when the brakes go and other tales of broken things

Scene 1: road. female scooter commander maneuvering like something out of a video game in effort to survive another afternoon commute to work. a row of traffic lights, red, then in a wave, green. without haste, traffic regains its pace. taxi driver, 2 o'clock, disregards his own red light and attempts to proceed through the steady stream of on-coming traffic. nearest to kissing yellow metal, yours truly. brakes applied. unfamiliar snap. no slowing, no halting. left hand brake makes contact with handlebar and does not recoil.

make a face and brace for impact. this is gonna hurt.

or not.

freeze. for the next second or two, surrounding world appears to have paused during which time the current situation and inevitable fate become apparent.

enter plot twist. impending doom rejected. taxi slows and a last second duck and dodge save the day.

new hobby, dodgeball. after all, if you can dodge a taxi, you can dodge a ball.

Scene 2: kitchen. after a long run, thirsty apartment dweller seeks glass of H2O refreshment. open cabinet door below sink to check water filter. cabinet door falls off.

Scene 3: bathroom. afore mentioned apartment dweller seeks post-jog shower. turn on tub faucet. turn on shower. shower head falls off into tub below.

* Side note: In the story of the brakes going, under normal circumstances, the right hand brake (front brake) would have come to my aid. However, it just so happened my scooter was due to have the oil changed and front brake tightened that week, so I really had basically no stopping power. What a time for the brakes to go, when faced with what appeared to be inevitable impact! Thankfully things worked out differently.