Guardian Angels watching over me....

Guardian Angels watching over me….


Some people would prefer to call it glucklich or lucky but I prefer to believe in Guardian Angels watching over me. They have been working overtime ever since I got to Dusseldorf a few months ago. Here are a few instances I was convinced that they were especially looking out for me…

First was the week I successfully parallel parked on Nordstrasse at the first attempt as I had found a two car empty space. I was thrilled with myself that I did not have to reverse multiple times to squeeze between two cars and I was about to open the driver’s door and punch my fist in the air. Don’t know what instinct made me look in the driver’s side mirror and saw the tram approaching less than 1 ft behind my door – now this is a street which is open to two way tram traffic and only one way vehicular traffic and you park half on the pavement and half on the street. If I had opened the driver side door without looking the car door would have been history and I felt I had to thank my guardian angel for watching over me

Second time I followed a delivery truck into a pedestrian only plaza and got really wild stares from pedestrians who were walking there. I knew I was in trouble when the delivery truck parked and carried items into one of the stores and I found myself in a cul de sac with no exit.

I parked my car and walked into the first store that I saw. It was one selling infant clothes. Since my German was rudimentary, I explained my predicament in English. The store keeper could not understand me, but she found a colleague who could. I told her I was new to Dusseldorf and did not know my way around and had followed the delivery truck into the pedestrian zone.

Both of them conferred with each other and then the lady who could speak English told me to go out the opposite way and drive to my left and I would join the main road. I drove out in the direction that she had pointed and found myself on tracks which were solely for trams and not open to other vehicular traffic as they were doing some major renovation work on that stretch of the road. I had visions of encountering a tram going in the opposite direction and drove off with my heart in my mouth as there was no way to turn and go back. I reached a traffic light and found I was perpendicular to other traffic.

As soon as the traffic light turned green I made an illegal left turn to be on the same side as the rest of the traffic on the street. Was definitely sure that my guardian angel was looking out for me both on the tram tracks and at the traffic light and that is how I escaped becoming an accident statistic.

Third time I found two guardian angels in physical form. I was out doing my weekly errands – laundry, throwing away the different recycling items – paper, glass bottles etc., Some time back I had lost my wallet, so I was extra careful to lock the car door after I had the boot opened. I placed the car keys in the boot, so as not to accidentally throw it out with the items for recycling.

I threw away all the papers, cardboard and the coloured bottles in the different recycling bins and then shut the boot door with the keys safely in the boot of the car. So there I was locked out of my car with my handbag with wallet and phone sitting in the passenger seat of the car.

I must have looked totally shell shocked as I crossed the street and met a couple walking on the opposite side. I asked them if I could use their phone – they looked at my face and asked me what was wrong. I told them that my car was on the other side of the street and I had accidentally locked myself out of it. They asked what I would like to do and I said I wanted to call my husband who could give me his keys and I would be able to open the car door and drive away.

They asked how I would get the keys from my husband and I told them that I would take a cab there. They asked if his office was too far away and I said no, just 15 mts away and they offered to drive me there to get the keys as long as I could direct them. They were new to Dusseldorf like me and had arrived just 10 days earlier. They drove me to my husband’s office, where I collected the second set of keys and money for the cab and returned to pick up my car and went on my way to finish rest of my errands...