Xiao Xin!

Came home the other day to see a trailer from a tractor-trailer upended just at the end of my street. Al Zahoor is right beside a busy highway, Al Shamal, that runs all the way to the north end of the peninsula. A couple of months ago I asked to move from #4, which is about 20 metres from Al Shamal Highway to the other the corner, #11, which backs onto another residential compound ... one with trees. Such nicer noises ... children playing, bulbuls chirping, with just a muted hum of traffic floating on the breeze. In addition to the noise, I was concerned by several accidents that had occurred on the highway ... and this one was a doozie.
Apparently a trucker lost his brakes and ended up losing control of his truck as well, crashing into the wall/barrier that surrounds a cell tower for Q-Tel. The accident happened at 9:30 and it was 4:30-5 when I arrived home. People were just extricating the trailer as I arrived on the scene ... it was pretty interesting. Although all the helpers were scrambling all over the trailer and crane without any form of PPE and they had not diverted traffic at all, the crane operator was skillful and it all worked out.

I inquired about the driver and was told he had survived ...lucky man! I was really reminded of one of my first classes in Wuxi ... I had the students describing processes and I remember my students Kobe (and maybe James) teaching me how to write 小 心 - Xiao Xin! - Be Careful! That's what I want to say to the folks speeding down the highway ... 小 心 ... or maybe that is entabeh.Today, as we were leaving the compound on our way to a birding ramble at Qatar University, we noticed another truck with its front all smashed in ... just outside the compound gates. Another victim of Al Shamal. Xiao Xin!!