“Cars destroy. Roads kill.”

Back in 1988 I got drunk with Dmitri and the rest of the East 6th Street bikers. The tyranny of DWI and DUI was in its infancy and I returned home on Park Avenue on my 1966 Triumph Trophy, which was a writing job bonus from Monty Montgomery, a Coca-Cola heir. It was in concourse condition, because rich people know how to take care of things.

Not me.

At 53rd and Park I swerved to avoid a pothole and the bike surrendered to gravity. I was tossed onto the pavement like an abandoned rag doll and the Triumph slid to the curb. Crash. No more concourse condition, but I had no broken bones and drove the damaged bike back to the garage on East 11th Street, thinking any accident you can walk away from is a good one.

The next day my body felt like John Gotti’s shylocks had beaten me with baseball bats over a welched bet, but I was lucky to be alive and repeated this luck last September when a racing thai motorcyclist swerved to miss a pothole on Thappraya Road in fron of Fat Tony’s 90 baht Spaghetti restaurant and struck my handlebars.

He was at fault but so was the city of Pattaya for failing to complete the four-lane expansion of Thappraya Road and it’s not only dangerous for drivers, but pedestrians as well, as a Swedish tourist demonstrated by falling through a construction hole. Of course she should have been watching where she was going and Thais feel she would have never had gotten into this accident if she had stayed home where she belonged, instead of traveling 11 hours to fall into a ditch.

I tried to explain destiny to them.

“Waat-nah.” They considered fate inevitable. “Whatever will be will be.”

So everything that happens to you is already written in the stars regardless of your beliefs in freedom of chocice which only really exists at fast food shop.

Happy Meal #3 or #4?

Me, I would avoid Thappraya Road at all times.

And I bet it doesn’t get done, because Manhattan Steak House is unwilling to give up their parking lot.

10 to 1 odds.

For a related article click on this URL

https://www.mangozeen.com/motorcyle-accident.htm