Us and State Farm

Now it begins. E. talked with an SF person today, who was surprisingly skeptical of E.'s account of my Lady Wife being smashed into on the Fairbanks Grade-- oh yes, my wife, the Susan Boyle of drivers suffering underestimation when it comes to the quality of her driving.

Break into a couple bars of "Thunder Road," E.



You learned on a stick. Your mama drove her 'stang from Columbus, Ohio, to Roanoke, Virginia -- over all those twisty mountain roads -- in record time back there in '66, and the ignition doesn't fall far from the compression.

You are from Dee-troit, Mitchigan, and if you had been a biker chick in the original Road Warrior, Mel Gibson would have had a severely truncated career.

So I just spent a couple hours laboriously sending SF the photos of the scene and the aftermath. We are dealing with a young fellow who was not operating his vehicle at safe residential speeds.

It hurts me to say that, but it's true.

Let's See How State Farm Handles This One

I wrote yesterday about E.'s collision. Since it happened near the house, after her call I trotted down and took some pictures. Talk about a CSI moment.

When I downloaded the pix to my laptop and did some cropping, it became clear that E.'s uncertainty about exactly what happened resulted from the fact she was the whackee, not the whacker. In short, she was overtaken by a speeding youth who tapped our car, jerked the wheel hard right and ran off the road, through some plants and over some chunks of concrete and onto the sidewalk, all of this uphill.

Physics doesn't lie -- though, as in the case of quantum physics, it tells some rather puzzling truths. But in the macro world, Newton's laws still keep things simple.

At any rate, if I can figure out how to obscure license plate numbers, I may post the images. They tell a tale.

So now we shall see. Will the State Farm adjuster measure up to the task? Stay tuned.

Fender Benders Are Inevitable. Acknowledging That is the Beginning of Wisdom

Image by wili_hybrid via Flickr

And E. just bent some fenders. He was making a right turn. She was making a left turn. Since this was close to home, E. called me, and I came scampering, camera in hand.

I'll say one thing for E. The other driver got the worst of it; that is, his car did. Also, some plants were crushed where he pulled off the road.

E. was very calm in the aftermath. She was on the way to her acupuncturist. The other driver was a kid. I believe his Saturday was dented worse than his car, though he was also near his home, so his mom and dad came out, and everyone was nice because everyone was relieved.

Also, everyone was insured.

I am, as I sometimes am, reminded of a poem -- Hardy's "Convergence of the Twain." Can you guess the twain?

I

   In a solitude of the sea
   Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

II

   Steel chambers, late the pyres
   Of her salamandrine fires,
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.

III

   Over the mirrors meant
   To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls -- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.

IV

   Jewels in joy designed
   To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.

V

   Dim moon-eyed fishes near
   Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?". . .

VI

   Well: while was fashioning
   This creature of cleaving wing,
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything

VII

   Prepared a sinister mate
   For her -- so gaily great --
A Shape of Ice, for the time fat and dissociate.

VIII

   And as the smart ship grew
   In stature, grace, and hue
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.

IX

   Alien they seemed to be:
   No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history.

X

   Or sign that they were bent
   By paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one august event,

XI

   Till the Spinner of the Years
   Said "Now!" And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.

Well, in this case were are talking about a Chrysler product and, I
think, a Camry. Two households were jarred. That's all. And I go: whew.