(no subject)

[semperfiona]

10/29/2002


G R E E T I N G S Aries


Once you take the time to get your head out of your work, you may be
shocked to find out that you're alone -- but not necessarily lonely.
You are on a roll, and if you find yourself alone these days it could
be because someone is having trouble keeping up with you. If you take
your time and exercise a little patience, who knows what can happen?
Someone is aching to bask in your light. Perhaps you should stop
being the superstar and start being the teacher.

That was today's horoscope. Funny, there wasn't anything in there about getting rear-ended in a traffic jam on the interstate, and losing so much time in my evening that I missed having Jen come over because I wasn't home when she called. There wasn't anything in there about the pharmacy not having Rosa's medicine ready even though it was ordered yesterday.

More on the accident...I must have the gods' own luck: two accidents in just less than a year. Thankfully this one was fairly minor, the car will be reparable--I mightn't even have made a claim, just paid it in cash, since I'm already being kicked up to the high-risk category on my insurance, but it will end up reported because of the other driver needing to make a claim, so I might as well. All I ended up with was a deep dent in the rear door of my station wagon. Oh, and what's shaping up to be several days worth of stiff neck. I felt fine immediately after the accident, but my neck has been seizing up ever since.

Rosa's fine; she isn't even complaining about stiff neck or anything else. The only person with an obvious injury was the driver of the third car, whose forehead smashed his windshield to flinders. He was bleeding when I called 911, so I had them send an ambulance, but they didn't take him to hospital.

Here's what happened. I stopped, a bit suddenly, because of traffic. Several seconds later (so my slightly sudden stop was not the cause!) I feel a sharp jolt and hear a loud crunching noise. Put the brake on, turn on the flashers, and roll down the window and look back. A man is getting out of his car behind me, and I get out too. The man's (Man #1) car is crunched up into my bumper. Just when I'm thinking of asking him what he's doing, I realize that his car is quite thoroughly smunched in back, and there's another car behind his, correspondingly smooshed in front. That man (Man #2) gets out and comes toward us, where we see that his forehead is bleeding and his windshield smashed.

I wander around aimlessly for a while until Man #1 asks if anyone has a cellphone. I recollect that I have one, and go get it, and call 911. (Funny how I completely forgot my telephone phobia when there was something else far more stressful to worry about.)

We all exchange information, Man #2 tells us he's sorry and he knows it's his fault. He doesn't volunteer an insurance card, so I ask him, trying not to insinuate that he's uninsured although by now I suspect it, "Do you have an insurance card?" No, it expired three days ago, or so he says. He tells us he'll pay for everything, which I believe not for a moment but I don't say so.

A St Louis City police officer shows up, apparently having just been cruising by or heading for somewhere and seen the accident. It's not his jurisdiction, but he takes on the role of calling Richmond Heights (whose jurisdiction it is) again and keeping order, as well as blocking the other traffic from the scene. We all wait some more.

Eventually nice officer from Richmond Heights shows up and takes everyone's information and statements, the ambulance comes and checks out Man #2, we move the cars (or I move mine, the other two are towed), and finally I get to go home.

By this time Rosa is screaming from being left in the car alone while I was standing out in the cold wet evening, and she and I hold hands all the way home.

What a sucky end to what had been a rather nice evening. I took Rosa to the company trick-or-treat event at the office. Various employees volunteer to hand out candy to the other employees' kids, and it's all very cute and sweet. Rosa was a big hit, friendly and curious. She wanted to check out everyone's office or cubicle area.

I didn't win the chili cook-off, but then after I tasted it I hadn't expected to. All the chili did get eaten, however.

Not even going to try to do more personnel evaluations tonight. I had been going to, but not now.

Comments

[indigobynight.livejournal.com]

Yikes! ~big hugs~ Give Rosa hugs for me too...you are both okay??

[semperfiona]

Yeah, we're okay. I've got a stiff neck, but nothing more, and it's not even a bad one.

[gremlin44.livejournal.com]

Ugh! Brings back echos of my accident with an uninsured driver....except mine took off from the scene. Poor Rosa...not that there was anything you could have done differently for her in that situation.

*hugs* Of course people forget they have a cell phone after an accident...your mind is a bit preoccupied with other stuff...and in shock!

Pete was wondering if you had considered taking your tickets to one of those St. Louis traffic lawyers who get them changed to non moving violations for a fee....even though it feels dirty, Pete and I have both taken advantage of that once or twice in order to get around the system and not have our insurance go up

[semperfiona]

Pete was wondering if you had considered taking your tickets to one of those St. Louis traffic lawyers who get them changed to non moving violations for a fee....even though it feels dirty, Pete and I have both taken advantage of that once or twice in order to get around the system and not have our insurance go up.

Yeah...I have done that. I think there would be three or four if I hadn't. Unfortunately, a ticket count that was not a problem before is now coming back to haunt me. My agent claimed it was due to the insurance companies tightening up after 9/11. I think that's mostly an excuse, since after all terrorism has nothing to do with traffic. But he says they're just strapped for money and so on. ::eyeroll::

If I get another, though, you can be damn' sure I'll be taking it to one of those ubiquitous ticket-fixers.

I owe you an email.