Īfter an eternity of ten minutes, I came across the iron gates of a large house. So I abandoned the car-it was no use to me now-and set off along the road, braving the elements in my oh-so-glamorous hi-vis waterproof. I was all alone, stranded in this empty wood.ĭon't just panic, do something! There must be people living round here somewhere. For fuck's sake! Could today possibly get any worse? With shaking hands, I grabbed my cell phone as if it was a lifeline. Once I got over my initial panic, fear gave way to anger. I got out of the car, shielding myself from the rain as best I could with my raincoat, and went to inspect the damage: a burst tire and a dented fender. More of a fright than anything else, thank god! nothing sticky, thank goodness, just a large bump. My head hit the windshield, and I learned that the story about your life flashing in front of your eyes in a split second wasn't just a myth.Īfter a few foggy moments, I came to and tentatively reached up to where I'd hit my forehead. Ĭome on, Camille, stop feeling sorry for yourself and concentrate on the road. Which explained why I was in this tin can on wheels, navigating the roads on the outskirts of Paris to chase after such small fry. Although I had the unpleasant suspicion that ever since he'd agreed I could work a four-day week, he was making me pay for that favor by giving me the jobs no one else wanted. out there was a small office park, an unlikely collection of PLCs (Profitless companies, I thought to myself) that my boss must have thought offered enough of a commercial opportunity to justify my trip. I was returning from an uncharted wilderness, the sort of area where "you are here" means "you are nowhere." And yet. It has to be said, no GPS would ever have survived the journey I'd just made. And as if the weather and the traffic weren't enough, all of a sudden, in the middle of the dark wood, my GPS gave up the ghost. I squinted as I tried to make out the road signs ahead through the misted-up windows. Anything to avoid the gridlocked highways and the horror of spending hours at a standstill. To avoid the Friday-evening traffic on my way back into central Paris, I had decided to take the back roads through the woods that surround the city. It was an almost biblical storm a car accident was the last thing I needed. The wipers creaked and shuddered and soon the torrents of water were so great that I instinctively took my foot off the accelerator. The raindrops crashing against my windshield grew larger and larger.
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