The week before christmas, 6 days before to be exact we had a car crash. Not a horrendously bad one but enough of one that has now seen our faithful Seat disappear to the salvagers and left us with the task of finding another car. YAY..or not.
It was a normal after school day and i was taking my daughter (and everybody else and dog) to her ballet lesson. Driving down a little residential street that i have drive thousands of times before. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a car coming up to a give way on my left and had that sudden horror dawn on me ‘he isnt going to stop!’ It seemed like ages whilst that thought tore around my head but it was obviously actually seconds. The man driving the other car had missed a give way and (i think) assumed that the road he was on just carried on..and he ploughed into the passenger side of my car, rendering his car completely un-driveable and sending me and the kids across the road, narrowly missing a parked van and a tree.
It seemed like a decade before the car stopped..but again wouldnt have been long….then what i remember most was the screaming…screaming…screaming. My daughter who was in the passenger side was pretty much inconsolable and i was grabbing her hands saying frantically ‘are you okay, are you hurt, are you okay’ whilst at the same times scanning the other kids to check they were okay. My son was also very very upset and my eldest daughter sat hugging the dog, with huge tears rolling down her face and her scared eyes searching out my own. It’s okay I repeat at her, slower this time but holding her gaze, trying to re-assure her.
My two youngest both looked bewildered and a little bemused by the events around them. I guess they don’t really understand the concept of danger in the same way. Their world was still the same, just maybe shifted to the right a bit..but everyone that makes sense to them in the car was present and correct and still the same.
I realised that i hadn’t got out of the car to speak to the other driver and as i did, out of the corner of my eye i saw a car go past and for a split second i thought we were a victim of a hit and run. But they had managed to push their car out of the way and it was just to the side of ours. I yelled at them, outraged that someone would dare drive into a car full of the most precious things on earth and then when i saw that they were concerned and worried about the kids i calmed down a bit and carried on trying to comfort my very upset passengers.
Injecting a bit of humour into the whole thing my daughter who was sobbing uncontrollably blurted out when i asked her for the millionth time if she was hurt. “im not hurt mummy, Im just scared you are going to go to prison now!’ ah bless. I made sure i said nice and loudly so that the other driver could hear ‘It wasn’t my fault, everything will be fine!”
Anyway an amazing friend came to my rescue and we got the children home and then my OH went and took pictures and chatted to the driver…etc…
Then what followed was the other nightmare and discomfort of being involved in anything like this…the HOURS of your life you then spend on the phone trying to sort out the insurance…
Good Lord..There must be a way to charge his insurance company for that. We have lost entire mornings, afternoons and evenings on the phone..sorting things out.
Today, the news from our insurers is that our car is a complete loss and so we are now in the position of having to find another one..relatively quickly as the hire car we have has to, apparently, be returned in 5-10 days time…
no stress there then…
Im not a nervous driver I wouldnt say but it has made me worry about people approaching give ways and it enforces the sad fact that actually you can be the best driver in the world but that means jack if you happen to come across the worst driver in the world. I hugged my kids tighter when we were home and safe and had one of those ‘this is all that really matters’ moments. For that, the safety of my kids, i am deeply thankful. For loosing our car, having to find another one super quick, hours on the phone, driving a mini 7 seater car that we can’t even fit a buggy in..I would like to seriously kick someones BUTT
😉
The last time we saw our car. Thanks for all those miles 🙂
