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Sunday 10 November 2013

The Two 'Ps' - Pray and Panic!

What do you do when your husband is having a car accident in your rear view mirror.... Yesterday I discovered that I pray and panic in a ratio of approximately 80% to 20%!  Mark, I hasten to add, is absolutely fine.  The car is written off but, as one of my very dear friends said as he hugged me yesterday, "Never mind Jan - it's only metal".

Basically we'd done the food shop yesterday morning then went to collect this car from Gloucester.  It's a powerful old Japanese car that Mark only really wants for the engine and gearbox (to modify one of sports cars that we have already).  Nevertheless, the car appeared really well looked after and has a full service history etc.  To be honest I was upset with Mark that he planned to pull it to pieces when people seemed to have cared for it for so long.  (I'm a bit of a sentimentalist when it comes to this sort of thing).

Anyway, either we picked up a slow puncture in the 16 miles that Mark followed me home OR the tyres on the rear of the car weren't quite as well-looked after as they should have been.  When Mark went for a slow over-take (no more than 40 mph) on the A38 south of Worcester, the back end of the car stepped out, spun him round and took him straight through a hedge.  He came to rest the right way up about 200 metres into a ploughed field.  I watched the whole accident happen in my rear-view mirror (because I was leading the way in our other car).

Fortunately there were no trees on this stretch of road, no fence posts or wire in the hedge and the hedge itself was old and rotten.  Mark is one of the luckiest men on the planet. 

As you can imagine, I immediately slowed down to look for somewhere to turn back.  The car behind me had seen the accident too and very kindly held back the rest of the traffic.  As I turned in a gateway I saw Mark get out of the car in the distance but it seemed like an eternity as I drove back to the point of the accident (praying and praying and praying!)  Mark appeared at the gap in the hedge pretty much at the same time as I parked my car and got out.

The next few hours really brought home to me how kind people are.  It took about three hours to get the wrecked car out of the field and home.  Complete strangers stopped to check that we were OK.  People that we only know very superficially offered tea and a place to warm up.  Two of our oldest friends abandoned their shopping trip and came to tow us out in their old Land Rover.  I feel very lucky to have such lovely people in my life.

Mark (being the car-obsessed man I love) was determined to get to the root causes of the accident.  He's discovered that pressure in the rear passenger-side tyre was approximately half what it should be.  We're just grateful that the accident happened at low speed and on a quiet road.  The 'what ifs' really don't bear thinking about...

Jx

18 comments:

  1. Thank goodness that Mark is ok, that's all that really matters. It's a good job he wasn't going at any speed otherwise things might have been different. Someone was obviously looking down on him yesterday.

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  2. So pleased to hear that Mark escaped unscathed - it must have been terrifying for you both.

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  3. Very glad to hear Jan that Mark is fine....and how are you? That would have shook me up no end!!!!

    keep well

    Amanda :-)

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  4. Gosh what a thing to see in the rear view mirror! Don't torment yourself with the what ifs! Mark is fine and all those people - the kind strangers and the friends - were there for you both when you needed help. A shame about the car though. By the way, I did send you an email invite for my other blog, but it tells me you haven't accepted it yet so I assume you haven't checked your email!

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  5. Goodness, how scary! I'm so glad he was okay.

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  6. The best place to have that sort of "off" is on a track with a lot of marshals around to pull you out!

    So glad Mark is ok.

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  7. So good to hear your husband walked away unharmed. I hope you have a calm week ahead.

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  8. So glad to hear all is well with your husband.

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  9. How scary! Of all the places for that to happen, he is so lucky it was there. My hubby once had an accident on the interstate while I was driving behind him. I didn't even have time to panic as I tried to find a place to pull over.

    I'm sorry your husband didn't have a chance to play with his new car very long but glad he is ok.

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  10. If all he wanted was the parts of the old car--it isn't an entire loss and, noticing that he wasn't hurt a bit, makes it a good story to tell. Later on--after the "what ifs" have left your mind!

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  11. Glad to hear that Mark is fine and I hope you have a good week to get over the scare.

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  12. Oh, my goodness - thank heavens all was well and Mark wasn't hurt and thank heavens for all those kind people who helped you. I think you had the worst of it watching it all in that mirror and not knowing what had happened as Mark would have been so busy concentrating on what was happening and trying to stop the car, although you must both have been shaken up. When we span off the road last year everything seemed to happen in slow motion and it does take a while to get over that feeling. Take carex

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  13. I am s glad he is OK - such a scare for you both xxx

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  14. It sounds like you handled the situation with great composure. I'm glad it all turned out OK!

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  15. So glad that Mark is OK. What a scary thing to see in your mirrow.
    Balisha

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  16. Mark was very lucky indeed. That is really something to watch unfold right before your eyes.

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  17. Oh my goodness Jan how awful for you both - Mark for being involved and you for witnessing it and not being able to do anything about it. Thank goodness Mark is okay and yes absolute strangers can be so kind and caring at times like this.
    Patricia x

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  18. That must have been so scary Jan! I'm so sorry that you and he had to go through that, but I am so glad that your husband is okay and fine. Holy Cow I probably would have had a panic attack for sure!
    Much love to you and peace for a safe week!
    Tammy

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