Driving me crazy

It's been a week of lots of driving. Yes, I have the car all to myself because hubby is not around. And there I go, zipping from east to west to central to west and back to east and further east etc. Unlike when I take a taxi, driving requires some kind of mental checklist, especially if I'm going to an untrodden route. However, with a kid in tow, and having to go to "work", it seems that the night before I will go through my mental checklist of what I should do first, and where to go.

So it could be
1) drive to a breakfast stop (must decide where or within the route I'm going)
2) eat or buy breakfast so that the lil' one is full and will not be cranky
3) send to mother-in-law's place (which will be PIE from east all the way to Pioneer Rd)
4) Or send to mum's place (which will be PIE exit from Eunos all the way to Tampines)
5) Take the PIE route to "work"
6) Go back take PIE to either Pioneer Rd or Tampines depending where the lil' one is. Sometimes another pitstop to get dinner, a bit of groceries/emergencies or fill up the tank.
7) On selected days, take the lil one to his enrichment classes.
8) Drive back PIE to home.

On certain days, I may have to go to some untrodden route or my not-so-usual path like Syed Alwi Road or Pandan Road, that's when I had to get the directory to decide whether to hit the PIE or ECP or otherwise. If I'm not stuck in a traffic jam for some reason, I will get lost.

But this particular experience differs from the usual and I hope it is not an experience to be repeated again. *Pray*

I remembered the first time when hubby left for Alabama and I had the car all to myself. I was driving along PIE from Tampines to Jalan Bahar in the morning rush hour. Afzal was with me because I had to send him to the work childcare and then head off for work. And my car just went dead on the PIE somewhere before Adam Road exit, in the morning rush hour. Yes, with loads of cars behind, in front and around me rushing for work and my car went dead in the middle of the PIE. I could not start the car, and nervous beads of perspiration were raining on my forehead. It did not help that Afzal was wailing in fear of the situation. The car behind honked but he stopped, and he was kind enough to go out of his car to see what happened to mine. He could not start my car either. I wanted to go out of the car, but my son was wailing again. I was embarrassed, shocked and nervous all rolled into one. Frankly speaking, I did not know what to do and wished hubby had been around, not only in my car but in Singapore, that is at that time.

The guy whose car was behind me suggested I called my tow-truck company but before I knew it another tow-truck came. There's so many cctv cameras on PIE, so the LTA will send one tow-truck out should they see a car in distress. We were towed all the way to Adam Road food centre. A distressed mum will be further distressed with a distressed son. So the pakcik tow-truck actually help to carry Afzal to his truck and comfort him until we land safely on Adam Road food centre car park.

That was a nightmare!

The nature of things

My little boy turned six yesterday. It was a quiet celebration at Swensen, with lunch and ice-cream. Well, at least the staff there sang him a birthday song and his two uncles joined us as well. Nenek and datuk were holidaying in Melbourne, but they called in the morning to wish him together with his Aunty Yan and Uncle Nazif. Afzal received a Black Widow water gun from his youngest uncle Suffian.

Since we received two complimentary tickets from his uncle Ayom to the Kids Central Live Show on 31 Aug,we went - only Afzal and mummy, sharing a special time together.

Today, we were at the airport bidding his daddy farewell. Daddy left for US again but this time to Illinois for the next three weeks. After that, mummy brought Afzal to the Kids Central Carnival because the tickets were still valid since it rained heavily the last time. On the way home, we stopped at the coffeeshop beside Kassim Mosque and bought packed dinner. Afzal wanted briyani.

Mummy and Afzal shared a packet of chicken briyani and mummy felt like drinking soda. So mummy relented and shared soda together with the big little boy.

Now, While Afzal is occupying himself with his new remote control car from his Aunt Midah, mummy is feeling blue. Oh well, I will keep myself busy with work for next week while putting Afzal at mum-in-law's place. In this moment in time, that's the nature of things, I guess.