hit the road hard......I heard the sound of my helmet...I felt my head bounce back up.......what the fuck? no blood? I am not dead? I slowly lifted my head up......looked at my hands, both palms were bleeding, skin hanging loose, my knees scraped, my shoulder bruised, I sat on the road....took off my helmet......touched my head......nothing......looked at helmet.....a big fucking dent. I was amazed, that helmet, the blue one that I hated so much. The funny thing is when I left home this morning, I left without it, I was already on my way when I suddenly decided to go back and fetch it. Ten minutes before that freak accident, my helmet was just on my head, I did not "tighten" it or anything, but I felt I should and I did, this happened a few minutes before the fall. I am grateful today, for small mercies, I am really grateful.