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February 27th, 2004
06:03 am - A better day
Tuesday and Wednesday were actually really pretty lousy days, fun silly LJ posts aside, but Thursday has been better. It snowed again; I make this the fourth separate snowfall we've had in Middlesbrough this winter, which is rather better than average, the three to date lasting about two hours, about ten days and about two days respectively. Apologies to those who are fed up with the snow and the cold weather, but I do like Middlesbrough's implementation of it; within a small number of degrees of freezing and about an inch deep. That's a sociable amount of snow.
Nevertheless, it's enough snow to cause trafffic difficulties, and tonight I witnessed a very minor traffic accident. Much as we have extremely little snow, we have extremely little traffic accidents. In anticipation of the day when blog entries are admissible as evidence, here's a note written close to the time so that I might stand a fighting shot at remembering the details if the insurance companies ask me.
It snowed in Middlesbrough on Thursday 26th February 2004 between approximately 4pm and 5:30pm and from approximately 9:30pm onwards. The air temperature was slightly below freezing. The first snowfall did lay on the pavements without immediately melting and was sufficient to make the roads slippery. The second snowfall was heavier still and again lay on the ground without melting. The depth of the covering was between half an inch and one inch by 10:30pm.
At approximately 10:30pm on Thursday 26th February 2004, I was witness to a traffic accident. A medium blue (modern) Y-registration Vauxhall Corsa turned right from Roman Road into Green Lane and hit the opposite kerb. It was not clear or not whether the car had mounted the pavement and also hit the stone-walled flowerbed. It was clear from the tyre patterns on the road that there was some element of skidding on the icy road. A midnight blue 03-registration Peugeot 307 was following and hit the back of the Vauxhall Corsa when making an identical turn.
Despite the cloudy night sky, the area was well-lit by street lamps. Both drivers were travelling at a prudent speed due to the adverse conditions, cornering at no greater than 10 or 15 miles per hour. There was little other traffic. The following Peugeot 307 was safely distant from the Vauxhall Corsa. Both cars' tyres appeared to be in good condition. The two drivers appeared to be unhurt, got out of their cars and swapped details with each other in a calm fashion.
There appeared to be only very minor damage to the Vauxhall Corsa and no damage to the Peugeot 307. Specifically, the front left hubcap of the Vauxhall was partially bent and partially dislocated from the rest of the wheel. It was not clear whether this was due to the initial impact with the kerb or the subsequent impact from the Peugeot. The rear number plate of the Vauxhall was shattered due to the impact with the Peugeot.
*note to self: scan and paste in pencil diagram*
Yes, I was OK - I witnessed the accident from about 10-15 metres away. All the people involved were OK too, which is the main thing, and I don't think any of them are going to turn into phantom ambulance-chasers.
Other reasons why today was better than the two previous days: a nice long chat with  dezzikitty, the prospect of a silly old video games night tomorrow evening and a visit to the local student cinema to see Spirited Away. (For the third time since either last March or last September.) Almost certainly the first time I've been to the cinema see a film a third time; the first viewing was with subtitles, the latter two were of the dubbed version. Today's audience was, at a guess, 70 +/- 20, which is a very positive sign. Next planned cinema trip: after a hot tip from the cool cats in Lewisham,  huskyteer and addedentry, Spellbound next Thursday!
Current Mood:  well, not quite that cold
Current Music: too late for music, I'm meant to be asleep
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![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/14624256/1497491) | | From: | catalana |
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| Date: | February 26th, 2004 11:26 pm (UTC) |
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*hugs* about the rough days.
I love Spirited Away - actually, I pretty much love all Miyazaki films, but this one was wonderful fun. (Kiki's Delivery service is also wonderful; the dubbed voice on the cat is priceless. *grin*) I saw Spirited Away in a theater the first time I watched it and was just enchanted. Mmm... Thanks for the hugs! Always welcome. The last couple of days were rough for reasons that nobody could have helped with and talking would have done nothing to alleviate the roughness, so no real need for comment. Definitely getting better. A couple of very welcome posts cropped up on my Friends page tonight, too, so I am more hopeful than I have been for, well, at least four or five days. By happy accident, frufoo, zonefox, umbra_rc and company (where "company" is equal to two infidels without LJs, but very nice infidels at that) had discussed the plan of devoting one of our regular Friday night meetings (the equivalent of your weekly Girls Anime, but only about 40% anime, and pretty evenly split down gender lines!) to a Miyazaki night. Very welcome; I look forward to getting to see all his other fine films that exist as names alone at the moment! I was witness to a traffic accident like this once, and I wish I had taken note immediately in such an easily referenced way. I gave my details to both drivers, expecting that if I was asked it would be within a few weeks.
I got a letter from a lawyer over a year later, when I had moved house and changed jobs. There was no way I could remember many details, and would certainly not have made a reliable witness at that point. Any notes I made at the time would have been at my old workplace, probably, as I saw it on the way to work. How on Earth they expected me to be useful after that amount of time, I have no idea. Egad! By no means good service. I've acted as witness for one accident in the past and there was vague mention at the time that I might be called to act as a witness in court. Nothing ever happened.
The description of a journal (online or otherwise) as an "outboard brain" is one which always tickled my fancy. It'll not be very long before our mobile phones will be capable of storing acceptable-quality video footage and there's some way of getting video live, or almost live, from the action to somewhere bloggish for permanent record. Useless and/or fun 93% of the time, but this might have been a member of the useful 7%. (Of course, starting recording between hearing the first car crash and the second car crash into the first would have been quite a feat!) A letter from a solicitor arrived today, one week after the accident. Blimey, that was quick; usefully so. *hugs*
You didn't mention the traffic accident! I'm glad you weren't involved. :) Really not much to say about it! :-)
At the time, I was trying to work out where the nearest phone box was, in case a phone call was required. (Of course, if 60% of people have mobile phones these days, which is an underestimate in the UK, particularly when restricting the sample population to people with sufficient funds to drive a private car, and if people are likely to have their mobile on them most of the time, a phone box would hardly have been likely to have been needed.) Couldn't remember where the nearest one would have been at the time, though. Glad one wasn't necessary in the end... You will love Spellbound! You were right! Considerable squeeing about it soon. :-) |
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