Today’s topic is Accidents. I have been in three vehicle accidents that I can think of.
I was driving along happily on a winding, hilly road when suddenly, on a corner, the steering locked. I screeched to a halt and stopped literally inches from an oncoming car but had swiped the side of an oncoming pickup in front of the other car. It made a terrific WALLOP!
I got out of the car and the woman driving the other vehicle screamed, “Are you drunk?” I said “No, but I’ll try and get the car off the road.” I succeeded in getting the car to the side.
The driver of the pickup was a mechanic. How lucky was that? He looked under my car and was able to remove a large plastic covering that was meant to cover the underneath workings of the engine. Three of its four bolts had fallen out and the plastic covering had swivelled around and locked itself over the front right hand wheel. Hence my inability to turn the steering wheel.
Everyone went on their merry way. The pickup had lost a bit of paint on its side and the man said to forget about it. For myself, the dent in the side got fixed over the ensuing days.
In order to get a few extra bucks to supplement my weekday, underpaid library job, I took up mowing peoples’ lawns in the weekends. After all, I had a lawn mower and a big five door station wagon with a large lift-up back door.
One of the houses was at the end of a long single-lane driveway. I had to mow not only their lawn, but also their driveway entrance at the road. The long drive had corners. The best way to get from the house lawn to the gate lawn (with little space to turn a car) was to put the lawnmower in the back, and back the car down the drive.
I’m a good driver and set off backwards at a fair rate. There’s little time to waste when pursuing an extra buck. Suddenly, around a driveway corner, a huge truck appeared from nowhere. I had to slam on the brakes.
The car came to a screeching halt but the lawn mower maintained its momentum. Off it went, shooting through the window of the back door and smashing the glass to smithereens. The lawnmower was okay, and the shattered back door and window got fixed over the ensuing days.
I was almost home. Home was about three minutes away down a little country road. I was following a large articulated cattle truck and trailer. Suddenly a squall hit from nowhere. A huge poplar tree came crashing down across the road in front of the cattle truck. Both the cattle truck and my car screeched to a halt. All were safe but the road was blocked.
The truck driver got out a large chain. I got out of the car to help, despite the wind and rain. He hooked the chain around the tree, and backing, dragged the tree off the road. The road was open!
I said, “That is the most amazing driving I have ever seen in my life.” And he said, “I don’t think you’ll be saying that for long. I think I’ve just backed over your car.”
And indeed he had.
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