Tuesday, December 22/215

We're reading in the evening when there's a metallic crash sound, not entirely unlike the emptying of a skip full of tins and glass or perhaps a skip being tipped over. We go back to our book. About ten minutes later We hear sirens, growing louder and then stopping outside our building. Out to the balcony, where we can see a car in the middle of Makarios Avenue flipped over on its roof. Fire engine, ambulance, several police, traffic diverted, fair sized crowd of onlookers. It takes about half an hour to extricate the single occupant. No sign of other cars involved, except that one of the three cars parked outside the Chinese restaurant opposite us has its back end pretty far out from the curb. Once the driver is on the stretcher it must be another twenty minutes before they put him in the ambulance and drive off, leaving the police to proceed with notes and measurements on the upside down car and the badly parked black one. Discuss with Kiki from reception who has gone outside to observe. It seems that the driver - possibly drunk and almost certainly speeding - has sideswiped a number of cars, beginning with the black one (which may have had its rear end far enough into traffic to be an obstruction and part of the cause of the accident. After the sideswipes he lost control and the car flipped. Rumour has it that the man worked at a service station down the road, but the car had rental plates, which is unusual for a local. Kiki also says that he was moving his arms after being placed on the stretcher, so obviously alive.