Last week was supposed to be a short week. Since this was Memorial Day weekend, and I therefore already had Monday off for the holiday, I decided to also take this past Friday off as well.
But last week proved to be anything but short. Oh it started off just fine. Monday and Tuesday went well. Busy as usual, but normal. Wednesday however is when the week seemed to slow down, and it started during my commute to work that morning.
See, normally I ride the bus to work, but for the past several months I’ve been driving on Tues/Wed/Thur because I’ve had to drop our oldest daughter off at school by 6:45am for early morning Jazz Band practice. After dropping her off last Wednesday morning, I proceeded to work as usual. It was also raining (yeah, as usual).
So what happened? Yep, a car accident. But it wasn’t my fault! I was almost half way to work and had just come to a stop at a red light when I was struck (very hard) from behind by another commuter. Talk about a good way to get the juices flowing in the early morning hours! Thankfully no serious injuries. Little stiff and sore on my part, but so far it hasn’t been too bad. I should be fine. The driver of the other car received a fat-lip from the air-bag, but otherwise seemed fine as well.
As for the cars – well, the car that hit me didn’t fair well and required a tow.
Our little Ford Focus on the other hand held up far better than I’d expected. Considering how hard the impact was, I fully expected to see far more damage, but it (cosmetically) wasn’t too bad.
I was surprised that the trunk door opened and closed just fine with no apparent damage to it. However the floor of the trunk certainly sustained damage and was partially crushed/tweaked.
So yeah, it was quite an experience and I’m grateful everyone was ok. It was a little embarrassing being part of the reason traffic ended up VERY ugly for a bit, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
Now since my car was still drivable, I decided to head into the office to take care of a few things. I also scheduled a Dr. appointment to go get checked out. Even though I felt fine, I didn’t want to risk it (plus everyone around me wanted me to go also). Doc checked me over - no obvious concerns. Told me to expect some stiffness, but likely would be fine. Come back otherwise. I went home for the rest of the afternoon.
The following day (Thursday), I woke up feeling pretty good. Again, little stiff, but not bad. I decided to drive the truck instead of the car and this time I made it to work just fine. It’s a good thing I was driving the car when I was struck the day before. Had it been the truck, I fear the other car (and driver) may have been even worse off!
Anyway, as I arrived at work, I made my way to an open area in the back of my building’s parking lot. It’s not always easy to park a 1-ton dually truck in most parking lots, so the fewer cars near by the better. I quickly selected a parking spot and proceeded to back the truck into it. And so ended my accident free commute!
When I heard the crunch, my stomach sank. “What now!” I said to myself out loud. When I jumped out to inspect, I found the following.
Yep, that’s a light post. The trailer hitch I’d forgotten to remove from the back of the truck extended just enough to hit it when I backed up. And it wasn’t just a little damage. It totally destabilized the pole and required immediate attention. You see, these poles are made of fiberglass and therefore damage very easily. The hitch on the truck was unscathed.
I therefore called campus security and they came out, roped off the area, called the electric company, and took down the pole. It was so unstable that I almost knocked it over by barely putting my hand on it. Scared the heck out of me. Had it come down and hit the cab of my truck I would have been beyond upset. So in that regard I consider myself lucky.
So far it isn’t clear if Microsoft is going to hold me financially responsible or not. The security rep I worked with noted previous damage to the pole, but I gave it the death nail. He also noted damage to other light poles nearby (though nothing like what I did), so it could be that others will get replaced as well and maybe I’ll be spared any expense. Guess we’ll see.
Overall, the week didn’t pan out so well. I did manage to survive it all, which is the most important thing, but the weekend was sure a welcome break. I figure if I’d been required to drive to work on Friday, who knows what might have happened next!
I think I stick with the bus this week.