Bump... oops!

Well, today I got through my first car accident while sitting behind the wheel of the car (I was in a really scary one on the highway 7 years ago, but a friend was the one driving). No big deal. I was stopped at the bottom of a hill behind another car yielding to priority traffic at an intersection, and the car behind me didn't break properly -wet roads- and... BUMP! I must say, that first moment is definitely a heart-stopper, WTF! moment if ever I felt one. Pulled over to the side, got out to check the back of the car and the other driver, not too worried 'cause it looked mainly like bumper work, and then saw that the driver was a good friend of my sister's to whom I'd given conversational English classes last year!

If you have to go through a car accident (however small, it's still jarring), then the best choice is to have it with a friend behind the wheel of the other car and both of you to have insurance (even better when you're not at fault, lol!)! She was definitely a bit freaked out, non-stop apologetic and asking me if I was ok, and I was trying to calm her down and get her to relax and see that "really, no harm done, we just fill out the papers and the insurance companies take care of the rest". Turned out to be a little more complicated for me 'cause when I opened the trunk to see if it worked right... I couldn't close it afterwards! So I had to take my car straight to the repair-shop and am stuck at least a week without it. It's a good thing my English classes are close enough to home I can go by bus! :p

I was pretty surprised at how cool and calm I was taking it all in (after the initial shock and "phone-home" to find out what needed to be done in such a situation), but once the car had been dropped off and my Dad was driving me home, I started feeling fuzzy-brained and totally drained. Typical drop-off after an adrenaline rush. I still feel fuzzy. But all's well that ends well! And at least the both of us know now how to deal with an accident, the kind of info you need to have handy etc. And it gave me an excuse to come write something here! (still no news from the phone company on my internet connection, argh!!!) ;o)