What's Next? A Plague Of Frogs?
Someone Up There Absolutely Hates My Guts.
Just when you think things can't get any worse, they do...
OK, so I'm just barely staying afloat financially, trying to get the last bits of truck repair paid for before it's time for the Blownstar Blogfest. I got paid this morning, and had prepaid half the rent last month, so I had a bit of breathing room to get things done.
The thought of a mobile, solvent El Capitan angers the gods, however. This positive state of affairs could not stand!
So, I'm leaving for work this morning, and not 3 blocks from the house I completely flatten one of those three-wheel adult trikes when the rider pulled out into the street in front of me. You'd think that you'd see something that big, especially when it's equipped with a full canopy as well as a hefty abuela and her grandson riding in the rear basket. Nope, they came outta the sun, apparently. They didn't even register on my radar. It's a good thing the old lady was quicker on the brakes than I was, 'cause the first I noticed something was amiss, I already had her front tire wedged under mine. My tire, to say the least, was a hell of a lot bigger...
Fortunately, neither the old lady nor the child was hurt. Whatever this ends up costing me, it's a damn sight cheaper than having to live with the knowledge that I'd flattened two people on the pavement. It was a bloody near-run thing, though...
My neighbor from across the street happened to be on that corner hanging signs for a garage sale, and said I had definitely stopped at the stop sign. It's a good thing he was watching, 'cause I couldn't have said whether I did or not. I'm in the habit of stopping for them, after all, but who knows?
The old lady spoke virtually no English, but another lady out watering her yard spoke Spanish, and we managed to swap contact info. The abuela was pretty pissed off at me, but she was dead-set against filing a police report or calling out an ambulance, even though I was pretty insistent about it. All she wanted was a new trike. I pressed about insurance, 'cause then I'd have to get a police report filed, but she wanted no part of that. I'm thinking perhaps she's wanting to avoid contact with the authorities. Damage to the truck was inconsequential, just a shattered turn signal lens where the handlebar poked it out.
I called Carlos the Unreliable, the contractor who's been helping remodel the house, and gave him the old lady's contact info. He confirmed that she'll settle for a new trike, and it looks like it's going to cost me somewhere around $350. Comparable models I priced on the internet are running close to that, so Adios! on the brake job until another 2 weeks.
Maybe I'll ask her to give me the wrecked trike, and I'll carry it around in the truck bed as a trophy... Mount the handlebars on my wall or something...
Sigh. OK, keep repeating it to yourself... "At least no one got hurt... At least no one got hurt..."
Just when you think things can't get any worse, they do...
OK, so I'm just barely staying afloat financially, trying to get the last bits of truck repair paid for before it's time for the Blownstar Blogfest. I got paid this morning, and had prepaid half the rent last month, so I had a bit of breathing room to get things done.
The thought of a mobile, solvent El Capitan angers the gods, however. This positive state of affairs could not stand!
So, I'm leaving for work this morning, and not 3 blocks from the house I completely flatten one of those three-wheel adult trikes when the rider pulled out into the street in front of me. You'd think that you'd see something that big, especially when it's equipped with a full canopy as well as a hefty abuela and her grandson riding in the rear basket. Nope, they came outta the sun, apparently. They didn't even register on my radar. It's a good thing the old lady was quicker on the brakes than I was, 'cause the first I noticed something was amiss, I already had her front tire wedged under mine. My tire, to say the least, was a hell of a lot bigger...
Fortunately, neither the old lady nor the child was hurt. Whatever this ends up costing me, it's a damn sight cheaper than having to live with the knowledge that I'd flattened two people on the pavement. It was a bloody near-run thing, though...
My neighbor from across the street happened to be on that corner hanging signs for a garage sale, and said I had definitely stopped at the stop sign. It's a good thing he was watching, 'cause I couldn't have said whether I did or not. I'm in the habit of stopping for them, after all, but who knows?
The old lady spoke virtually no English, but another lady out watering her yard spoke Spanish, and we managed to swap contact info. The abuela was pretty pissed off at me, but she was dead-set against filing a police report or calling out an ambulance, even though I was pretty insistent about it. All she wanted was a new trike. I pressed about insurance, 'cause then I'd have to get a police report filed, but she wanted no part of that. I'm thinking perhaps she's wanting to avoid contact with the authorities. Damage to the truck was inconsequential, just a shattered turn signal lens where the handlebar poked it out.
I called Carlos the Unreliable, the contractor who's been helping remodel the house, and gave him the old lady's contact info. He confirmed that she'll settle for a new trike, and it looks like it's going to cost me somewhere around $350. Comparable models I priced on the internet are running close to that, so Adios! on the brake job until another 2 weeks.
Maybe I'll ask her to give me the wrecked trike, and I'll carry it around in the truck bed as a trophy... Mount the handlebars on my wall or something...
Sigh. OK, keep repeating it to yourself... "At least no one got hurt... At least no one got hurt..."
posted by El Capitan | 12:05 PM
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