by davidbonnie | Apr 26, 2015 | Other Writing |
Yesterday morning at approximately 08.37 as I was sliding face down on the wet and treacherously smooth surface of Phya Thai road, I was thinking, ‘I’m alive’. That makes me an optimist. Approaching the traffic lights, sets of which there are many in Bangkok, I changed down through the gears and stepped gently on the back brake of my new Triumph Speed Triple and began to slow to about 40 kph. About 40 yards out the rear tire let go (of it’s grip on the road) and consequently the rear end of the bike began to slide in a sideways motion. In the moments before parting company with the bike I tried to keep upright but as the tire re-engaged with a dry patch of infamously perilous Thai road surface I was high-sided. As motorcycle falls go, a low-side is usually less damaging as the rider slides off the bike as it slides onto it’s side. A high-sider flips the rider over the front end of the bike. Standing up, I knew immediately that I had dislocated my right shoulder; I did not want to touch it because I knew what I would feel; the empty cup of the scapula and the missing humerus! It’s funny how after so many accidents and sports injuries over the years one has an instinct for such things! I have offered a lot of criticism in the past of Bangkok taxi drivers and Motorcycle taxi drivers but it was two of the very same, one each, who came to my aid in my time of trouble. Between them they picked up the bike...
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