I am so lucky to know so many good friends via my work on the little web site and I have got so many responding from the friends from about 30 countries.

Mr. John Eric is one of the hardest working friends. He always works over 11 hours in his office and starts his work from very early morning, even in his holiday time. He is quite busy manager, but, maybe for one of his ancestors had got the Nobel Literature Award, he can often write a long long letter as a novel... :-)

When I was reading the end part of his letter on 2 days ago, I could not help to smile. After getting the permission by him, I publish his letter as a “novel” or anything you want to say and hope you enjoy it. :-)

If you would like to share anything fun and positive from your cultures here, if you have any questions, comments and suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn , or shirleyz004@yahoo.com, You are welcomed to publish your opinions in the forum. too. :-)

--Shirley
Saturday, Sep 24, 2006

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MOOSE

By John Eric (Norway)


When I left office at 5:45AM to go to the airport for a business meeting, it was dark and my first half hour of drive was through forest and mountains roads.

At daylight it is a beautiful view, I pass rivers and lakes through wooden mountain landscapes. But at night it is dark and when my headlights lights up the road with forests at each side, the way look like a lighted hole where the sides of the hole is the forest and the mid of the hole is the road.

I go to work through a black hole.

There are moose signs here and there because this is a Norwegian mountain district and in such districts there are much wild animals, such as moose.

Moose are big animals, often over 2 meters tall and the biggest moose bull can be over 1000kg.

When I was driving in 110km/h through the swinging roads down the forest alley, I had my thoughts in the meeting in Trondheim later today.

Suddenly my thoughts were disturbed by a 1 meter long brown face just to the right of my windscreen window. A big wide open brown eye starred at me.

A moose was pretty close and indistinctly I turned my car over to the left. In less than a second my car got a hit and my car started to spin uncontrollable.

I used all my car driving skills to get it back on the road and I managed it after swinging over the entire road from side to side until I had stabilized it.

500 meters down I stopped, and a car stopped behind me.

Two army officers in their 40's had driven right after me and saw the whole accident, and they wanted to check me up in the case of injury. I was in a kind of shock and they told that after hitting me, the moose had made a pirouette as in skating, fallen flat and disappeared into the deep and brown forest.

When we inspected my car, there was not even a dent in the car, and obviously the moose had slided along the side with its soft skin just touching and polishing the side of my car with its hairy skin.

I had been just at the right fraction of place at the right fraction of time and used just the right fraction of my reflexes to steer away and had managed to control my spinning car in 110km/h by just some right fractions of driving skills.

This situation consisted of many different fractions, and when I collect them all together - they comprise what is called plain luck.

It was not my time.

A modern car as my Toyota Versi has a BIG front window area, and if the car hits a moose standing right in front of a car, the sloping front of the car will efficiently act as a ramp and lead the moose over the window and through the window and fill the car interior.

Most often a moose will be severely hurt in such accidents, but its reflexes make it kick and kick with its long and heavy feet.

The ambulance people reports that in half the cases when a moose has entered inside a car due to a moose collision, the people inside have been killed by the kicking moose.

Sigh.

It was not my time yesterday.

Did I drive slower and more careful the next morning?

Yes of course, cause it is difficult to avoid a moose because it has the same color as the forest - brown.

It is a matter of luck.

And I have driven this way to work twice every day for 1 1/2 years - without seeing a moose before yesterday.

I confess that I was in shock and that I have got much to think about later.

The first day gave me something interesting to think about, and after I had digested my thoughts, I see that the moose incident has changed my life.

I am a man that always has managed to keep my back free.

I am master to have a hidden card under my sleeve and bring it up in open air to save a difficult situation.

Suddenly Monday morning at 5:45AM - after a 1 meter long brown and hairy moose face with a big brown eye suddenly appeared centimeters from my car, I understood that I have no hidden card against such situations.

They might be there at any time, and it is impossible to protect myself unless I go by train.

From now on, my welfare is a question of statistics, my back will never be free anymore.

-- John