Motor cars and shopping
On New Years Day, two my daughters were involved in a car accident. The car was written off, but both girls were okay apart from bruising and shock.
So, yesterday we went over to T______a with Hannah to collect her personal effects from her car before the poor little old car is sent off to the Write-offs and Repo's auctions.
Sandra and I set off from home early, thinking that we would stop at McDonalds along the way to have breakfast. That's a nice treat for us, and so off we went with me driving. I was feeling wide awake and alert, but also a little bit worried. I'd been worried the night before, thinking. "I hope everything goes well. I hope we don't get into an accident."
Well, a few years ago, when I was taking singing lessons from Minty, she told me that when we think about singing, we should always think: "I will sing the right notes and I will do well, with this song," because when we think "I hope I don't sing the wrong note," the brain actually cancels out the word "don't" and what it hears is: "I hope I sing the wrong note."
I think the same must apply in any situation where we think along those lines.
We got to Caboolture McDonalds just after the Bribie Island turn off and went in to have breakfast. I had a bacon and egg Mcmuffin, and a hash brown, and Sandra had the same. I also ordered a mocha from the mccafe. We enjoyed our breakfast and chatted about this and that, but I was still worrying in the back of my mind about the possibility of having an accident...
After breakfast we set off again. It was about 10:15 and there was some moderate traffic coming around the corner. I was waiting in the driveway to get out onto the road, and traffic was streaming past in both directions. At that same time, a song I particularly like came on the cassette deck, it is a song from Jesus Christ Superstar, and so half my mind was on the song, and the other half was on the traffic. I saw a space and began to accelerate out of the driveway, only to turn my head and see... ACK! Another car coming right at me. I slammed on the brakes and thank God they're new ones. I stopped inches from hitting the other car, a white Toyota Camry! It was a near miss, thank God, but it shook me, and Sandra was just silent..I think she was stunned.
I took a deep breath, WATCHED until the traffic cleared and then drove out onto the road. We got to Hannah's house without further incidents, but I was certainly a lot more alert after that wakeup call!
Hannah was getting ready when we got to her house, and so we waited while she collected her stuff together. I had the first chance to look at the bruising to her leg, and it was still quite swollen. She complained that it was very tender. If she even bumped it on the edge of the sofa it hurt, poor thing. She bumped it while we were there and I was concerned at how much pain it gave her but I didn't say anything.
Once she was ready, we piled into my car. Hannah driving and Sandra in the front with her. I sat in the back, as I was already nervous from my own near miss, and didn't want to make Hannah even more jumpy. Hannah drove quite competently to the yard where he car was being held. She got a little bit nervous when there were traffic snarls going through Fortitude Valley, but handled herself well despite them, and I was proud of her for having the courage to drive to an area quite near where the accident occurred.
We got to the yard and asked to be let in to get her stuff. I had been preparing myself all morning for seeing the car, but it was still a bit of a shock seeing it. It was very badly damaged on the left hand side, and on the front end. We looked at it, took photos, and talked about the accident for a few minutes before we started to take Hannah's belongings out of the car. She'd left her CD's, and some other personal effects, and she wanted her car seat covers and the CD player from it as well.
It took about 20 minutes to clear everything out of the car and then it was time to go. Hannah got a little bit choked up as we were leaving, but she didn't cry, as she had feared she would.
We drove back to Toombul where we had decided we would have lunch. There used to be quite a good food court at that shopping centre, but that is no longer the case.
Even the cinemas are closed. We think they must be going to do a refurbishment, as most of the foodcourt stores are closed, although Sizzler was still open. Sandra and I decided that McDonalds had healthier choices available than KFC, so I ordered one of their low fat turkey and cranberry deli rolls on multi-grain bread. Sandra had a mini snack wrap and I had an iced chocolate on soy milk with a shot of coffee from Gloria Jeans.
After lunch we went downstairs and browsed some of the shops.
Nextra was having a book sale. All books were $2.50 each, and if you bought four, you got the 5th one free. I quickly found five that I was interested in. Hannah and Sandra found one each.
