And then the car drove through my garage · 1:04am Jul 21st, 2016
First: no one is hurt. You need to know that immediately. The driver and her passenger are shaken, but that's the limit of any damage done to humans.
Second on up...
I live in an apartment complex, and the buildings take the form of short stacks. In general, buildings are three stories, and for most of the structures, the ground floor consists of a half-sized residence -- and a garage, which is usually wide enough for at least two cars. There's a driveway in front of that, to go with the parking lots scattered around the area because very few residents seem to be able to get by with one car, and even less use their garages for car storage at all. A number of people use them as party rooms, especially during the summer. Others convert to full-scale dens, and I think I've seen at least one bed...
Not so for me. I just have the one vehicle, so it goes in the driveway or lot as needed. I don't keep it in the garage because the history of the garage door is suspect. At first, there were times when the key didn't work. Then it was converted to an automatic door, which created a technology improvement: now the remote and direct code pad didn't work. So in order to have reliable vehicle access, the car stays outside. I just store some things in my part of the garage. A number of them have some value to me, but there's nothing ultra-valuable in there because I don't own anything ultra-valuable. And my neighbors use their portions for their own level of storage, along with setting aside a corner for a laundry room.
So. The building shook a little. And I have a major highway close by, which means that there are times when a big collision will create vibratory echoes. There's also the possibility of distant explosions, especially right now. So I went to the windows and found -- nothing. Okay, maybe just a huge truck complaining about a pothole, or the local police firing range is testing something very new. Checked the news: still nothing. And while I was doing that, there was a knocking at the door...
From what I was told, one resident in the apartment below mine -- the wife of the married couple -- was in the car with her daughter. Big SUV. She started the car, thought it was in reverse, and was very wrong. And the wheels must have been tilted for the back-out, because she plowed more into the center than her own side. This took out the entire door. Also the side railings, overhead railings, some of the ceiling pipe insulation because falling railings hit that, and as for the contents of the garage... they all got pushed by a big SUV going at unknown speed, plus a caving-in garage door fell on them.
Again: mother and daughter are fine. The car itself is driveable (although it needs some body work), and my own vehicle wasn't touched. But for the last few hours, I've been sorting through debris. Helping clear out bits and pieces of garage door. Talking to her husband, who's trying to figure out how all this works for insurance purposes. Seeing how much of what I'd stored there was still intact.
Well -- I got off easy. At first glance, for my personal possessions, it's a couple of hundred dollars in damages, and I wrote them down, took pictures, and now get to wait before the insurance company tells me how many pennies on the dollar I'm receiving. But most of the damage is to containers -- not contents. I had most of the stuff in rubber totes, and they took the impact. Several cracked -- but the things inside mostly rode it out. The other residents lost more than I did, because they had more expensive pieces. Some of that is still being added up. It's nothing crucial, and the back-corner laundry room was never reached -- but it's stressful for them, on top of everything else.
I just finished moving items, because -- well, I don't have a garage door any more, and may not have one for several weeks: it depends on whether the landlord moves before the insurance company does, and the Americans in the audience can start laughing now. Some things came up to the apartment, others are in the car. But I couldn't shift everything: lack of immediate space, plus some things just can't be moved through stairs and halls. All that stands between a number of things (not all of them mine) and whatever fencing market exists is a plastic sheet which got stapled across the void.
Good luck getting a penny each on those books, prospective thieves. I sure couldn't. The washer & dryer, however...
So in case anyone's wondering why I didn't get any writing done recently: the dog didn't eat my homework. But there was all the news this weekend for the emotional toll, and then my Internet was down for about fifteen hours, and once I was finally starting to feel even a little bit creative again --
-- the car drove through my garage.
I'm kind of dreading tomorrow.
Damn, that's really rough. I hope everyone can take care of their stuff.
I can definitely see why that would prevent you from getting writing done.
Yowza. Here's hoping the repairs go as smoothly as they can.
Someone once cursed you to live an interesting life, didn't they? <.<
Yikes.
Glad you're okay and no-one got hurt!
