Police were there in minutes, as I sat dazed in what’s left of my car. Half a tree was poking through the passenger door and foot-well, air-bags had blown all over the place and somehow I’d spun several times before bouncing off a large lamp-post, knocking the lamp off it (which fell down and missed the roof due to the fact that I bounced back onto the other side of the road).
I’m writing this just a couple of hours after the event – I guess it’s good to get all this off my chest. What amazes me though, more than anything, is that I was up at 5AM, in the driving snow and ice, and drove a 50-mile round-trip perfectly fine – yet at lunch time I hit a patch of black ice doing no more than 25MPH and suddenly I’m skidding sideways along a bend. The traction control was flashing away at me, the ABS was doing it’s stuff – but without any grip, you’re “shafted”, as the Officer told me a few minutes later.
To be honest, I guess I’m still in shock – I couldn’t even tell the police guy how old I was when I was questioned. I have a nice blow-pipe to remind me of the event (from the breathalyser, as all people in accidents now get breathalized)…. plus of course I now have a boot which is non-existant, a door and floor panel which have caved in, and a wing or three that need replacing.
Now, not wishing to go all soppy and crap, but I was very lucky today. Every airbag on the passenger side went off, yet the drivers-side was fine. I even managed to get my TomTom GPS unit off the road, which had fell out of my twisted passenger door as it hit the tree… it still works! Unluckily though, some of my Christmas presents were crushed in the boot, which I can no longer open. The laptop and a couple of presents from me to other people survived though.
No car until Tuesday, so now.. I guess, I can have plenty to drink.