Hannah went off to the chemists to buy some Nurofen gel to put on her leg as someone had told her that it is good for local pain relief. She also bought a support bandage to wear at work to help rest and support the leg while she is on her feet all day at work.
Sandra found a backpack handbag type thing at strandbags for $20 and I got a new one, exactly like the one I have now, which is the best bag I have ever had, for $10.
Happy with our bargains, we headed off, and then I pointed out a shop called Crystal Dream and hurried over to it in great excitement. I had been wanting to sign up online for a course called Tarot for the writer, but I needed a deck of tarot cards for it.
Tarot for the Writer is not about telling fortunes, or divination. It is a method that a published author has developed for writers to use tarot cards to help with characters and plots for stories and as I have been suffering writer's block since last August or thereabouts, I thought this course would be a good way to unlock it. I bought a lovely set of tarot cards with a beginners introductory book for $29.95. I was so pleased as I had thought I would miss the course commencement and have to wait till mid-year to do it.
We headed out to the car then, and drove Hannah to her friend, Tiffany's place at Boondall as they planned to go for a walk and catch up, and Tiff would drive Hannah home afterwards.
Sandra and I dropped Hannah off and hit the highway for home. It had been a long day, and we were both beginning to flag a little so were glad to head home (after a stop for a cold drink at a roadside store).
When we left the roadhouse, there was a stick, or a leaf or something caught in the wipers. Sandra found it distracting and turned the wipers on to try and dislodge it, but it wouldn't come off, so we had to drive all the way home with it stuck, and fluttering in the wind.
When we got home, Sandra stopped the car outside the garage and I noticed that the 'stick' on the wiper was trying to climb out. It turned out to be a stick insect. I got out of the car and managed to gently dislodge it and carry it over to a tree at the side of the driveway and set it free. It had lost part of one leg, but seemed okay other than that.
Below, is a photo Slideshow of Hannah's. car. Thank God for protecting my girls. If the other car had hit them just a second or two later, Kaylah could have been seriously injured.
There is more to tell about Hannah and some other events from today, but my hands are hurting from typing all this, so it will need to wait until tomorrow.
So, yesterday we went over to T______a with Hannah to collect her personal effects from her car before the poor little old car is sent off to the Write-offs and Repo's auctions.
Sandra and I set off from home early, thinking that we would stop at McDonalds along the way to have breakfast. That's a nice treat for us, and so off we went with me driving. I was feeling wide awake and alert, but also a little bit worried. I'd been worried the night before, thinking. "I hope everything goes well. I hope we don't get into an accident."
Well, a few years ago, when I was taking singing lessons from Minty, she told me that when we think about singing, we should always think: "I will sing the right notes and I will do well, with this song," because when we think "I hope I don't sing the wrong note," the brain actually cancels out the word "don't" and what it hears is: "I hope I sing the wrong note."
I think the same must apply in any situation where we think along those lines.
We got to Caboolture McDonalds just after the Bribie Island turn off and went in to have breakfast. I had a bacon and egg Mcmuffin, and a hash brown, and Sandra had the same. I also ordered a mocha from the mccafe. We enjoyed our breakfast and chatted about this and that, but I was still worrying in the back of my mind about the possibility of having an accident...
After breakfast we set off again. It was about 10:15 and there was some moderate traffic coming around the corner. I was waiting in the driveway to get out onto the road, and traffic was streaming past in both directions. At that same time, a song I particularly like came on the cassette deck, it is a song from Jesus Christ Superstar, and so half my mind was on the song, and the other half was on the traffic. I saw a space and began to accelerate out of the driveway, only to turn my head and see... ACK! Another car coming right at me. I slammed on the brakes and thank God they're new ones. I stopped inches from hitting the other car, a white Toyota Camry! It was a near miss, thank God, but it shook me, and Sandra was just silent..I think she was stunned.
I took a deep breath, WATCHED until the traffic cleared and then drove out onto the road. We got to Hannah's house without further incidents, but I was certainly a lot more alert after that wakeup call!
