First car accident

For the inspiration behind this blog click here.

I was up in Inverness the other weekend. Its such a nice part of Scotland but what a drive - its 3 hours for us from Edinburgh. Fortunately I wasn't driving this time. My Dad was driving three of us up - we were all going to meet the wider family for lunch as it was my Grandpa's 90th birthday. What a truely great man my Grandpa is. He's seen and done such a lot in his 90 years and still has good health.

The weather was awful. Its been raining here for what seems like two weeks straight. This day was no exception and so driving conditions were not too great. On the way back down the road my Dad was obviusly getting a little weary. We stopped for coffee and let him recharge. He refused to let one of us drive. As we approached Perth we had a very minor incident. The car almost went off the road when Dad failed to clearly see a turn off for Dunkeld. The rain was making it more difficult to see anything clearly.

It was nothing alarming of course and I thought no more about it except to recall my first car accident. It was kind of mundane and involved a stationery piller in a multi-story car park. So instead, I thought I'd share the memory of a good friend of mine and her first car accident. This one's a real shocker!

A rush of blood

“Did you know that men are always picking their nose in the car. It seems to me that they don’t even care who sees them doing it either. It’s disgusting!

I was driving along Edinburgh Road going to see a friend one Saturday afternoon. It was my fault really, I wasn’t really looking at the road ahead at full attention – too busy daydreaming about something or other. Anyway I went into the back of the car in front of me.

We’d been stopped at traffic lights, so I wasn’t going that fast – what, about ten miles an hour if that. I got out of the car and went over to the one in front. He hadn’t even moved off the road and the cars were now backing up behind us.

I got such a fright I almost jumped out of my skin! He was slumped over the wheel and there was all this blood. Blood everywhere. All over his shirt, the wheel, the windows….I kept thinking “Oh my God I’ve killed him” , then thinking “don’t be silly, you were going too slow for that”. There was a whole conversation of alarming voices in my head.

I was looking about for help and heard someone say they’d called an ambulance. I think I was in shock at this point. I couldn’t wake him up he was out for the count. I could even move him back, his hand was stuck under his face – probably wouldn’t have been a good idea anyway.

The ambulance arrived and saw to both of us. I was just wrapped up in a blanket to stop the shivers – where had they come from?! I was looking over at the other car when I heard the ambulance man reviving him with salts. The man was fine, just a sore face but they were going to take him to the hospital for a check-up.

But guess what? Absolutely hysterical really. It turns out he’d been picking his nose at the traffic lights! Men!! Don’t they eat or something – I mean if you need a snack in car, take an apple with you! I’d hit the back of his car and his finger was plugged up his nose, fishing away. The force of my car knocking his had rammed his finger right up his nose. His finger was still up there when the ambulance men arrived to check him out! He’d had a massive nose bleed from the combined finger thrust and head butt and had knocked himself out!

Serves him right really, shouldn’t pick your nose in a car anyway.. He could have seen his finger come out the top of his nose if I’d hit him at a faster speed!”