Having a bad day.

It started off very normal. A district meeting 3 hours away, in a city on the bay, ( San Francisco Bay Area), beautiful weather, the freeway was fast moving, no accidents or rubberneckers slowing down the traffic flow. A cup of truck stop coffee still hot in my cup holder, news station on the radio telling me about events that happened over night. I wouldn’t be late for the meeting, and I was prepared for my presentation. Yeah, it couldn’t be better! Right? Oh no - that’s when things go sideways. The universe messes with you. Shit happens!

And it did, just about Berkeley, or Oakland. The traffic started slowing down. I could see something happening on the side of the road, a VWbug with the engine compartment open and the driver peering into it. Nothing serious, no cops, no mangled car wreckage or dead bodies….just curious rubber neck drivers slowing down to look. That pisses me off. Just drive! We’ve all got places to be. Aagh! I can see why road rage happens.

just as I get about 20 feet from the car, a spray of liquard shot out from the engine, and the male driver jumped back, to avoid getting soaked. He had a wrench in his hand, and a rag. He was dressed in a business suit. As I came level to his car, with my window wound down, I could smell the gasoline, and hear the engine still running. I could also see that the spray had turned to a stream, pouring out of the engine compartment and running down the hillside towards a gas station.

It didn’t look serious, as in deadly serious, in fact, it looked kind of funny. An old VW bug, broken down, losing all its fuel. So typical of Bugs.

But then things got real, quickly. All of a sudden, flames shot out of the engine compartment, and smoke. A driver about 4 cars behind me, got out of his car with a fire extinguisher and started to spray the area where the fire was burning. But it was too late. The fire started running down the steep hill following the small river of petrol escaping from the VW bug. Before we knew it, it reached the gas pumps, and then not only was the structures in the bay catching on fire, but the actual gas pumps were on fire. A giant explosion boomed out, as the pump with a nozzle lying on the ground from a motorist fleeing the fire caught on fire. His car caught on fire, the main office, and retail shop caught on fire. It quickly became bedlam. And I and every car on the freeway had a birdseye view of the drama occurring below us. The traffic was dead stopped, as drivers left their cars to stand on the side of the road to watch. The highway patrol came on the scene, and started announcing over their loudspeakers for all drivers to get back in their cars and move them out of the traffic lanes. At the same time four fire engines showed up at the fire engulfed gas station, sirens screaming, lights flashing, and started battling the blaze. People were running around like crazy. Firemen in yellow slickers and helmets and pulling hoses were rushing to hotspots . And then I had to drive off. I had a meeting to attend. I would be late, but I had a crazy story to tell.

So the bad day wasn’t on me, but for the driver of the VW bug, definitely. And the gas station owner, manager, really bad. And for the unlucky gas pumpe customer, also the wrong place at the wrong time. But for everyone else watching, well, let’s just say shit happens. Just not for us this time.