Disclaimer. I'm writing this as therapy to get it out of my mind to help me move on. After talks with various neighbours I'm relieved to report that no-one was seriously injured....
Friday night, Saturday morning, and my digital alarm clock read-out said 02.45. 02.46. 02.47. My drowsy brain struggled to comprehend the sound ... of a car alarm, and fought to stay in bed, but my inner instinct said to investigate. Great. Staying put was not an option.
I woke my husband up to tell him there was a car alarm (I like to share these experiences) going off. He got up grumpily, and we looked out of the front window to check our vehicles on the driveway. Nothing happening there. My husband went back to bed. I lingered and looked towards the road where there is on-street parking.
If there's a car alarm sounding something must have happened. Vandals? Thieves? My car was parked in front of our drive, should I put it on our drive in case it was targeted by the idiots setting car alarms off?
What can I see? There. Just visible over next door's hedge, hazard lights flashing on the vehicle nearest to us. Car alarm, and hazard lights. And mist. Mist?
I wiped my hand over the mid-night condensation on the single-glazed window to clear my view. Strange. Mist at the front of the vehicle, but not at the rear. Steam rising puffs of mist. Puffs of mist? Or smoke? That's not right.
02:48. Now I was wide awake and alarmed myself. I went downstairs and out of the house to check my vehicle and see what was wrong with the other one.
My vehicle was fine. But the other one on the road. The flashing hazard lights. The car alarm. The smoke rising from the bonnet. The loud music coming from the car. Eerie. The silence all around except for the 70's disco track and the smoke. Smoke!
02:49. I went back inside and woke my husband again and told him I thought there was a car on fire on the road. This time he got up quickly and we went outside to see. From 30 paces or so we could see that a car had crashed into a parked car. Now it made sense. The car alarm was no longer sounding, but the smoke was clearly visible rising from the bonnet, and the disco track was still playing.
02:50. As the thought was running through my brain that we should probably dial 999, the police vehicle arrived with its lights flashing and stopped skew-whiff on the road just beyond the crashed car. Two officers in hi-visibility jackets got out, ignored us, and inspected the vehicle.
02:51. They opened the driver door and the passenger door, and the sound of the music grew louder and the smoke billowed out into the cold night air. They closed the car doors and approached a man on the pavement who shook his head and walked away from them.
02:52. 'I don't want to see this' I said, and we went inside.
Back in bed I tried to turn over to my comfortable position, but I couldn't get what I'd seen out of my mind. There was no way that I could sleep now.
02:58. I got up again and looked out of the front window. The fire engine was parked close to my car, firemen were calmly taking control of the situation and yellow hoses were snaking along the ground towards the crashed vehicle. The police vehicle had moved away and the road in front of the fire engine was closed with a line of 4 traffic cones. Further down the road towards town, another set of flashing lights could have been an ambulance or a police vehicle at the point where the road was closed there.
03:53. Still not sleeping I went to look out of the window again. The fire engine was gone now, and different flashing lights and spot lights indicated a tow truck had arrived and was obviously recovering the crashed car.
04:10. Down in the kitchen I made myself an Ovaltine and battled with my computer, which said 'You're not blogging now, I need a scan because Norton 360 says so'. So I ran the scan as indicated and went to bed at 05:00.
I work on Saturday mornings, and before setting off to the Library I went to inspect the scene.
The impact car (now taken away) had ploughed into G+K's car - a 4 door hatchback, which in turn had hit C's car - an older model smaller hatchback, which in turn had been pushed under the rear bumper of I+P's Volvo 4x4. The shunted cars now made a traffic jam which blocked the driveways to two properties...
So, 3 cars obviously written off (including the impact vehicle), and the Volvo 4x4 sustaining damage to its rear bumper and tow bar. If I'd not been so tired and on my way to work I would have taken photos. But maybe that would have been a bit gruesome? Voyeuristic? Wierd?
Thanks for letting me get it off my chest, sharing these experiences makes it feel less burdensome. From speaking to the neighbours we think the driver must have phoned 999 because none of us did it, and as we all said something like 'I was just thinking I'd better phone 999' when the police had arrived.
