Ouch!

It is winter now.  We had a bit of snow on Monday.  The snow melted a bit,  making slush.  Then at night the slush froze.  It made for some slippy driving. 

As I had an appointment in the town of Lockerbie, a mere12 miles from the house, I took my time in getting there.  I drove carefully and cautiously.  I have a pretty new car and I am over cautious with it.  I won't even take it through the car wash because those can scratch the finish.  I wash it by hand or use the jet wash.

I passed people having difficulty getting up hills because of the glaze of ice everywhere.  It reminded me of the ice storms experienced in Iowa.  Ice storms are stinkers.  The world is glazed with a sheet of smooth and slippy, glass-like ice. 

I got in to Lockerbie just fine and parked in the car park of the local health centre where I had an appointment to see the doctors (for work).  I turned the ignition off and reached across to the passenger seat/office to get my sales materials and . . . whump.  My car was hit!

I was surprised and probably a little stunned.

The moral of the story is, if you park your car on a hill, on a sheet of ice and the tyres of your car begin to melt the ice a little bit, the car will start to slide down the hill.  The car will slide even if it is empty and the hand brake or parking brake is on.

Later on, after the police had arrived.  Somebody else parked in the parking spot that had been occupied by the sliding car.  The driver was informed that this was not a good place to park and the accident was pointed out to him.   He didn't listen and walked away.  Minutes later, his car slid into the car that had slid into mine.  Well, we TOLD him.  Why is it that some people don't think that the laws of physics don't apply to them?

I went away for to have a cup of coffee.  I couldn't go anywhere until the cars had been moved and it was cold.  I got the details of the owner of the red car and the insurance details. My lovely new car, that hasn't even had its first service yet is off to the body shop.

I was not terribly hurt in the accident.  A few hours later, my back started to stiffen up so I went to the doctor about that.  It isn't a terrible injury and I'll be fine . . . but be careful out there.  Don't park on any icy hills.