Crunch Time (so to speak)
Mar. 1st, 2003 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerSo off I went to Peterborough last night to pick up ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bugshaw from work, have a bite to eat and head over to the local arts and entertainments centre for their comedy night. Since the ticket said that doors opened at 8 for an 8.30 start we hung around in Wetherspoons until about 7.40 - no sense in turning up early, is there?
Whoops. We get to the venue to find a full car park and a sign to an overflow car park. That turns out to be the car-park of some council offices, and it's one of those awkward parking lots that snakes around the edge of the buildings. We creep around it in the rain, looking for a space amid the rather poor lighting.
Then I find a car driving straight at me.
Not that fast, but the driver is showing no signs of stopping.
Er, look in rear mirror, nothing obvious, into reverse, back off from still-advancing car...
Gentle but quite audible crunch.
Oh Shit.
Engine off, get out, try and see what has happened. Ah, there was a car following me, dark red and not very visible in the dim lighting. The damage is very minor - my rear bumper (quite high on my car) has broken the headlight unit glass over his front left indicator. The other driver and I barely have time to say anything before the driver of the car I was trying to avoid makes it clear we should get out of the way.
I excuse myself briefly and walk over to the other car. "I'm trying to get out" the driver says. I point out to her that actually I have had a slight accident. "But I'm trying to get out and anyway you were going the wrong way." I suggest that under the circumstances she could perhaps go the wrong way for a few yards and thus drive round us, which she does.
Back to the driver I bumped. He's seen all this and actually seems rather to sympathise with me. In any case, the damage is very minor and clearly not worth an insurance claim; after we swap details he even suggests he might not bother to send me the bill if its only a few quid. (Which is very kind of him, seeing as how it was blatantly my fault). No damage to my car whatsoever.
We extricate ourselves from the car park, and see that yes, I had indeed driven against the arrow on the tarmac (but then so had the guy behind me). Out we go and further down the road, to a small public car park that is almost empty!
All the stresses and strains of recent life must have blunted my emotional response as I found myself viewing the events with surprising equinimity. I thinkbugshaw thought I might be in no mood for a comedy evening but to be honest it would have been far more annoying to have a knock and miss the night out. And the comedians were reasonably funny - well, not bad for six quid, anyway.
Back there in a couple of weeks to see Harry Hill. We might try turning up a bit earlier next time...
MC
bugshaw from work, have a bite to eat and head over to the local arts and entertainments centre for their comedy night. Since the ticket said that doors opened at 8 for an 8.30 start we hung around in Wetherspoons until about 7.40 - no sense in turning up early, is there?Whoops. We get to the venue to find a full car park and a sign to an overflow car park. That turns out to be the car-park of some council offices, and it's one of those awkward parking lots that snakes around the edge of the buildings. We creep around it in the rain, looking for a space amid the rather poor lighting.
Then I find a car driving straight at me.
Not that fast, but the driver is showing no signs of stopping.
Er, look in rear mirror, nothing obvious, into reverse, back off from still-advancing car...
Gentle but quite audible crunch.
Oh Shit.
Engine off, get out, try and see what has happened. Ah, there was a car following me, dark red and not very visible in the dim lighting. The damage is very minor - my rear bumper (quite high on my car) has broken the headlight unit glass over his front left indicator. The other driver and I barely have time to say anything before the driver of the car I was trying to avoid makes it clear we should get out of the way.
I excuse myself briefly and walk over to the other car. "I'm trying to get out" the driver says. I point out to her that actually I have had a slight accident. "But I'm trying to get out and anyway you were going the wrong way." I suggest that under the circumstances she could perhaps go the wrong way for a few yards and thus drive round us, which she does.
Back to the driver I bumped. He's seen all this and actually seems rather to sympathise with me. In any case, the damage is very minor and clearly not worth an insurance claim; after we swap details he even suggests he might not bother to send me the bill if its only a few quid. (Which is very kind of him, seeing as how it was blatantly my fault). No damage to my car whatsoever.
We extricate ourselves from the car park, and see that yes, I had indeed driven against the arrow on the tarmac (but then so had the guy behind me). Out we go and further down the road, to a small public car park that is almost empty!
All the stresses and strains of recent life must have blunted my emotional response as I found myself viewing the events with surprising equinimity. I think
bugshaw thought I might be in no mood for a comedy evening but to be honest it would have been far more annoying to have a knock and miss the night out. And the comedians were reasonably funny - well, not bad for six quid, anyway.Back there in a couple of weeks to see Harry Hill. We might try turning up a bit earlier next time...
MC