Never a dull moment, as they say, and it could have been a LOT worse.
TTFN. Kat.
Friday night, Saturday morning, and my digital alarm clock read-out said 02.45. 02.46. 02.47. My drowsy brain struggled to comprehend the sound ... of a car alarm, and fought to stay in bed, but my inner instinct said to investigate. Great. Staying put was not an option.
I woke my husband up to tell him there was a car alarm (I like to share these experiences) going off. He got up grumpily, and we looked out of the front window to check our vehicles on the driveway. Nothing happening there. My husband went back to bed. I lingered and looked towards the road where there is on-street parking.
If there's a car alarm sounding something must have happened. Vandals? Thieves? My car was parked in front of our drive, should I put it on our drive in case it was targeted by the idiots setting car alarms off?
What can I see? There. Just visible over next door's hedge, hazard lights flashing on the vehicle nearest to us. Car alarm, and hazard lights. And mist. Mist?
I wiped my hand over the mid-night condensation on the single-glazed window to clear my view. Strange. Mist at the front of the vehicle, but not at the rear. Steam rising puffs of mist. Puffs of mist? Or smoke? That's not right.
02:48. Now I was wide awake and alarmed myself. I went downstairs and out of the house to check my vehicle and see what was wrong with the other one.
My vehicle was fine. But the other one on the road. The flashing hazard lights. The car alarm. The smoke rising from the bonnet. The loud music coming from the car. Eerie. The silence all around except for the 70's disco track and the smoke. Smoke!
02:49. I went back inside and woke my husband again and told him I thought there was a car on fire on the road. This time he got up quickly and we went outside to see. From 30 paces or so we could see that a car had crashed into a parked car. Now it made sense. The car alarm was no longer sounding, but the smoke was clearly visible rising from the bonnet, and the disco track was still playing.
02:50. As the thought was running through my brain that we should probably dial 999, the police vehicle arrived with its lights flashing and stopped skew-whiff on the road just beyond the crashed car. Two officers in hi-visibility jackets got out, ignored us, and inspected the vehicle.
02:51. They opened the driver door and the passenger door, and the sound of the music grew louder and the smoke billowed out into the cold night air. They closed the car doors and approached a man on the pavement who shook his head and walked away from them.
02:52. 'I don't want to see this' I said, and we went inside.
Back in bed I tried to turn over to my comfortable position, but I couldn't get what I'd seen out of my mind. There was no way that I could sleep now.
02:58. I got up again and looked out of the front window. The fire engine was parked close to my car, firemen were calmly taking control of the situation and yellow hoses were snaking along the ground towards the crashed vehicle. The police vehicle had moved away and the road in front of the fire engine was closed with a line of 4 traffic cones. Further down the road towards town, another set of flashing lights could have been an ambulance or a police vehicle at the point where the road was closed there.
03:53. Still not sleeping I went to look out of the window again. The fire engine was gone now, and different flashing lights and spot lights indicated a tow truck had arrived and was obviously recovering the crashed car.
04:10. Down in the kitchen I made myself an Ovaltine and battled with my computer, which said 'You're not blogging now, I need a scan because Norton 360 says so'. So I ran the scan as indicated and went to bed at 05:00.
I work on Saturday mornings, and before setting off to the Library I went to inspect the scene.
The impact car (now taken away) had ploughed into G+K's car - a 4 door hatchback, which in turn had hit C's car - an older model smaller hatchback, which in turn had been pushed under the rear bumper of I+P's Volvo 4x4. The shunted cars now made a traffic jam which blocked the driveways to two properties...
So, 3 cars obviously written off (including the impact vehicle), and the Volvo 4x4 sustaining damage to its rear bumper and tow bar. If I'd not been so tired and on my way to work I would have taken photos. But maybe that would have been a bit gruesome? Voyeuristic? Wierd?
Thanks for letting me get it off my chest, sharing these experiences makes it feel less burdensome. From speaking to the neighbours we think the driver must have phoned 999 because none of us did it, and as we all said something like 'I was just thinking I'd better phone 999' when the police had arrived.
Never a dull moment, as they say, and it could have been a LOT worse.
TTFN. Kat.
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