A very bad Friday
Jan. 14th, 2011 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_goren_showScrew that, a very bad week because of winter blasts constantly below -20 C and oftentimes with the windchill reaching -30 C. The snow that falls gets packed to the roads thanks to the snowmelt stuff they use to try and keep it clear. The snowmelt cakes to the cars and gets everywhere - on pants, coats, shoes. Worst of all is that when it is constantly that cold, the snowmelt mixture can't keep up and the roads get black ice on them as the blowing snow polishes the packed down and melted snow and slush to a perfect sheen.
I drive carefully in these conditions, erring on the slow side of cautious when going down hills because you never know when the bottom of the slope will be black ice. After a hard mushy brained week where I was distracted constantly by a lot of shit, I was looking forward to driving carefully to a millionaires neighbourhood, doing my house check and then going home to settle in to stay warm for two days until I go back to work and it's supposed to be a little warmer. Mr. Max and I set out for the slow inexorable drive to the big house and then home through a clear but bitterly cold day.
So I'm making my way down a small on-ramp onto a busy roadway. Now I know that the bottom of this ramp is often icy and I am driving accordingly and even then it startles me when the ABS has to kick in and save me from sliding into the southbound traffic flowing relentlessly past me. I have time to breathe a sigh of relief and am preparing to wait for the break in the flow that coincides with the lights further north when I spot something in my rearview mirror.
A blue minivan going too fast for the hill I just barely made it down and was able to stop at the end and it's getting bigger in my rearview. I think I forgot to breathe. I must have because I remember saying "You gotta fucking be kidding me" as it comes up behind me and THUMP right into Mr. Max's ass end. I tensed naturally because I saw it coming and when I took in a breath, my first reaction is to throw the car into park and snap on the flashers, then get out of the car with murderous intentions. I've always said that anyone who hits me better kill me because if I can get out of the car, I'm fucking going to kill them. Now, I had every intent of fulfilling that threat.
The other driver got out and my rage deflated. He and his passenger were black as night and if I did anything at that point I'd be going to jail for a hate crime. Never mind that it wasn't because they were black that I beat the loving shit out of them. I'd have happily stood in front of the judge and said "I didn't do it because they were black, I killed them because they hit my FUCKING car!" But I toned down the murder in my eyes and I'm sure that kept things remarkably civil. There was no damage to their minivan or Mr. Max and eventually after some back and forth because I could see a truck coming down the ramp, I said to hell with it and got in my car. They did not at any time offer insurance info, nor did I. I didn't see the point. Neither vehicle's plastic bumper wraparound was obviously damaged and I didn't want to die in a chain reaction accident after Max had so graciously delivered me from injury moments before. I waited for the break in traffic once I got back in the car and gingerly made my way down the hill towards home along a street I won't be able to use for three weeks beginning Monday (easiest way home of course). I still had the millionaire house to check and I was on my way to do it when the massive size of the city overwhelmed me.
The icy roads were what made me turn back halfway to the job. It was a big slip on black ice hidden by newly falling snow that turned me around. I will go in the morning when I manage to scrape some confidence together and have eased the tension in my neck back to a dull pain as usual. I got the car home and parked without any more accidents but a whole slew of near misses thanks to the icy roads. My neck hurt, I thought I was going to puke. When I got upstairs and got an Ativan in me, and calmed down a bit, I was okay. I massaged the aching muscles and ended up with a heating pack on my neck and now, well, now I'm not perfect and I'm less than pleased about the little two inch long wrinkle on the bumper where the warm plastic (thank whatever gods there may be for heated garages) bent then popped out after I was thumped.
Needless to say, I ache and I'm not sure how I'm going to face getting back in the car tomorrow. It's supposed to be a little warmer and the city should have had time to go out and sand and grade the roads but I'm going to have to take an Ativan to turn the key and I hate that. I don't like having to be drugged to do anything, much less drive on hazardous roads. Monday, I will have to take a different and notoriously accident prone road to work and I'm not happy about that at all because everyone else will be in the same boat as I. The street I usually take and am comfortable with is closed for three weeks for utility work, so I'm stuck with the deadly route.
I hate winter.
I drive carefully in these conditions, erring on the slow side of cautious when going down hills because you never know when the bottom of the slope will be black ice. After a hard mushy brained week where I was distracted constantly by a lot of shit, I was looking forward to driving carefully to a millionaires neighbourhood, doing my house check and then going home to settle in to stay warm for two days until I go back to work and it's supposed to be a little warmer. Mr. Max and I set out for the slow inexorable drive to the big house and then home through a clear but bitterly cold day.
So I'm making my way down a small on-ramp onto a busy roadway. Now I know that the bottom of this ramp is often icy and I am driving accordingly and even then it startles me when the ABS has to kick in and save me from sliding into the southbound traffic flowing relentlessly past me. I have time to breathe a sigh of relief and am preparing to wait for the break in the flow that coincides with the lights further north when I spot something in my rearview mirror.
A blue minivan going too fast for the hill I just barely made it down and was able to stop at the end and it's getting bigger in my rearview. I think I forgot to breathe. I must have because I remember saying "You gotta fucking be kidding me" as it comes up behind me and THUMP right into Mr. Max's ass end. I tensed naturally because I saw it coming and when I took in a breath, my first reaction is to throw the car into park and snap on the flashers, then get out of the car with murderous intentions. I've always said that anyone who hits me better kill me because if I can get out of the car, I'm fucking going to kill them. Now, I had every intent of fulfilling that threat.
The other driver got out and my rage deflated. He and his passenger were black as night and if I did anything at that point I'd be going to jail for a hate crime. Never mind that it wasn't because they were black that I beat the loving shit out of them. I'd have happily stood in front of the judge and said "I didn't do it because they were black, I killed them because they hit my FUCKING car!" But I toned down the murder in my eyes and I'm sure that kept things remarkably civil. There was no damage to their minivan or Mr. Max and eventually after some back and forth because I could see a truck coming down the ramp, I said to hell with it and got in my car. They did not at any time offer insurance info, nor did I. I didn't see the point. Neither vehicle's plastic bumper wraparound was obviously damaged and I didn't want to die in a chain reaction accident after Max had so graciously delivered me from injury moments before. I waited for the break in traffic once I got back in the car and gingerly made my way down the hill towards home along a street I won't be able to use for three weeks beginning Monday (easiest way home of course). I still had the millionaire house to check and I was on my way to do it when the massive size of the city overwhelmed me.
The icy roads were what made me turn back halfway to the job. It was a big slip on black ice hidden by newly falling snow that turned me around. I will go in the morning when I manage to scrape some confidence together and have eased the tension in my neck back to a dull pain as usual. I got the car home and parked without any more accidents but a whole slew of near misses thanks to the icy roads. My neck hurt, I thought I was going to puke. When I got upstairs and got an Ativan in me, and calmed down a bit, I was okay. I massaged the aching muscles and ended up with a heating pack on my neck and now, well, now I'm not perfect and I'm less than pleased about the little two inch long wrinkle on the bumper where the warm plastic (thank whatever gods there may be for heated garages) bent then popped out after I was thumped.
Needless to say, I ache and I'm not sure how I'm going to face getting back in the car tomorrow. It's supposed to be a little warmer and the city should have had time to go out and sand and grade the roads but I'm going to have to take an Ativan to turn the key and I hate that. I don't like having to be drugged to do anything, much less drive on hazardous roads. Monday, I will have to take a different and notoriously accident prone road to work and I'm not happy about that at all because everyone else will be in the same boat as I. The street I usually take and am comfortable with is closed for three weeks for utility work, so I'm stuck with the deadly route.
I hate winter.
