Got my baby back!

Back where it belongs!

For almost a month, I didn't have my little Pri-Pri to drive. On the morning of August 24 this is where the poor dear was:

As I was heading to work (should have ridden the bus that day!) and crossing this intersection a guy ran his red light and bashed in my right front end. So badly that I couldn't even move out of the way. [In the poor guy's defense, the morning sun was very low and in his eyes; you can probably still see that in the photo. Lesson for us all: if you're approaching a lighted intersection and the sun is in your eyes—assume that it's red, not green!]

Given the car's advanced age (it's a 2005) we thought it might be totalled. But with only one return for fixing an ominous front-end noise, it was successfully repaired. (We were rather pleased to see how its value has decreased only a bit since we got it.)

Although an experience like this is far from pleasant, it really went as well as it possibly could have. First off, no one was going really fast and thus no one was hurt. And kudos to the SAPD! They were there in 5 minutes. And the wrecker came shortly thereafter, as I'm sure the disgruntled commuters held up by my stalled baby were happy about (only one of them honked angrily and unsympathetically).

Then, we had no trouble with the red-light-runner's insurance, paying for all the repairs. Which were extensive, as you can see from the picture of the main damage on the right. (This smooth going might have been helped by the fact that the guy into whom my left front end (see picture above on the left) hit in the oncoming lane stuck around and made it clear that I was not at fault. Thank you, sir!)

So, while I didn't enjoy having to drive our big klunky van for the past few weeks, all is well that has ended well, and I'm back behind the wheel of my little blue baby. And I only slightly cringe when I pass that intersection.

But I don't blithely assume that all cross traffic will behave as expected all the time. A good lesson to remember.