I was lucky enough to be going on a date last night; on the way there I made a diversion to a Chinese Take-Away for later collection on the way back.
Driving down the road to the Take-Away, in the back of my mind, I was considering the best time to ask for the Chinese meal to be ready for. This banality was rudely interrupted by the sight of a car driving fast towards me: on MY side of the road.
This was a profoundly disturbing moment.
I was doing about 30 mph, no idea what other car was doing except that it was a normal driving speed. Road was fairly wet. It was dark, and there were no other vehicles in the vicinity. When I first saw it, I would say that the distance between me and the on-coming car was about the same distance that I would start to brake if it were stationary, or less than that: it was round a blind bend.
Looking back, not from a hospital bed (thankfully), this driving situation poses significant dilemmas. What is the best balance between steering and braking? What if the on-coming driver takes the same steering evasive action as you and you end up crashing into each other on the other side of the road? Actually, there wasn't the time to consider these issues.
What actually happened was that I braked heavily in my non-ABS 1992 Toyota Estima Enima, screeching of tyres, I steered towards the other side of the road, there was a bang, I carried on driving, I realised I was still in control of the vehicle on the wrong side of the road, I drove to the correct side of the road, I stopped and parked up.
The other driver, in a H-reg Cavalier-type vehicle, had stopped and had got out of the car. I am pretty certain that he was unhurt. "This is a one-way street!" he explained to me.
It was not a one-way street.
The guy was reasonably friendly, and gave me a name and employer (with business card) whom he said were insuring him. He did not ask me for any details. I inspected my car at the time; and the next morning (with my 'date', so it wasn't a completely bad night), and the only damage that I could see was some paint chips on the left-hand tip of the bumper.
The next day (today) I rang the number on the business card and explained the situation. The supervisor who I spoke to said that he had no knowledge of any employee of that name and that no employees were insured to drive in the situation that I described.
I telephoned the local police, they confirmed that the number plate and name were consistent. To discuss further issues, I have booked an appointment for Wednesday at 3pm.
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...and?
>Small earthquake in Chile: no casualties
Riiight.
Full moon tonight by any chance?
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We've just had a couple of 5 pointers down south near Zamboanga, as usual not enough to make the papers unless they rattle Manila -- maybe he got his geography mixed up?!
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Hey, come on, don't knock the post.
There is a message in there for all involved in bumps and scrapes. There are some very dishonest people out there who will give false details etc. Very hard to do in the trauma of a prang but amongst the personal details try and get a description of the driver and any unusual features that would help identity and write them down immediately. That is why many carry throw away cameras in the glove box. A cheap item that could prevent problems.
Little story from the past. One of the lads on my shift reported a driver for some substantial traffic offences. He came to Court and tried 'I was not the driver' routine. In the box having confirmed when asked to ID the culprit was asked by the brief how he could be so sure. He asked that the right sleeve of the blokes jacket be pulled back which disclosed a tattoo of Donald Duck. The officer then showed the Bench his Pocket Book which in addition to the dated notes on the offence had a line to the effect 'has tattoo of Donald Duck on right arm.'
Guilty .
DVD
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down south near Zamboanga
Brings back memories - must be 30 years since I was there, never heard the name since. 'interesting' place.
Martin
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Don't understand;
What has the title to do with anything ? Secondly there are earthquakes all the time in Chile - usually a couple a month you can feel and an awful lot more that you can't. And a big one about once a year. And there are never any casualties.
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Guys
The title is a Pun. Its a famous newspaper headline used when there was no news.
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I don't think I'm well enough read to be in this forum, the pun went straight over my head.
Dan
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How is it a pun ?
This is all right over my head.
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Sources are various according to a quick Google. I liked this one.
"The English magazine "The Spectator" once ran a similar contest in which the idea was to write the most boring newspaper headline. The winning entry, "Small Earthquake in Chile - Not Many Dead" has, of course, now become an interesting newspaper headline."
Or there was this
"Small earthquake in Chile. Not many dead. (Claud Cockburn, winning entry for a dullest headline competition at the Times)"
Or this
"Back in 1920, an Austrian newspaper held a contest in which they asked their readers to submit the most sensational and most boring possible headlines. The winners were:
"Franz Ferdinand Alive, World War Fought By Mistake" and "Small Earthquake In Chile, Not Many Dead"."
You learn something new every day...
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On a poiht of law, m'lud, Wasn't it Peru. Just before the mods get me, one of the best we're-British-damn-it headlines was the Times in the thirties -- 'Fog in the Channel: Europe cut off'.
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No, it was Chile. Apologies.
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LL
So glad that you were OK - especially since it would appear that the situation would have been much worse if you had not swerved to the right. At least you had plenty to talk about on your date, but I was intigued as to just what the supervisor actually meant when he said that "no employees were insured to drive in the situation .... described"!
Incidentally, for those of a literary bent, the Claud Cockburn claim to have won the competition in the "Times" can be found in Chapter 10 of his 1956 book "In Time of Trouble".
In similar vein, but at the other end of the scale in terms of casualties, the edition of the Aberdeen "Press & Journal" reporting the sinking of the TITANIC under the headline "Aberdeen Man Lost at Sea"!
Jack
PS LL - Very taken with your sobriquet - a favourite expression much used by my Father when my brother and I were teenagers ....
PPS Mark - Genuinely surprised that you had never come across the expression, either at home or in Chile!
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Hate to be a spoilsport and return this to the original motoring issue!
However, sometimes worth remembering in this day and age, if you don't have a disposable camera in your glovebox, many of us have cameras on our mobile phones!
Don't be scared to (discreetly) take a picture of the other driver and the car, roadmarkings etc. Might prove to be worthwhile!
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