h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, this year is shaping up to be an eventful one.

We haven't had any more major floods, though on more than one occasion, we've had a thunderstorm which deposited enough rain in a short enough time that the river was literally level with the surface of the parking lot...

But, a few weeks ago the OH was doing his Monday Night deejay thing (he does the first, third and fifth Mondays of each month), and phoned me at 1:40 AM. It's never a Good Thing when the phone rings at 1:40 AM.

Me: Hello?
OH: I'm just calling to let you know, I was stopped at a red light, and someone rear-ended me, and then took off.
Me: Are you hurt?
OH: No.
Me: Is the car OK?
OH: The fender's a little bent.
Me: OK, well can you drive it?
OH: I am waiting for the police to come, and I'll talk to you when I get home.

So, he gets home an hour or so later. I haven't been back to sleep, of course. He says the fender was bent too close to the tire, so the cops drove him home after they took the accident report. He filed an insurance claim the next day, as well as going to rent a car to get to and from work. Took a couple weeks for the claim to be settled, and their offer, minus the deductible, was better than I expected (the car was probably worth slightly less than the deductible, but we'd recently replaced the catalytic converter, and the engine was replaced 3 years ago) so we took it.

Saturday, we made appointments to go exchange the car title for a check, and to go to the body shop to clean out some personal items. When we got there, and I saw the damage, I could not believe he walked away from that accident. The entire rear end was in the backseat and there was no way to open the trunk without breaking the rear window.

Also on Saturday, we visited the sales department at the car rental place, as we liked the one we'd been renting (some of which is covered by insurance: it cost us $30 a day for 18 days, and they cover $25 a day for 14 of them).

So, we bought one of these: http://tinyurl.com/l2sysgg . The image shown has the same finish as ours (ours has automatic transmission). We went in with a certified check and walked out with keys a couple hours later, once we did all the paperwork for the warranty, and to transfer the title and registration.

I remember my ex having a rear-ender.

He was parked.

He was just about to put his seatbelt on and drive away.

BMW rammed his bum - the driver was on the phone. He ended up on the back seat.

Whoa! That's scary, too.

I was in a rear-ender once; sadly, I was not wearing my safety belt at the time. I had over 100 stitches and reconstructive surgery above my left eye, permanent optic nerve damage, and 5 months of physical therapy. Not to mention a few weeks in bed.

I am SO glad OH was not injured. Cars can be replaced, even if it puts a significant dent in the savings. People can't. Especially lovely ones.

Blimey, that sounds like a horrible bump.

(all of them)

I love Mazdas. My dad bought one of the first ones when they first started selling them and had a new one every two years for quite a while after that. The last was the gigantic 929 which looked as though it needed a chauffeur to go with it.

Much later I had one of the first MX5s in Germany. So much fun to drive!

The 929s were HUGE! The 6 is, I think, the descendant of the 626.

I admit I do feel better having OH drive all that way to and from work in a newer vehicle, knowing fewer parts are at or approaching the point where they require replacement. The old car had over 200K miles, so the idiot light came on with some frequency.