It was a rather out-of-the-ordinary weekend spent. If you are on my Facebook, you would have read that the marathon organisers started the Orchard Road road closure just 5 minutes after hubby left me waiting at Cineleisure to go pick up his car at Mandarin Hotel next door. He didn't want me to walk too much, so he took my heavy bag (containing 2 iPads thats why) and the guitar and went down to get his car.
After 10 min, i was like, ok he lost his way in the carpark again... coz thats what always happens lol.
After 20 min, i was like, hmm did he get robbed and then knocked unconscious in the carpark?
After 25 min, i started praying frantically for safety and protection while my legs got terribly numb and my back started to ache. I got no phone to call, no money to buy a phone card.
I could only wait.
30 min - I saw a familiar figure sprinting towards me and waving at me at the same time. It was hubby!
Relief instantly swept over me and next I thought 'kaoz u not young liao, still run so fast, what if you break a bone?!'. Before he reached me, he let out a pent-up 'Fuck the road closure!' and then came to grab my hand.
Oh there was a road closure along Orchard Road. Then while he led me to the main Orchard Road, he explained that he couldn't leave the carpark by the entrance where I was, so he exited by the other way, and realised there was a road closure. He had to go ALL THE WAY to Newton and u-turned down to Orchard again. Then, he was stopped by the road closure again at Cairnhill Road, and I was at the opposite side of Orchard Road at Grange Road. He was forced to turn left to go down to Orchard Road and no one could tell him how to get across to the other side so he could pick me up.
Out of worry and desperation, he turned left and stopped the car, despite the traffic (there was only 2 lanes operating i think). He told an uniformed officer about the situation and was allowed to jump over the safety barrier to get me.
As we headed to the car, another uniformed officer looking extremely pissed told us off in a loud voice that we couldnt be doing things this way. Hubby protested "My wife is pregnant and has been waiting for me for 30 minutes!". The officer continued rambling in anger and said that he has to take picture of the car so he could report it. He promptly took out his phone and snapped pictures of our car that was in the way. I was too overwhelmed to say anything (dumb me) and allowed hubby to just lead me to the car.
On the way back, I was thinking, it simply wasn't fair that the officer just accused us of flouting the traffic laws. Sure, the marathon organisers have gotten the official approval from the necessary authorities for the road closure and they were just doing their job. But they could not deny that there was also a lack of advice and expertise in the sense that the officers could not advise my hubby on how to go about picking me up!! They were just concerned about the traffic flow, rushing hubby to carry on driving and were not ready or understanding at all for unique situations like this.
Hubby didn't stop the car to buy a drink or answer a phone call. He stopped the car by the road because of the road closure and also there was a valid medical concern for me as a pregnant lady who gets leg numbness after standing for too long and it may result in spotting (it has happened before). Why should he be fined for this?!
I can accept a warning letter (without point deduction or fine), I can accept that the officer go and buy 4D on our car number. Just don't let me see any red letter in the mailbox.
No comments:
Post a Comment