Ouch, Says My Car

And I say, "Ouch," too.

Only I have the luck to bust out of work early and be on my way to have a celebratory Thanksgiving Break drink at the Bulldog with a co-worker... and then get in a car accident. I was in the Irish Channel, with its web of one way streets and stop signs, when a giant black truck came out from my left and I couldn't brake in time. My left hand hit something, both airbags exploded at me, my front windshield cracked, and my horn was stuck blaring permanently.

All these people came out of the corner bar to see if everyone was OK, and I was very out of it, but the first thoughts that wandered through my head were,
1) Shit, was it my stop sign? It wasn't my stop sign, was it? OH GOOD, it wasn't.
2) At least he crunched in the side of the bumper that was already scratched when some idiot backed into me outside St. Joe's and took off. Which is now going to get fixed for free.

So. I have this red spot of my hand that feels like a rug burn, along with a cut, which must be from the air bag, and a couple of other red spots on my left arm. My right knee must have gotten jammed or something (I had it extended with the brake all the way down to the floor), because it's feeling a little iffy. Not painful, just iffy. Today my neck is sore. My hand swelled up yesterday, but it's gone down. My poor car though... the front bumper, hood, the front panel on the driver's side, the windshield, two air bags, and my seat belt is inexplicably broken.

All in all, it's more of a pain in the butt than anything else, once I got over the initial shock. From the windshield cracking and the air bags going off, and the pain in my hand, I expected to find the whole front end smashed in, but it doesn't look that bad. Neither of us were going over 25, I doubt. I'm not at fault, and the guy had just bought his truck (so it sucked for him too) and has full coverage. Also, he was a pretty chill guy to get hit by, which was helpful since we had to stand and wait for the cops for over an hour. You'd think in the sketchy part of the Irish Channel, we'd have run into one sooner, but it seems they vacated the premises rather than deal with our boring car wreck. We looked in my manual and figured out how to pull out the fuse for the horn, so it finally shut off. He was a waiter, which I'd figured immediately from his outfit and the fact that he'd just gotten off work. Who but waitstaff and teachers is just getting off at 3:00? He had barely any damage to his truck. I just bounced right off. Nice to be large. The lady next door stuck her head out to say that she'd heard the crash but didn't even get up-- there's about one every two days at that intersection.

So. Now I have to spend the first part of my break on the phone with Allstate and Progressive, and possibly at a doctor's appointment. Whoo. They are coming Monday to tow my car away. Poor car.