Bye, Bye Car

Sunday is the last time we drove home from church in our second-hand Volvo, the one we got less than a year ago. I should correct that: we almost drove home. We were just one half block from home, when one of our neighbours decided to set off for the store to buy some milk. So you might say if it wasn't for Sunday shopping we would still be driving our Volvo. Or if we hadn't stayed at church quite so long or if all the lights had been green or....

Our neighbour was in a hurry to pick up that milk. He waited impatiently for a car from the left to clear his driveway. He could see that if he gunned his vehicle, he could beat the next car coming from the left. What he neglected to consider was that we, his neighbours from four houses down, just might be driving past from his right. He creamed our left front fender and blew our right front tire as he crammed us against the curb.

Today we learned that the insurance company doesn't consider this hunk of steel, which happens to have the most comfortable leather seats we've ever experienced in a car, worth fixing. The good news: they're giving us more than we paid for it. And in hindsight, the really good news: the neighbour didn't back up just a second or so later, when he would have hit our car right in the door. At the speed he was backing up, he could have done severe damage to my husband.

All in all we are one grateful family. Now if we could just carve out some time to go car shopping.