Sunday, February 3, 2013

Playin' With the Calendar -- January 32, 2013

The word "irony" is overused.  And this is not a true case of irony.  But I'm still tempted to call it ironic...  (P.S. I will come fix this soon.  I am writing as my sleepytime meds are starting to work...still awake, but prone to beinga bit :off:)

I'd just left Pain Shrink.  I'd pretty much used the whole hour just updating him on the mess that was January.  Actually, I started with a bit of the holidays since I'd seen him last before Christmas when MM and I went up to his mom and tried to make her a holiday despite her being in the rehab center following her triple bypass.  Pain Shrink remarked that he'd heard of plenty of bad months, but very few that had as many hits as January did for us (I'd actually cancelled a prior appt because we were out of town for one of the funerals). 

We actually booked an appointment in two weeks rather than the usual three or four since we hadn't gotten to cover much about pain (and January raised a lot of issues...plus the pain has been and remains pretty awful).  I decided, actually with his blessing, to stop for a bottle of wine.  I also realized I had forgotten to send an email and, at a light, pulled out a paper where I'd noted some mileage information on the car.  I wanted to send an email from my phone and to do so from the lot before I forgot.  I wanted to clarify that Betty (my 2000 Acura) was actually getting under 7,500 miles annually now that Fred (the Buick) is also in our household/on my plan. 

So, vented on January, prepped to send an email to my State Farm agent, and turned in to hit the wine store around 4:30 on Feb 1.  And, in what wasn't true "irony" but I still want to call ironic, my car got hit by a woman backing out of a spot.  Oddly, I'd noticed a guy a little further up and wasn't sure he was looking so I was going even slower than usual parking lot aisle speed.  I did not, however, see the woman on the passenger side until it was too late and she was coming at me. 

The woman was nice and apologized immediately (yes, they tell you not to do that, but frankly I appreciated it and we both knew it was clearly her fault).  Her car had a bit of damage.  Betty has a bit more...it is a bad enough dent that it became an outright hole in the front-most panel (just a bit off from the bumper) and a broken light.  The lady asked if I wanted to report it or deal with it privately.  I said I thought we needed to call the cops but that I didn't have the number and didn't want to call 911 if we could avoid it.  She had the number so placed the call.  Oddly, at that moment, my phone rang with MM's tone.  I told him I'd been in a nasty fender bender but was okay.  He asked where I was.  I said he didn't need to come but told him I was near the Wal-Mart (yes, it shares a lot with the wine store) .  He was actually right at the intersection/enterance to the store.  So he came, mostly just kept me company.  I did warn the other folks (female driver, male passenger) that my boyfriend was coming since he was nearby and said it wasn't at all b/c either of us was upset and they'd been perfectly nice...probably should have mentioned he'd be in uniform (looks like a general Air Force uniform, no real distinction for the Guard).

No one was hurt.  I did feel jolted a bit and ALL of me tightened so that includes the painful laces.  I made sure not to mention the preexisting medical mess....she didn't need worry about being dragged into some horrid fight (since I have no doubt some people would go after it all and try to blame the whole injury on her and find a coattail to ride on for paying for injury treatment.

Anyway, we waited.  Cop came and took my statement and then hers (without the other driver present so don't truly know what she said but she seemed to be an honest lady).  Told us to exchange info (we had already, it was too cold to stand outside so we did mostly wait in our cars but got the info done).  Basically said that we should call our insurance folks and they'll deal with the rest.  He noted some insurance companies tell the driver to obtain the police report....if you do that, they charge you 10-15 bucks.  The officer said he personally would argue that the insurance co should get it, more for the principle than for the $15.

So, yeah.  I did make a loop before continuing to the wine store....just felt weird to go right from the incident.  talked to my State Farm folks.  if she's honest, i don't even pay the $500 deductible.  And there is a shop that is on their Preferred List that also works for us.  I'll call tomorrow (Monday) ad then leave it to get an estimate.  Hopefully I won't need to be involved in any of the discussions of cost because the insurer get billed directly.  Likely going to do the rental car.  I pay 20%, they pay 80%, I'm allowed to do the intermediate but will go economy and it won't be a big cost for having access to a car (we have two others, Bill will be taking the Buick, I am NOT driving the Vette in the current weather). 

So, let's just decide that was January 32nd.  Saturday, a nice quiet home day, is the start of the new and improved month of February.

1 comment:

Annabelle said...

Sorry you got in a fender-bender; they're a little unsettling even if nothing much happens. Glad it's looking okay, though.