Damsel in distress

There are times in the life of a PhD student, when things go wrong. Small things, big things, things that would normally be small but feel big because you are so stressed out or you don't have the money to sort them out like normal people would. Very often, my friends and family have made the difference between something being just annoying instead of being unmanageable. Unfortunately, there are times, when your friends and family aren't there to help. 

I want to tell you a story about a complete stranger rescuing a damsel in distress... me (of course, although I am not sure what it takes to be a "damsel")... 

On Sunday, I took a couple of friends to Stellenbosch for a truly lovely day in the winelands. On the way there, about 20 m from the farm, my car started to beep a warning. This meant, that despite a really lovely afternoon, in the back of my head was a constant worry about whether my car was going to give problems on the way home. I want to say that I love my car. It has actually been a very reliable little car and drove me all the way to Luderitz and back. However, it is not a new car, and I have had a fair amount of experience breaking down over the years that I know what a mission it can be and I definitely had no wish to break down on the N2. 

On the way back, things were looking OK. In fact, I was beginning to think we were home free when the warning light came on. I pulled off the highway and in to the first garage I could find. This happened to be in Rosebank, at the Caltex garage on Klipfontein Road. I tried to put in water, but the radiator kept bubbling over and then we noticed that it was just leaking out from the radiator hose. 

The petrol attendant (that I don't know at all, because this isn't one of my usual garages) was so helpful, and was on his knees under the car looking to see if we could spot the hole. We decided to wait for the car to cool down, and I went to see if some friends (with general practical know-how) that I know in the neighbourhood were home, but unfortunately they were not. 

When I got back, the petrol attendant (who's name, in all the panic and confusion, I never actually got because I was all distracted about being stressed - I feel like a real tool now for not asking) came over again to see if he could help me. He also enlisted the help of another man that he knew. We bought some insulation tape, and for the next hour (at least), these two heroic strangers patched up my car. Occasionally they let me pretend to be helpful and hold the cellphone torch for them, but mostly I chatted to the man's children (in rudimentary Afrikaans) and showed them how to use my wind up torch (which was much less help at providing light than the petrol attendant's phone) and the second man's wife (Charmaine) who called me ma'am even though I was just some silly girl with a broken car (I told her not to and introduced myself). 

Eventually, we were able to get water to stay in the pipes and the declared me able to drive home (straight home, no detours - I was instructed!) Unfortunately, I had spent my last cash on the insulation tape, and had nothing to thank these two heroes with. I obviously gave the kids the torch, but was feeling like a bit of a fool, when the petrol attendant subtly slipped a R50 note in to my hand and told me not to say anything but give it to the other man. 

I went to get money to pay back the petrol attendant, and when I came back to give it to him, he wouldn't take it. He told me that money is not important to him, people are and he knows what it is like to be stuck on the side of the road. We chatted a little, and he was an amazing, sincerely kind man. I eventually just shoved the money on to him and kind of skipped away with many more thank yous. It was very humbling to be shown such generosity of spirit from someone that many people won't even notice when they fill up with petrol and hand over their small change. Hopefully, if you read this, you will feel inspired to do something nice for a stranger...