I have this week off, and I'm using the time to write a synopsis of Time and the Soldier for an agent who asked for a partial. It's snowing like mad outside. And then Leonore got cabin fever.
So we set out sloooowly on the snowy, icy street, headed for the only Middle East restaurant we could find that's open today. Just south of our house, the street curves to the left through a right angle. As I was approaching that curve slooooowly, an SUV came barreling along from the other direction. I could see that it wouldn't make the curve, so I stopped and waited to see how serious the disaster would be. The SUV driver realized she was in trouble partway through the curve. She apparently stepped on the brakes, making matters worse. We sat there and time sloooooowed down as we watched the SUV sliding toward us. I was wondering whether she'd pass in front of us and into one of the houses, or if she'd manage to make it past us on the left. Neither. She slid into us.
The damage was minor, but of course we had to wait for the police. The police car made a wrong turn on its way and got stuck in the snow a couple of blocks away. After an hour or so, two more police cars showed up to help get the first one out. (Some neighbors and I offered to push the first car out, but the policewoman driving it refused.) Sort of amusing, in retrospect.
Eventually it was all ironed out and we got our lamb shank and hummus and all that stuff. And now we're back, and it's still snowing like mad. I wish I'd stayed at home.
And what have we learned from this, kids? How about, when it's snowy and the streets are icy, always drive sloooooowly, especially around curves. Yes, I do believe that we did learn that. Rather, that the other driver learned it, since I already knew that.
13 comments:
Well frock me, that sucks!
But hey, a partial!
Slipped that in subtly, didn't I? :)
I'll be driving over the Post Office (slooooowly!) today to mail it, after which I'll forget all about it and won't even bother checking e-mail or snail mail for a response. Ho hum.
I suppose it's too much to hope that the police dragged her out of the SUV, tased her into unconsciousness, and then threw her in a black helicopter to be taken away for extraordinary rendition.
Oh, wait, that's right, she was just menacing her neighbors with a lethal weapon, not doing something really bad like illegally downloading MP3's.
She's a college girl whose parents live in the neighborhood and whose father showed up promptly in case his little girl was in trouble, so she didn't seem like the type to get tased. Well, except to the extent that we all are in the Fourth-- in contemporary America.
I suppose we can expect to see a lot more spiffy taser action in airports, now that TSA is planning to have its armed, uniformed thu-- agents casually engaging travelers in conversation and staring into their eyes to see if they can detect the faintest flash of fear or apprehension.
What I said is unfair, I realize. If it were my kid, I'd have zoomed over immediately, too. And except for the driving-too-fast-on-ice-and-skidding-into-other-people's-cars part, she seemed like a nice kid, and her father seemed like a nice guy.
See,
I'm just getting used to the how-to-drive-on-unplowed-icy-snowy-roads... however, I DO know to go slow, and um, never put on the brakes when you start sliiiidddinnnggg... ahhhhh.....
The Denver city government has assured us that this year we won't have unplowed, ice-choked streets, the way we did last winter.
They do seem to be doing a better job on the main streets this year, but the sidestreets, such as the one where our accident happened, are just as unplowed and messy as before.
Many years ago, an incumbent Denver mayor was defeated by a young upstart named Federico Pena (later Bill Clinton's Sec'y of Transportation, I think it was) because of voter anger over unplowed streets. For a while, subsequent mayors were scrupulous about getting the streets plowed, no matter what else they screwed up. The lesson seems to have faded.
I think it's nice that the main roads are plowed, however, it'd be nice to not need four wheel drive on the residential roads.... just a thought.
Saying that, it's been snowier than it normally is, so I hear.
What's disturbing is that last year was also snowier than normal. Maybe we're just experiencing two unusual years, or maybe this is the new normal.
But of course we won't know until we can look back over the long term. Twenty years from now, we'll know if this year and last year were exceptions. So hold on. And buy snow shoes.
I think we should just invest in reindeer and sleighs. Preferably ones that fly. Good luck with that partial you aren't thinking about. ;)
/the blogger who will soon no longer be known as Fish
p.s. I got to stand inside a dalek the other day. it was pretty much amazing.
So you're 1001 Monkeys! I would not have guessed.
oh, had you found it already? and why wouldn't you have guessed? I'm not that strange-looking. :)
I found it by following a click back from this blog, but I didn't know why that blog had a link to this one. As fish, you hid your appearance from the world, so I didn't make the connection.
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