Why I shouldn’t drive on holidays
And why you should remind me if you parked your car in my driveway.
I don’t recall if I mentioned this here, but on Steven’s birthday in December, we were driving through a parking lot and collided with a moving plow. My car’s in the shop now, having minor front bumper damage repaired. So we’re using a rental car. Tangent: rental cars always feel so odd to me, compared to the ride I’m used to in my car. I’m used to a stiffer ride that puts me in control (twss) and this rental’s so loose (twhs?)!
Anyway! I have cars/driving on the brain! And with today being April Fools’ Day* I feel a bit cautious, driving. Why? Most car accidents/collisions/whatevers I’ve had, have been on a well known** holiday:
- Election Day (Nov 7, 2000) – a semi lost control of its brakes and hit me, totaling my car. Luckily, I was driving a huge Olds and it just smashed the back of the car in half, otherwise… I’d probably be dead. I called my parents for a ride and still made it to the orchestra concert on time! No comment on the election. Ha.
- New Years Day (Jan 1, 2011) – I slid in to a parked car in an icy/snowy movie theater parking lot. The kicker about this one is that the owner of the other car waited f-o-r-e-v-e-r to make the claim, then lied about additional damage to the car! Since I took photos at the scene (always have a camera, even back then) and had proof of what was actually damaged, no insurance money for the liars (at least that I recall). Ha! Also: this is the day I became vegetarian. Aww. Sorry I didn’t want any turkey, mom. At least I took you to see The Family Man?
- Halloween (Oct 31, 2005) – a drunk driver rear-ended me while I was stopped at a red light. Still annoyed about this one. The driver tried to pay me off. I called the cops and the driver fled the scene. I gave the cops his license plate number and they did nada. Grr.
- MLK Day (Jan 15, 2007) – I spun out on icy bridge in Rockford. Luckily, no one hit me, but I did damage my car a bit. A really nice man at a rest stop helped me pull my bumper off so I could make the drive home.
And now you see why I feel overly cautious when driving on holidays.
Wait a minute! What is my excuse for what happened on March 1, 2011, when I backed in to a car that I parked in my own driveway***?! Maybe I broke the holiday curse, then! Although, that was my first ever Efit class… so, it marks an anniversary?! Super awwwwww!!! Ha ha.
Do you tend to give dates special significance? Would you remember crap like this?!
Yeah, in case you can’t tell, I do give dates special significance****. For whatever reason, I have a really good memory about dates, so much that Steven can ask me when we did something, and I will be able to call up the exact day (from memory, usually). Or someone can ask what I was doing on an exact day and I can tell them (again, from memory). Useful tool? Not that often, ha ha! It does help me when I am searching for pictures, since I organize them in folders, by date.
*So watch out for tricksters online… and in real life!
**”well known” because it seems like most days are made-up holidays now
***Man, so many of these old posts are totally cringe-worthy!
****Luca’s birthday (April 27, 2011) is one of these days for me. It’s the same day I found out I got in to the NYC Marathon, which seemed very appropriate, as he was born in Manhattan. It’s also the day before my maternal grandpa passed away, so… we’ll just say that was an emotional week.
Themocracy
Wow – that’s spooky. I’m just glad you’ve never been injured, although all the damages to your car is really distressing. And I’m sure March 1st is a holiday somewhere in the world, right?
Just stay at home today, okay? 😉
Ha ha ha! I am sure every day is a holiday, somewhere! Which is why it’s weird for me to associate with holidays! 😉 I already left the house once and will again this afternoon… being uber careful!!!! 🙂
MLK Day 07, remember that phone call, well all of them actually. Car had an odd vibration you couldn’t figure out, bumper flopping around will do that.
Ha ha ha. Please tell me I was joking around on the call and not being a crying baby?!
No, don’t remember any crying and I don’t think you’d even gotten out of the car yet to know the bumper was hanging like that. The Halloween one, all I remember is anger and bad words. Still don’t know where you learned that sh!t, LOL.
Ha ha! I totally didn’t know until I got to the rest stop!
Ugh, I was SO mad! Remember how that guy said he hit me because I was stopped at a green light?! I was stopped at a red light (I remember looking up to see it turn green after he hit me) and, um, where is the logic in hitting someone because they are sitting at a green, if I had been?!
Ha. I learned them from mom. From that time she chased someone down in the Festiva to cuss them out hahhahahahaahhahahha.
I do give dates special significance, and can remember a ton of really unimportant anniversaries. I can’t remember the date of any of my accidents, though I have certainly had my share of them.
But… you weren’t even old enough to vote in the 2000 election, were you? It was my first election, so I’m guessing not 🙂
No, I wasn’t old enough to vote. But I still followed the election 🙂
I think you should wrap yourself and your car in bubble wrap on the holidays!
I’m kind of disturbed that the cops didn’t do anything about the drunk driver that hit you. Is that common?
Ha ha!
I am not sure if that is common – I have never talked to anyone else who’s also had that happen to them. We were able to find the person’s address, and wondered why the cops wouldn’t go over there and do something about it. 🙁
Last year, I got a stomach bug after my sis-in-law’s parties. Oscar’s Party = stomach bug a couple days later. Cinco de Mayo party = stomach bug that night (so I probably picked it up before the party). So … now I’m going to be cautious the next time she hosts something.
Ha ha! I am happy you mentioned one could have been from something before the party… I was starting to wonder what was going on with her food!
For the Cinco de Mayo party, because it happened later that night, I thought it was food, but then in the days that followed, other people also got a little sick – so I think I passed the stomach bug on to them. Whoops.
Dang girl do stay home on holidays!!
I skid into a snow bank in my car on Super Bowl Sunday, during the game, back in 2002. Luckily some people stopped or came out of their house during the game to help me! I, luckily, don’t have much experience with car incidents though as that’s the only one I can think of. I did accidentally crack my windshield while clearing snow off my car on St. Patrick’s Day this year.
A good friend of mine has gotten hit several times while pulling over for fire trucks. Apparently not everyone pays attention to what’s in front of them when they hear sirens.
Girl you’ve had way more than your share of accidents! Thank heavens you haven’t been seriously injured. Knock wood, I’ve only had one when someone blew through a stop sign. It was not on a holiday but I was heading to take my GMAT.
Totally symphatize with this! I will NEVER drive on Black Friday or the weekend after Black Friday. Two years ago, I was running late to a massage appointment and didn’t park my car well. On the way out, two teenage girls motioned for me to go and in my post-massage daze/confusion/general stupidity, I nailed their car which was parked next to mine. Insurance took care of it, but I felt like a total idiot.
Unrelated to this post but I thought you might find this article interesting. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/business/meat-alternatives-on-the-plate-and-in-the-portfolio.html?emc=edit_th_20140403&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=44375698&_r=0
I will not park in your driveway…EVER!!!
You should really consider not driving on ANY special holidays or occasions. Haven’t you learned this already? Hehehehe
I think I should just have a chauffeur!!! 🙂