Divisions and Precisions

Carless

There was an ice storm here on Thursday. We got a lot of snow on Wednesday night, then on Thursday and Thursday night it started to sleet and rain and freeze. On Thursday night, I was sitting here, chatting online with the usual gang, when I heard a loud cracking outside. "Sounds like a tree fell down," I said. I looked out of my windows, but didn't see anything. The power kept flickering, and as I went to bed, it went out several times. I reset my alarm clock and went to bed.

Friday morning when I woke up, the light was all wrong. It was much, much too bright. I looked over at my alarm clock, and sure enough, the numbers were blinking defiantly at me -- the power had blinked again after I fell asleep. With a sigh, I got out of bed and started getting ready. While I was getting dressed, my doorbell rang. I answered the intercom and heard a man asking, "Do you own a black Escort?" I do, and told him so. "Can you come and move it for us?" Oh, sure. Must be the guys here to plow the parking lot. I got dressed in a hurry and headed outside.

"Sorry to bother you," they said. I walked outside, and they said, "We can move it for you, if you'd like." I couldn't figure out why they were asking me that, until I looked up from the ice covered sidewalk to where my car was parked.

A tree had fallen during the night, all right. The tree that had been hanging over my car the night before was now draped over my car, nearly concealing it from view. I think the only thing I managed to say was, "Oh my god." I may have said something a little more colorful, I don't remember. I let one of the men back my car out from under the tree, then I went back inside and started making phone calls. To work, to my mom, to my insurance company. The damage didn't look too bad, but I've always been a horrible judge of that sort of thing. The last time I looked at my car and said, "Oh it doesn't look that bad," it was several thousand dollars' worth of damage.

I really hate being without a car. I mean really. The irony is, most weekends I've stayed home all weekend, not even leaving the house from Friday night to Monday morning. This weekend, however, I wanted to do nothing so much as just GO SOMEWHERE. I wanted to see a movie. I wanted to go shopping. I wanted to go to Starbucks. I just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere. Naturally, I couldn't. I was pretty cranky by last night.

I'm renting a car this morning to get to work. The idea was that I'll rent a car for the first couple days, then find someone at work who can give me a ride to and from work. I should do that, really. However, I think not having a car will make me absolutely nutty, even if I don't plan to go anywhere other than work.

This was not a good weekend. Here's hoping the week will be better.

Posted by Lisa at February 4, 2002 08:25 AM