Banner Day
As soon as we arrived in Taif, several nurses hopped from the bus and tied this banner to the front. The hospital had recently had a day of appreciation for our nursing staff. Taif is a little cooler than Jeddah. It’s at higher elevation. But in the morning sun it’s still about 100 degrees. Driving along our driver suddenly exclaimed, “Full! Full!” and stopped the bus. I thought it was gas. Nope. The temperature gauge was redlined. Well, you can see where this is going. I was sitting next to the engine compartment. So the driver popped the cover and the heat from the engine assailed me. He poured some water over the radiator cap, as if that would solve anything. He took out his ‘cell’ and called base, as if they might fix it from 80 miles away. Meanwhile, we’re 30 people in a bus with the sun beating down and no A/C and no windows to open. Aha!! Take down the banner! It’s blocking the front grill. Now you see why this shot is so important. We were running again in five minutes with the A/C on full blast. We used the banner as a picnic spread later. The nurse to the right is my clinic coordinator and her friend works in pediatrics.
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