Sunday, 04-Sep-11 14:09:00 CEST

No model session the 21st of November 2010

On November 21st there were train problems. I was late to the session at de Stoker. I hate being late. I hate it so much in fact that I make sure I come on time most of the time. Due to the train problems I had to take another route to the gallery. I had still not got used to travel by train, metro, tram and bus in Amsterdam.

Normally I arrive by line 13 but now I arrived by line 7. The tram stations in Amsterdam are normally narrow islands in the middle of the road. The tram stopped at de Kinsbergen Street and I stepped out of the tram.

BAM!

I was colliding. I remember this moment in slow motion. The collision was not painful as such but I was colliding and I was flying. Since my memory turned this moment into a slow motion clip this moment of flying became longer in my memory than it was in reality. Eventually I came down on the street and the vehicle I had been colliding with drove up over my leg and stopped on my chest. If you are having motor bikes running up your leg then you know that that hurts. I maybe said it or I was only thinking it but one of the first things I thought was “I flew three meters, wow”.

My stuff was everywhere. I picked wallet, coins and pencils from the street. My leg ached and I tried to collect myself. I was lying on the ground and the entire tram could witness my misery. The conductor called an ambulance. I did not pass out. The driver of the tram said that they had a schedule to follow so they were leaving. The conductor closed the doors and now I was lying on the middle of the street and next to me was the offender. It was an unhappy offender but it was an offender. “The next time you step out of a tram you should look more carefully”. I looked around; everywhere I could see prohibition signs against vehicles next to a still standing tram. There were signs printed on the street. There were signs on poles next to the street.

Actually I was in a good shape. My trousers had a hole and that was really annoying. It turned out that my shoebox of Van Thalens Cobra paint had acted as a buffer zone at the impact of the collision. I had a hole in the box and the box was deformed but the paint inside was fine. I had the box in my bag and the bag at my side. My bag had received the full impact. Then after flying I came down on the street on my back and side and the motor bike was driving up my leg and those things caused me pain, not the impact.

The offender was very sorry but he had no plans to reveal his identity. He requested my telephone number. I gave that to him. I requested his name and number and I received the number to a payphone but no name. I took a photo of the registration plate of the motor bike. “It was rented in a motor bike rental shop at the red light district, you know?” No I don’t know. The offender said “This is really bad for me”. Just guess how bad it was for me. I told the man that he had to be patient and stay with me until I was sure I was fine. I took off my pants there on the street to figure out how bad my leg was but it was not that bad actually. For the rest the correct handling of this situation was beyond my state of mind.

Then the offender drove off. I started walking. After 5 meters of walking the ambulance arrived. They interviewed me and not long after the police arrived. They interviewed me too. At this point I was just a victim but they informed me that I had not handled this correctly. I should have insisted that the man should stay much longer.

Then the ambulance personnel found out that there were no outer injury to fix and the police had nothing more to comment on then they left me on the street. I continued my way to the model session. I was late and I had pain in my leg. They were really sweet at the gallery and helped me as much as they could. The offender called me when I was still at the gallery. I told him to give me something for my trousers and he could arrange that. After some time I went home. I had painted nothing this Sunday.

After three weeks or so the man called me and told me that the police had phoned him and he was really upset about this.

“Have you called the police?” asked the man.
I said “No, I called no police. The Tram driver called for an ambulance and the ambulance called for police”
“Uh ok, but you gave them my telephone number?” asked the man.
“I must have, yes. The ambulance and police interviewed me at the place of the accident right after you were gone. If police ask me for what I know then I give the answer probably. I was a bit upset at that moment. I see no reason for that I should not give them your telephone number. But the number is a payphone number so it is meaningless anyway”
The man then said “But I told you how bad this is for Me.”
“I respect that but I told you that I would appreciate to get some money for my trousers and so far I have got nothing?”
“I sent money for your trousers Jeans” said the man. He could not figure out the difference between Jeans and Jens. My name is Jens. My trousers are called jeans. I explained to the man that despite his effort I had received no money for the trousers and I had other things to do than go after him.

After this accident I had vibrations in my left eye. It took almost one year before this was gone. That was really annoying. Every time I concentrate the eye started to vibrate. Also at work I had problems with this.