that two-wheeled thing

My OC used to tell us this: "Be careful when you ride or pillion on a motorbike. 'Cos on motorbike, you protect the 'metal'. When you drive, 'metal' protects you." It's not that I ride a bike or something and it's not like I'll ever intend to. It's just that there were quite a number of 'daredevils' from my squad who rides rather recklessly. It was just a safety reminder.

If there's anything I took away from a social visit to Singapore Cheshire Home for seriously disabled under my current Police Technology Department on Thursday, it has to be the lesson of riding motorbikes safely, or even staying away from it. No link, you might think.

I made a friend with a resident there. He's disabled, physically but not so much intellectually. Speech wise, he had much difficulties. When I introduced myself to him, he passed me a handphone in which he had saved a message, meant for people who visited him to read. It said something like this: "Hi nice to meet you. My name is John, but you can call me Jon Bon Jovi. I was an SC from 'E' Division during my NS time in police. I was riding my motorcycle along Upper Bukit Timah when I was knocked down by a lorry. It left me paralyzed in my lower body and my operation had to be done in my throat so I have speech problems. I want discourage people from riding motocycle as it is very dangerous. Thank you for visiting me in this home. It's a great pleasure to meet you."

It was the first time I've ever met anyone who have had a tragic experience like that, one which totally changed his life. And I wish I will never have any close friends or family members involved in something like that.