But, land sakes girl, is your apartment located anywhere physically or metaphysically near Total Drama Island? 
Dude. Whatever forces of evil are working in your life, I pray they leave you alone and bother someone who ought to be bothered.
Good luck, man. If you need anything, let me know.
So now you have to deal with insurance companies?
Ugh, you have my sympathies.
Ok so honestly how many mirrors did you break as a child?
I think I've said this before, but: your life could be a real Truman Show.
Praying that it all turns out okay.
Dealing with insurance companies is always a hoot.
I had a police chase end in my neighbors garage / house / backyard a few years ago ago. (I live on a cul de sac.) Guy had stolen a Cadillac Escalade and got herded down my dead end by police.
Bounced off of and totaled my poor Galant before going through my neighbors garage (He's at the end of the cul de sac,) through the living room which is behind it. And finally being stopped by his home made brick & mortar BBQ pit at the back of the house.
Fun fact: in the 20 years I've lived on my street, this is the second time something like this has happened. Both chases ended inside that particular house.
I wish you luck in dealing with your land lord and insurance. Bring some excedrin.
When it rains, it pours for you, doesn't it? At least you are safe and everyone is more or less all right and things aren't worse than they are. Good luck dealing with the aftermath.
Hint on working with the insurance. They like all their numbers to line up in neat little lines. You will get far better response from them if their meeting with you is "I inventoried all of the items damaged by the collision and here is a complete list, along with replacement prices current as of yesterday when I made a trip to Wal-mart and checked the prices against the list. Oh, and I added sales tax, because I'll have to pay that too. Will you need anything else, sir?"
Just be sane. Remember he Bill Engvall quote about dealing with getting his car radio stolen. He's talking with the insurance adjuster and says, "I don't think Rolex makes a radio, Mr. Engvall."
Do you believe in karma? I suspect that based on the aspects of your life posted here, karma doesn't believe in you. You must be due for a huge lump of good luck soon. Real soon...
Frag damn, Estee. As you say, the only upside is that at least no-one was hurt.
Your luck is only marginally worse that my mate's,
Seriously, anybody whp doesn't believe in luck would only have to take a glance in your direction to realise what nonsense that idea is...
I have to question what even the hell the driver was doing to be attempting to go in reverse at any kind of speed. I, when I am forced to take the wheel (it is not something I like doing) move at a crawling speed even backing into or out of the drive, To have hit the pedal fast enough to do more that go "whop, wrong gear" and stop instantly makes me very concerned this driver is even on the damn road.
BTW - this is your 400th blog, Estee. Congrats!
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/77/02/f1/7702f1716a6e0f178c450bda2e543b31.jpg
Good god, the most traumatic thing thats happened to me in the last while was a moose looking at me with a fierce gaze. Do you live in liberty city or something?
Well, that's not something you see everyday... (and I had a very accident-prone classmate who, among other things, somehow managed to drive her car under a bus. She survived. The car didn't, but her dad bought her another one. Maybe he hopes she'll get herself killed).
4104939
???
4104952
Like, when you drive on an intersection without noticing a big damn bus coming from your right, and end up with the right side of the car stuck like this:
media.northlandsnewscenter.com/images/ashlandbus.jpg
Well, not exactly that far, given that they were able to get her and her friend out of the car in one piece. Although apparently all her friend remembers from that was muttering "I don't wanna have a CT scan" as the paramedics put her in the ambulance.
Neighbors across the street from me drove through their own garage door twice in as many weeks. Once was idling forwards, not paying attention. The next time one of them forgot something in the house and jumped out without putting it in park first. They might as well just not have one, would save them a lot in new doors.
4105079 what. That looks like it should've taken their heads off, at minimum.
And suddenly I see this scene of Twilight trying to help a pony with a multicolored butterfly cutie mark and things quickly get worse. Partially because she's trying to convince him his chronic bad luck is not a real thing and explaining all the reasons why ponies tend to think it is, but bad things keep happening anyway. And partially because she isn't exactly full of good luck either and staying near him makes things worse. To the point if she wasn't an alicorn she wouldn't survive.