Hannah was getting ready when we got to her house, and so we waited while she collected her stuff together. I had the first chance to look at the bruising to her leg, and it was still quite swollen. She complained that it was very tender. If she even bumped it on the edge of the sofa it hurt, poor thing. She bumped it while we were there and I was concerned at how much pain it gave her but I didn't say anything.
Once she was ready, we piled into my car. Hannah driving and Sandra in the front with her. I sat in the back, as I was already nervous from my own near miss, and didn't want to make Hannah even more jumpy. Hannah drove quite competently to the yard where he car was being held. She got a little bit nervous when there were traffic snarls going through Fortitude Valley, but handled herself well despite them, and I was proud of her for having the courage to drive to an area quite near where the accident occurred.
We got to the yard and asked to be let in to get her stuff. I had been preparing myself all morning for seeing the car, but it was still a bit of a shock seeing it. It was very badly damaged on the left hand side, and on the front end. We looked at it, took photos, and talked about the accident for a few minutes before we started to take Hannah's belongings out of the car. She'd left her CD's, and some other personal effects, and she wanted her car seat covers and the CD player from it as well.
It took about 20 minutes to clear everything out of the car and then it was time to go. Hannah got a little bit choked up as we were leaving, but she didn't cry, as she had feared she would.
We drove back to Toombul where we had decided we would have lunch. There used to be quite a good food court at that shopping centre, but that is no longer the case.
Even the cinemas are closed. We think they must be going to do a refurbishment, as most of the foodcourt stores are closed, although Sizzler was still open. Sandra and I decided that McDonalds had healthier choices available than KFC, so I ordered one of their low fat turkey and cranberry deli rolls on multi-grain bread. Sandra had a mini snack wrap and I had an iced chocolate on soy milk with a shot of coffee from Gloria Jeans.
After lunch we went downstairs and browsed some of the shops.
Nextra was having a book sale. All books were $2.50 each, and if you bought four, you got the 5th one free. I quickly found five that I was interested in. Hannah and Sandra found one each.
Hannah went off to the chemists to buy some Nurofen gel to put on her leg as someone had told her that it is good for local pain relief. She also bought a support bandage to wear at work to help rest and support the leg while she is on her feet all day at work.
Sandra found a backpack handbag type thing at strandbags for $20 and I got a new one, exactly like the one I have now, which is the best bag I have ever had, for $10.
Happy with our bargains, we headed off, and then I pointed out a shop called Crystal Dream and hurried over to it in great excitement. I had been wanting to sign up online for a course called Tarot for the writer, but I needed a deck of tarot cards for it.
Tarot for the Writer is not about telling fortunes, or divination. It is a method that a published author has developed for writers to use tarot cards to help with characters and plots for stories and as I have been suffering writer's block since last August or thereabouts, I thought this course would be a good way to unlock it. I bought a lovely set of tarot cards with a beginners introductory book for $29.95. I was so pleased as I had thought I would miss the course commencement and have to wait till mid-year to do it.
We headed out to the car then, and drove Hannah to her friend, Tiffany's place at Boondall as they planned to go for a walk and catch up, and Tiff would drive Hannah home afterwards.
Sandra and I dropped Hannah off and hit the highway for home. It had been a long day, and we were both beginning to flag a little so were glad to head home (after a stop for a cold drink at a roadside store).
When we left the roadhouse, there was a stick, or a leaf or something caught in the wipers. Sandra found it distracting and turned the wipers on to try and dislodge it, but it wouldn't come off, so we had to drive all the way home with it stuck, and fluttering in the wind.
When we got home, Sandra stopped the car outside the garage and I noticed that the 'stick' on the wiper was trying to climb out. It turned out to be a stick insect. I got out of the car and managed to gently dislodge it and carry it over to a tree at the side of the driveway and set it free. It had lost part of one leg, but seemed okay other than that.
Below, is a photo Slideshow of Hannah's. car. Thank God for protecting my girls. If the other car had hit them just a second or two later, Kaylah could have been seriously injured.
There is more to tell about Hannah and some other events from today, but my hands are hurting from typing all this, so it will need to wait until tomorrow.