Yesterday i finally had my 13th day of rest,

after 12 days of non-stop work in the cafe since i touched down in Melbourne.

I have been doing opens,

which means waking up in the hours of 0400 to 0600.

My sleep was interrupted.

4 hours in the night,

and then 4 hours in the afternoon.

My lifestyle was getting out of control,

and i was perpetually craving sleep.

I think i am not the only one.

Drivers in the early morning must be pretty stoned themselves.

Twice i nearly got hit by people who failed to check their blind spots before changing lanes.

I had to apply my emergency brakes,

and at the same time worry about the guy behind me,

wondering whether he could stop in time too,

so he would not hit my bumper.

Then 2 nights ago,

i knew i was too tired.

I fell asleep whilst driving.

It was not the kind of sleep which i could avoid,

like preventing my eyelids from shutting.

It was just a brain shutdown.

Came really quickly.

I swerved into the next lane.

Next second i woke and jerked my car back into my own lane.

Thank God i was on the second lane,

if not i would have hit the curb and gone flying.

Thank God the driver in the first lane was way behind me so he did not have to apply any brakes to avoid a collision.

But i got very fearful about driving the next day.

A close shave like that should not be taken lightly.

Next morning,

again i was enroute to work in the early hours.

This time at a traffic junction,

a male driver in his Holden UTE made a right hand turn.

Suddenly he sped up and did a drift,

and completed a 360 degrees turn right in front of my car.

I stared at him in horror,

wondering how on earth you could possibly lose control of your car when you just have to make a turn when the lights turned from red to green.

And i hoped desperately he did not whack into my car since my car was the first at the junction.

My Jazz would be decimated by his UTE.

Then i noticed the driver in the car behind him laughing maniacally.

And he was staring at me,

and then i understood.

They were trying to attract attention and shock the other drivers on the road.

Except my face was emotionless;

not a hint of betrayal from the shock i was experiencing.

The lights turned green,

i moved.

I looked at the other driver in the opposite lane.

Also a female driver,

but with disbelief written all over her face.

I sighed and went to work.

Life is dangerously beautiful.