marvel

Since my tail light was smashed by the small bus that I collided with on Monday, I had no way to get to work at night on Friday. My mom was kind enough to lend me her cute little Honda CR-V (she calls her "Curvy" ). The snow was almost all gone by that point, and the roads were simply wet and clear. Or so I thought. I was going about 10km over the speed limit, so, 90km/hour (so approximately 56mph)and I hit a patch of black ice

The car fishtailed and all of a sudden I had spun 180'... then I slammed into the pile of snow on the side of the road, got bounced back onto the black ice, spun again and landed back-end-down down a snowy embankment and through someone's fence Holy scary, Batman!

Trembling, I climbed out of the car and surveyed the damage. The car looked just fine, but I could not say the same for the fence I walked up the steps to the house of the fence I just destroyed and knocked. It was just after nine o'clock at night, but I had gotten these poor people out of bed. They were very understanding, and they let me stay in their house until a tow truck could get there. Initially, I thought I might be able to back up through the yard, to the driveway, and then back out onto the road; apparently, had Curvy gone just a few feet back, I would have ended up in a sewage tank I decided to wait for the tow.

I called in to work right away, because my shift was due to start in about forty minutes from then. Fortunately, someone was able to cover for me. I texted Pagz & Heckler, and then called my mom.

I smashed the fence of probably the kindest people on the planet, seriously. They were really understanding, having had their fence taken out several times by people hitting the black ice in front of their house. The husband explained that there is a creek that runs underneath the road through a culvert, which is what causes the black ice. He said they had seen twelve cars in one night spin out in front of their place. Once, they even had a lady upside-down in her truck in their yard Even a cop car had spun out once and landed on their property.

I noticed that they had a jukebox, and I thought that would be a good conversation starter. I asked them about what style of music they liked, and wow, it turned into an awesome evening from there (apart from the whole crash, of course, lol). They were into fifties rock 'n roll, which I also love, so we had tons to talk about. They introduced me to an artist I hadn't even heard of before - Shakin' Stevens. Not only did they play records, but we also watched a dvd of Shakin' Stevens doing his thing. Wow. It was really cool. They also had cats, so we shared stories of our quirky kittehs One of their cats had a peg leg, and he was very cuddly.

When it came time to go, I received big hugs from both of them I'm going to take them a Christmas card and a bottle of wine in the next week or so. They were truly amazing.

The tow truck finally arrived after 2.5 hours of waiting. Like I mentioned before, the car looked just fine... but when he got it up the snowbank, I could see that the wheel was bent. It was the axle... there was no way I could drive it home. I considered texting Pagz back and asking for a ride, but I was worried about his car on the ice. The most amazing thing happened then: the neighbour of the people whose fence I smashed had come out to watch the commotion as the tow truck pulled the car up the hill. We chatted for a bit, and he offered to take me home. Now, I was at approximately the half-way point between my house and the city - it was at least a 20-25 minute drive from the accident site to my house. I had thought the tow truck driver might take me back home (my mom has the good kind of insurance that pays for that kind of stuff), but he already said he was worried about that axle and getting it back to a shop in town. I was blown away by the kindness I received that night. I happily accepted his offer. While he drove (rather slowly, in case there was more black ice), he told me a story...

When he was a young fellow of 18, he had been working in a mill in BC's interior. When the mill burned down, he was left without a job, and decided to follow a tip that there might be work in another town. He had enough money for a meal and one night in a hotel - he hoped to be staying at the work camp after that first night. Well, as it turns out, there was no work After the meal from the previous night, and his hotel stay, all he had left was money for one beer. He said that in those days, if you had money enough for a beer, they'd give you one (even if you weren't the legal age). The bar was crowded, and as he sat down with his beer, a man from New Zealand joined him at his table. They got to talking, and he explained his predicament to the fellow at his table - he was stuck in a strange town with no money, and no work. The man asked what he would do if he had money enough to go somewhere else. He explained to the stranger that he would take a bus to Prince George (a city in BC) where he had cousins he was sure he could work with. The man told him that he would pay for that bus ticket, so long as he repaid the favour to someone else one day. Then he turned to me and said, "I was 18 back then, and I'm 62 now... and I've been paying off that debt ever since. You're just one more installment."

Sweet, huh? I aim to repay that favour to someone someday too. Amazing kindness, amazing people...