Yup, 2009 is full of surprises! Unfortunately, they have been more of the wrong kind...or rather the UNwanted kind...
And yup, my "rollercoaster ride" in Life has changed direction once again. Hopefully it's just a minor dip. Frankly, what had happened could have been much worse...considering. So, I'm kinda momentarily encouraged to hope for better times ahead.
Well, it hapened yesterday - 090309. It did start kinda like a good day. I had sms-ed my good wishes & greetings to my fav grandson on the occasion of his birthday...here I go again...Happy Birthday, dear J!! So sorry yr grandpa could not share that special day with you in person due to reasons only your dad can explain. However, do feel assured that your grandpa was with you in thoughts that day till this unfortunate event occured...which took my thoughts away from you...
Yup, we had just come back from replenishing our supply of RO water from a nearby RO dispensing machine. And, as planned, me wanted to take my other half for a walk-walk session at the local Tesco as well as to re-stock a few items which were running low.
My other half was waiting in the car. I re-entered the car after taking in the bottles of RO water. As is always done, I then engaged reverse gear & started moving (luckily slowly...) backwards out of our porch. A loud "Poang!!"... coupled with metallic sounds of our autogate! OMG! Was the gate still closed? It was! Unfortunately so...
I moved the car forward and both got down to inspect the damage. The metal autogate was pushed out of its tracks! Luckily our gate had a hinged part and therefore it was just pushed outwards at the hinges. The only visible damage was to the end of the gear tracks for the autogate motor...the toothed bar was bent in the direction as indicated in the pic below :
Using an ole trusty hammer, I managed to straighten the bar back into its original position ... more or less. That was the least of my worries, though.Yup, damage to our only mode of transport? Our good ole PS. How was it? Me just had a nasty case of a shattered windscreen recently. Thank God it was none the worse...most probably due to the more mobile gate which moved outwards on impact...thus saving our car from any harm!! That was a good, even great feeling!! Or else it would have been a double tragedy!
However, that good feeling was kinda shortlived. On closer inspection, it was found that on impact, the micro-switch spring lever, that actuated the on-off functions of the autogate motor, was totally broken off! 
The first pic shows the front of the autogate motor w/o the actuator micro-switch spring lever and the 2nd pic shows the broken off spring lever with its rubber cover.
A replacement appeared to be the only solution...after me had tried to improvise my own "repair" but failed miserably!
Well, for now, it appears that our autogate is now temporarily a "manual" sliding gate.
To cut short the developments in this little "saga", a rep from the autogate supplier & installer had inspected the damage & confirmed that a replacement micro-switch is possible but unfortunately he did not have any in stock at the moment. However he will order for one but that will take a couple of days...
Rainy days appear to be here. So here's hoping that the replacement would be done soon & Lot 10 can be back to its normal safe & peaceful existence once again soon...
Wish us luck, won't you? Thanks...
ps. As me told my other half...in the midst of all the emotions...the above incident is just an example of many that we all have to go through in Life...solutions are purely monetary. They should be considered as minor incoveniences and should not be allowed to interfere with our overall quest for happiness in Life. Remember the "10/90 Philosophy" thingey?
UPDATE @1:20pm : Great news! The supplier rep found a new replacement micro-switch in stock!! Lucky me!! Now our autogate is back up & working normally again ...and yup, with its characteristic loud "bump" on closing each time lo...hehe...
And all for only RM90! Including labour charges. That's what me call real good service...and truly so at such bad times! Thanks a meg, Ah J!!
PEACE is back at Lot 10...
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