Ok, this is not like my usual posts, but, I feel I need to put it down in writing as October 1st 2018 will be with me for some time.

I had taken the day off from work as annual leave to take my car for an MOT test, I thought I would do it earlier this year and not leave it last minute (yes I am a nerd).

My brother and I (and as with every MOT I take my Dad aka The Dude) all got into the car and made our journey towards the MOT centre. It was a normal journey, everything going smoothly, then we came to a junction and things all changed.

I am not going to go too much into the details as the insurance companies are dealing with this, but, as the car came hurtling towards us I felt things go into slow motion.
They say at times like these your whole life flashes before your eyes…it doesn’t.

As the car crashed into us my glasses flew off my head and landed across the dashboard, I felt a judder as the seatbelt pulled me back to my seat – they DO save lives. I hit my seat and my head caressed the headboard. Everything was quiet.

I opened my eyes and searched for my glasses. I found them on the dashboard, I put them on and assessed myself, my brother and my dad. We were safe and we were alive. I breathed. I breathed again.

I gathered my thoughts and got out of the car, I assessed the damage, it was bad. The car was a write-off, my beautiful economical from A to B motor was now a wounded dying animal. I have always wondered if cars do have a soul (I know they are inanimate objects) but the thought of it is optimistic, and also scary if referring to Stephen King’s Christine. I called the police. The police separated the two cars and swapped insurance details with the (killer) driver, that animal had destroyed my car.

As I waited for the recovery vehicle to come and pick up it up, I realised the full extent of what had happened, I had survived a car crash. This was not to be the end of my day.

2am I was sitting in an ambulance heading towards the hospital, my Mum (aka The Lady and a recent heart attack survivor) had taken a fall from the top of the stairs and it looked bad. We arrived at the hospital and the initial scan revealed a broken neck, I stayed with her. 12 hours later when I knew she was stable I left and the Dude took over. I went out and felt the fresh air on my face, I breathed, as Denzel Washington’s Alonzo said in his famous last speech in Training Day ‘ah what a day, what m*********ing day’

Life is short, and things can change in an instant, but that does not mean you stop living it, because otherwise that is a wasted life. October 1st 2018.