What the...?

Had a full day outside shoot yesterday. Came back feeling feverish and tired - slightly dehydrated, I guess. Was stressed too, with rushing out early in the morning, spending all day with a myriad of crazy characters in the hot sun and occasional rain.

Was heading for the shower when I decided to open my window wider. Gave the pane a push but it was stuck. Pushed harder and the whole thing went flying down - all the way to the ground floor! I shrieked, there was nothing I could do to stop its fall. There was a bump and the inevitable crash as the glass smashed to smithereens. There is a restaurant at that corner and they often put tables outside... There were cars parked by the side of the building too... Worried that someone had been hurt or a car smashed, I decided to go down and check.

It took me a while before I could do this as I had to hunt up something decent to wear, and the lifts were slow. I walked down five flights before getting one. As I approached the parking lot, a small group had already gathered - guys from the surau I suppose. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the freak accident. Miraculously, the pane glided onto a kerb right between 2 cars and bounced before shattering, slightly grazing the bumper of one vehicle in the process. A motorcycle was parked there but the guy fled before I arrived.

According to the guys, it's not the first time such an incident happened. The windows on the block roll on shallow grooves, allowing them to dislodge easily. Furthermore, most units installed grilles on the inside, thus there was nothing to prevent panes from turning into deadly projectiles if it falls away. Eeps!

I offered to pay the girl who owns the car for repairs to the bumper, but now I feel it's a bit unfair for me to foot the bill for superficial graze from a freak accident caused by corner cutting developers... Maybe I can offer to pay half instead? Sigh. Still need to discuss the incident with the house owner... Geez. Such things never happened in my 30 year old house!