Compared to some of the crap other Catters are having to deal with at the moment, this is pretty trivial stuff. We were given an Opel Vectra just before Christmas by the father of a friend, who had to give up his driving licence. It was twelve years old and had less than forty thousand on the clock. I wrote it off this afternoon along with another car. The other driver was coming in the opposite direction and seemed suddenly to attempt a U turn. In normal conditions, this would probably have worked, but there was compressed snow in the middle of the road and he simply skidded in front of me. I was doing less than thirty mph at the time, but I never had a chance.
My fourteen year old daughter, Merle, was in the passenger seat and Ina behind me. Fortunately no one was badly hurt, although we had to go to hospital, where the X-rays showed no serious damage to Ina, but slight stiffening due to whiplash. She is hurting from her bruises though. The driver in the other vehicle and his girlfriend were shocked but unhurt. Ironically, the purpose of our journey had been to take some flowers and cake to the couple, who had given us the car!
The accident was some fourteen hours ago, but I am no James Bond and feel both shaken and stirred. Cars come and go, but families are something you have to value a bit more. This afternoon was a timely reminder of just how much I have and just how quickly it can all be taken away. I guess that is something to be grateful for.