Time Immortal

I guess I would just like to say that occasionally, I’m very glad I listen to my parents.

So I left work a little early on Friday night and caught a ride from Rocky Mountain House to Red Deer with a friend from work. I got to the Red Deer Greyhound station just before 5:00 PM and caught the bus north to Edmonton there, saving myself roughly 2 hours that evening in travel time (normally, with the Greyhound link between Rocky and Red Deer, I’d have caught the 7:50 PM bus). With my extra time that evening, I decided to see Spider Man II.

I am glad for three things that evening. One, I am glad that I listened to my parents suggestion about which vehicle to take. Two, I’m really glad I did go to see this movie, and that I did get into the accident I did on the way home. Three, I’m glad my sister Carmen decided NOT to go to the movie with me.

When I was driving home, I saw this tow truck on the side of the road ahead, and it pulled out onto the street to tow one of the stalled cars in the left lane. There were two or three of them, stalled out by having driven through a deep puddle (Edmonton got torrential rain that night while I was watching the Webhead) on the road. By the time I got there, the puddle was much shallower, and so I drove through it without difficulty.
The cars in front of me slowed to a stop to let the tow truck out onto the road, and I came to a stop behind them. About three seconds later, what turned out to be a Dodge Neon slammed into the back of my van, at a speed that I can’t get a straight figure on at this time (my guess is 80 km/h).

You can take a look here for pictures of the van and some slightly blurry photos of the newspaper article about the crash. Suffice it to say that the van was a write-off.

Concerning one above, I’m glad I listened to my parents and took the van. Personally, I prefer to drive their Oldsmobile Intrigue sedan, but looking at the damage the van took, I can see that I would have been hurt much more severely if I hadn’t been driving it. As it is, I’m pretty sore in the neck and back, and I don’t think I’ll go in to work tomorrow. If I’d been in the sedan…well, Lost Sosaria might just have to have gone in the Graveyard on Dino’s Page.

Concerning two above, I’m glad that I was there because the car in front of me was a Honda Accord sedan, and the lady driving it got some whiplash when my van was pushed into the back of her car by the force of the impact (her car, in turn, was pushed into the back of another car - there was A LOT of energy release!). I can’t imagine the damage she’d have taken if my van there. I’m pretty sore, and moving pretty slowly. My girlfriend (a nurse) was in tears and she could tell (despite my attempts to put on the typical “I’m Okay” facade) that I was hurting. I am glad that Carmen doesn’t have to go through this with me.