Chasing Ideals

If you did not read Part 1 this won't make sense so read that first. Well the Polish police arrived and asked for the usual documents and the usual information about what happened. It should be mentioned that one of them spoke a little English much to my joy. I was told early on that I would need to pay 200zloty on the spot for the accident which I guess is there way of making sure that tourists pay their tickets. It took them about an hour to write up the accident report and look through what I and the other driver had as documents. I do not have insurance for Poland but showed them anyway the information I had for my insurance in the United States which I don't think that they bothered to write down or note. From what they told me I have no idea what will happen now as far as whether I will get a bill from the other driver for the damage to his car or what. They simply gave an accident report to me and the other driver that does not mention insurance information and had me pay the 200zloty for the ticket. The only other thing they did for me was to call a tow truck as I knew my car was not safe to drive furthur. I waited then another 45 minutes for the tow truck to arrive. I had been told it would be just a few minutes but it was at least 45 that I waited. I am not upset about this but it is merely an idea about the speed of such things in Poland. Well myself and the tow truck driver exchanged many words which neither I nor he understood except that I agreed to go to his shop as I was somehow assured that he worked on Citroen's. I would find out later that his shop only did body work but that is a later matter. Well we set off and through Krakow and after some time I became concerned that I was being taken out to the country as the distance we traveled was quite far and to the other side of Krakow to a small village. We then started down a small dirt road before eventually reaching his shop which had a fine collection of mangled vehicles out front. This is terrible I know but I do not have time to continue this post and will have to resume later today or tomorrow with the conclusion. Know that I am well and this is far from the end of my story. Since this moment many wonderful things have happened and I am safe and well and staying in Krakow for a few days.

Much has happened since the last posts but for today something more current is on my mind and the other juicy ones will have to wait. Two days ago I arrived in Krakow late in the evening with a car that was not doing well. When I left Lithuania Tuesday I realized at the border that I had a leak in the hydraulic fluid of my car. Not thinking much of it I spent the night near the border and planned Wednesday to make the long haul to Krakow. It was not more than 550 kilometres but in Poland the roads are still less than ideal so it seems much longer. On Wednesday I set out and a few hours into the journey a light came on in the dash saying that the hydraulic fluid pressure was poor. I knew that it was leaking but drove on stubbornly thinking that this was no big problem. By the time I made it to the monstrosity that is Warsaw (sorry to those who like the city) I think most of the fluid must have leaked out because the car was no longer raising up as it should. With Citroen vehicles the hydraulic fluid system acts similarly to shock absorbers for the car and each morning when I start the car the system operates to raise the car up. That is a rather ridiculous explanation I think but I am unable to provide a better one. Anyhow in Warsaw I realized that I could not continue to drive with the fluid being low but at the same time I did not want to try to find a repair shop there because the city is horrible to drive in and my use of Polish does not extend to mechanic language. I instead bought an alternative fluid for the system at a home depot type store and drove on toward Krakow. I should have stopped in one of the smaller cities between Krakow and Warsaw but I had it in my head to get to Krakow so on I went though the car was obviously not liking the loss in fluid. I am rather ashamed now to be writing this but this is as it happened so oh well. I did reach Krakow that night about 10PM and found the place that I would return to in the morning to have it serviced. I then spent the night at a cheap hotel on the outskirts of town. Well Thursday morning then the excitement began. I must say in all of this that I had little awareness of the needs of this type of car or of the importance of the hydraulic system. When I left the hotel to head to the service station nothing seemed amiss at first other than that the car did not raise as it should. Once on the main road however I noticed that the brake was not responsive like it should have been. Before I had any opportunity to exit from the road I swerved but rear ended a car and then had to quickly pull the emergency brake before hitting a building off the side of the road. Luckily the speed I was going was very minimal as I knew that driving while the car was not raised was not easy. The other driver's car had damage only to one corner of his bumper and mine only to the left directional. I am so thankful that the situation was not worse than that. Since neither I nor he could understand one another he called the police and we waited what seemed like a half and hour for them to arrive. Before I continue I will post this as Part 1 and continue with another post because I'm not always sure the posts will go through. Read on please