Gotta sit with this one for a while. About an hour ago Lindsay called, very upset. She had been in a car accident just down the street. Jim and I zoomed out of here quick. There were flashing lights right at the corner of Central and Phoenix. We got there just as the emergency vehicles were showing up.
She's ok, not her fault, car totaled.
She was coming home down Central and a guy made an unsafe left turn in front of her. She swerved to miss him and took out a Don't Walk sign and crashed into a big switch box. The other guy smashed into the signal light pole.
Lindsay was wearing her seatbelt. Her chest hit the steering wheel but not too hard. One of the guys from the other car was walking around with a big, bruised goose egg on his forehead. I'm thinkin' he hit the windshield. Lindsay was fine except for a little pain in her chest from hitting the steering wheel. She didn't feel like she needed to go to the hospital.
Pretty crazy affair. The whole thing is a blur. I was mainly focused on Lindsay. I know there was a big fire truck there and a police car. I think a paramedic truck was there, too. Spotlights, flashing red and yellow lights, people everywhere. Two cars sat smashed on the corner. It looked like a movie set.
The police took their reports. It was clearly the other guy's fault and he admitted it. We were told the tow truck was on its way so we cleaned Lindsay's stuff out of the car. For some reason her i-pod is missing. We watched them load Toulouse onto the tow truck. Lindsay was very upset about seeing her car all bashed up and being taken away. Toulouse was her first car and she had cute stickers all over the back. It was so totally Lindsay's car. Now it's totaled.
We started back home just as the tow truck was pulling away. For a block were were right behind it. It was almost like we were following Toulouse on his final journey.
We got home and Lindsay had a good wail on the couch. Grieving for that silly car. Sorry, Lindsay, I just can't look at my daughter sitting there all in one piece and get worked up over a hunk of metal with a name. Right now I'm kind of numb. The outcome could have been so much worse. And so I say thanks.
After she calmed down Lindsay called Kyle. He's going to come over tomorrow and bring some good cheer. It's what he does.
7 comments:
Yes, thank you, Ralph.
This morning is all ablut calling the insurance company and trying to get a rental car. Hard to get a rental for someone under age 25. Also, when we were getting Lindsay's stuff out of her car we couldn't find the i-pod. Doesn't it sound kind of fishy to call your insurance company and tell them the car got smooshed and oh yeah by the way we also lost the i-pod?
Jim and Lindsay are going to the wrecking yard and get the registration and look for the i-pod. We think it may have flown up under the dash and got stuck.
So much to do today. Lindsay has to go to school, we're doing car stuff and I have to take Dad to the doctor. I have a feeling I'm not going to get any exercise today.
Yeah, I know. Bummer.
Nightmare, yes. Since she was ok I decided I just wasn't going to allow myself to go there.
Her neck hurts and she has a rash from the seatbelt. If her neck doesn't feel better soon I'm going to take her to my chiropractor.
Lindsay and Jim found the i-pod. Actually, the tow guy found it and slid it under the floor mat. Pretty cool. They got the rest of her stuff out of the car that we couldn't see in the dark last night. She took her seat covers.
We're going out for lunch. Then it's onto phase 2 where I take Dad to the VA for the entire afternoon. No, it probably won't be that bad. I'm just whining.
pymth- pymth my ride
When I had a car accident that was the other guy's fault, his insurance had to pay for the rental car and there was a set amount that they'd pay up to. Have you called his insurence company yet?
banimdz: Citizens against the Internet Movie Datazase
SHeeeeesh, miss one day of reading the blog and look what happens!
Verrrrry glad Lindsey is ok, sorry that Toulouse is not. Very glad the guy admitted fault, thats big for future insurance coverage.
I hope your breathing is calmed down today and the VA was at least ok.
Kyle- Welcome! Nice to see you here. I guess I'll be seeing you here here in a few minutes (he's on his way).
Virginia- Thanks! The VA wasn't so bad. Jim did all the running around today handling car stuff. Tonight we're going to the open mike blues jam at Mission Tobacco Lounge. Jim's going to play and we're going to scope out drummers. Yuck, smoky place.
Click on Kyle's name. Exciting stuff!
If you want to see the damage to Lindsay's car, she posted some pictures here.
Kyle, I've never had to talk to the other guy's insurance company for a claim. I talked to ours (Allstate), and we have rental coverage for $30/day up to 30 days or until they make a settlement offer (realistically, that's about a week or two). Allstate negotiates with the other party's company to figure out who really pays, but the only issue for us is who is at fault. In this case, it looks like the fault will be the other party, so we shouldn't have to pay our deductible and our rates shouldn't go up. But, of course, nothing is absolutely certain yet.
It was an overall pleasant day today driving around with Lindsay, but I am pretty wiped out now, after lots of phoning, 4 trips to UCR, and 2 trips to the tow shop. But everyone was nice to us, and there were only pleasant surprises (none unpleasant).
So it was a good day.
mived - (wow, practically a real word!)
"wold thong, O thonk yiu mive me,
but O want ti kniw fir sure.
Si Cime in, hild me.
Ih... Yiu mived me!"
Well, the blues jam was okay, but mostly smoky and tedious; I don't entirely understand the appeal of blues jams. I mean, I've participated in a lot of them over the years, and it's like they're mostly quite a bit of least-common-denominator playing with mostly mediocre leads based on blues-scale cliches. Well, as blues jams go, this was an okay one. The guitarist I played with was quite tasty, and so was the harmonica player (often they tend to overplay, but he didn't). Anyway,my old friend who plays keyboards and runs the blues jam weekly at the Mission tobacco lounge said he might have some drummer prospects for us, so that might help the band. I played a few songs, but it was all more of the same, really. I'm glad our band chose not to take the "mostly blues" path that had been presented to us.
Yesterday afternoon, among many other things, I took Lindsay to the UCR health office (her health insurance is through UCR; really good and really cheap if you're a student) and they took X-rays of her shoulderblade and upper back, and it all looks fine, no bone breaks. So they think she's just bruised up a bit, and should be fine. It's good to have a record of someone looking at it, I think. Today, she feels a little stiff in the neck but other wise fine; her outlook is improving and she's a bit less emotional about the loss of her beloved Toulouse (car); I'm sure Kyle helped her mood a lot by visiting last night.
It was great to see Kyle again, and he brought the videotape of his cartoon (Moobeard), with the animation complete and dialog in place. The main things left to complete it are sound effects and music, and that may be done in as soon as two weeks. It's a great little cartoon, epic in proportion and quite funny and pretty unique in style. It's really neat to watch it evolve as it goes through the studio's cartoon creation process.
This morning, after dealing with a normal level of confusion between the Allstate and Enterprise offices on the phone, we went to Enterprise car rental and LIndsay was able to rent a nice Ford Taurus (paid for by Allstate) even though she's only 20, because it's an insurance claim rental (otherwise she'd have to be 21; some places don't rent to people under 25). So that's good. Today, Lindsay is in school and work all day, so Monday Lindsay makes her statement to the claims adjuster, then we start looking for a car to buy while Allstate decides if it's a total (I'm pretty sure about that one) and whose fault it was (almost as sure about that).
Meanwhile, life is hopefully back to our usual level of normalcy today.
ywnkl - what happns f y stay n the water too long
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