So - its been an eventful day!! It all started when I woke up and the sun was shining so happily through my window. It was a lovely morning just made for a walk in the park.
Luckily - my wonderful friend Sharon agreed to take a walk with me. She is doing the Moonwalk with me in May (ie. this is the marathon length overnight power-walking event for breast cancer research - donate here). So I picked her up in my car for the short drive over to Wimbledon Park. We had a lovely walk around a portion of the park. Not too long but perfect because we both walk at the same pace. We saw lots of horses and beautiful dogs and it was a general happy time. Sun shining with mild temperatures - a genuine spring morning.
We walked about 1.5 hours weaving around the Park. Lots of different trails and I have no idea exactly where we were or how many miles we did (I would estimate nearish to 5-6 miles). We finally found the parking lot again and piled in to head home.
And that's when the real fun started. So apparently I got too used to driving in the US - because pulling out of the parking lot I forgot that we don't drive on the right-hand side of the road here in England. Luckily Sharon was able to point out to me that I didn't belong there and I went back to the left. That should have been a big warning light to me that I needed to pay more attention. So we were chatting away and driving through Wimbledon Village when - oh there was another roundabout. So I slowed down and what joy it was one with 2 lanes. So I was going straight and in the left-hand lane and the car next to me was turning right. He was a bit ahead of me and I thought he was pulling around. He must've been lucky and seen the car that was flying through from the other direction because he stopped. I wasn't so lucky. I thought the way was clear since he was going and since he was in front of me and I couldn't see around him - I didn't see that damn car until it was too late. BANG - T-boned him...well - the force of my 2mph impact pushed him into the poor car that was waiting innocently on the other side of the roundabout and smashed up his car too. Lucky me!!!
The first thing I saw was that the passenger side - side airbag had gone off and the big dent in the passenger side door of the car I hit. Holy shit - I just injured someone!!!! I wanted to die!!! All I could think about was holy shit - I hurt someone :( No one got out of their cars for quite a while...then finally the driver of the car I hit got out. He didn't look too upset so I got out and the other guy got out. Luckily they were super nice!! No one shouted at me or was too pissed off. And really lucky - there was NO passengers!!!! So I didn't hurt anyone. No injuries and pretty minor damage (if I do say so myself). My other thought was - my poor Skoda!! But wow - the Skoda took the impact extremely well. No damage to my car (other than the front license plate falling off and a smudge of red paint from the other car) - apparently Skoda is built to last!!!
So I banged up the passenger side of the car I hit and I assume he has a dent on the drivers side where he hit the other car - but I didn't get a picture of that :( Ooops - I was a bit frazzeled. So we got out and decided we could move the cars out of the way and we were all ok. Then - luckily a super lovely policeman was in the area. He wandered over and told us what we needed to do. He made sure there were really no injuries and helped us exchange details. The guy I hit got a little upset and was a bit forceful...but it could have been a whole lot worse (and I must say the other guy was super cute). So we exchanged details and went along on our somewhat less merry ways (all cars were driveable after).
So after dropping Sharon off (safely with no other incidents). I came back and opened one of my mini bottles of wine and called my insurance company. After they told me it was pretty clear it was my fault and they wouldn't be able to argue against that - I gave them all the details for the others - they gave me the best news possible. THERE IS NO EXCESS (deductible) to pay!!!! Apparently you only have to pay a deductible if you are claiming damage on your own car. And since I have 3rd party only insurance - I can't claim for my car (which I didn't know and I am kinda confused why I have to pick an excess/deductible amount when I signed up for my car insurance since I will apparently never have to pay one since I can never claim damage on my car because I have 3rd party only liability insurance). So yea - no cost to me!!!!
So my car insurance company will take care of it all. And I text the 2 guys and apologized and told them that my insurance company will contact them. And the guy I hit just called. He thanked me for being "honorable" and calling my insurance company. My insurance company already contacted him (its been less than 3 hours since the accident). So he went to the doctor with a headache. I hope he's not planning on filing for medical expenses (he was rubbing his neck after he realized it was my fault) but I suppose if he does file fraudulent insurance claims its on his conscience since I don't have to pay anything it won't hurt me. But I am glad he called and that it sounds like everyone is really ok. He said his head hurts but that he appreciated my honesty and hopefully we will all be ok!!! Now if the cute guy would just call and ask me out - life would really be good ;)
So - that is my adventure for the day. I might as well go have a shower and releax for a bit!!! Finish my glass of wine and have some dinner. Whew what a day!!!!!!
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