Wow! We are so excited to have our new mini on the road and even more excited to have the new signage on it. Having your business intentions plastered onto your car brings things into a greater reality, it is absolutely amazing.
We are getting stopped by people, they are asking for brochures, kids are waving to us, people are looking with curious interest.
So on this lovely Labor Day public holiday Paul and I took a drive through the greenery, up the lovely sweeping hills of the very well-to-do suburb of Berwick. We have been teaching there for 5 weeks now and we were having breakfast and chatting with the locals.
Inside a venue we were happily chatting when we hear a distant voice call out "hello, the owner of the red mini in there?" We answer "yes" and start making our way to the front door. The stranger calls out "well you better come quick cos its making its way down the hill".
Shocked and in disbelief, we hurriedly make our way to the street. Sure enough, the mini is not parked where we left it and as I look down the street, my eyes take in the unexpected scene in front of me.
I see a small group of men, another car and an ambulance! My mind is reeling, I cant see the front of the mini, I cant see the underneath but they are all looking at the underneath... is there a person trapped? did the mini hit someone? maybe a dog? god I hope not a child! Please no!
I couldnt look anymore, I felt sick, my heart was pounding, I was babbling incoherently to our friend and had started biting my nails. Paul was down there with the car, looking underneath, cars were pulling up to take in this spectacle or maybe to help, I couldnt look, I turned away.
I'll save you the rest of the drama and shoot straight to the end of this story, our brand new mini has made its way down the hill, across two lanes of traffic, through an interesection. As it veered across the road a driver was cut off and started honking his horn "stupid driver, why dont you look where you're going" he shouts at the mini. Then he realises, there IS no driver. He thinks quick, stops his own vehicle in the middle of the three lane road and proceeds to run after the mini. Another guy sees him, sees the mini and pulls over to the side of the road. He starts running after the mini. They jump in front of the mini and start pushing as hard as they can, sliding down the Berwick hill. They manage to slow the mini as it enters an intersection and starts veering towards trees and a light post. Finally, they stop the vehicle just at the curb of the road and rest its bumper against the concrete.
My little mini was left completely unharmed! Not a scratch! It didnt hit anything, no-one got in its path and fortunately for us, the mini doesnt weigh too much so these two amazing citizens put their strength in front of it and stopped it from causing havoc!
Paul and I were in complete shock and disbelief, what an amazing sequence of events.
The moral of the story? Make sure you leave your car IN GEAR when parking on a hill... or anywhere! Our sincere thanks to Douglas and the other nameless fellow that saved our mini!
We're off to buy a lotto ticket now!
Phew
PS : This photo is the lovely Paul from Sign-a-rama in Dandenong, we highly recommend them if you need great signage
