Vicky Biccy's Blog

The thing I never wanted to happen has happened

I’m a commuter. Each morning I get up in the dark to join the thousands of car-clad travellers on the noisy motorway. I regularly pass breakdowns or accidents on the hard shoulder, and I have to confess that my first thought on such occasions is ‘I hope that never happens to me’.

Well, today it did. I broke down on the motorway in rush hour. The battery light had come on, then the radio went, then the lights, and I turned onto the hard shoulder just as the car conked out.

So I did what any independent, grown up woman would have done… I called my Dad. After that, I called the RAC. As I stood behind the crash barrier in my coat and gloves searching the traffic for a bright orange van, I thought… It wasn’t as bad as I had feared. I didn’t crash, I hadn’t caused a 16-mile-long traffic jam, and I’d even brought a scarf with me.

Sometimes our fears can seem big and dramatic and scary. But the reality is often much more mundane. I got a bit cold, I didn’t get to work, and I’ll probably have to buy a new alternator for the car. Minor disruption, really. It’s like those big scary shadows on the wall in your childhood bedroom. When you turn on the light and find out it’s just a teddy bear, you realise there wasn’t anything to be scared of.
 

Created on Thu 15th January 2009 14:20