Part 2
Shit Happens
We came around a bend into a pile of stopped traffic. The road was strewn with gravel. We braked hard, those further behind braked harder. We all got a little sideways. I heard Carmen lock up his brakes behind me and saw him him gather it up. I didn’t see Michel, but there isn’t much I can see out my rear view. Suddenly, Gaetan, who was in front of me, pulled off onto the shoulder and he and his buddy jumped out. We all pulled over and got out.
We followed them back, running, but couldn’t see what they were going after. As we approached them we saw Michel standing on the side of the road. But didn’t see his car.
Holy %#@&!!
There was Michel’s car, upside down in a ditch! Apparently he also got sideways, but got further into the gravel than we did and then, ever so slowly, slid into the deep angle of the ditch beside the road and rolled over. Gaetan and his friend shut off the battery and so the smell of fuel and oil was just that. It looked a lot worse than it was.
We quizzed Michel on stock prices to make sure he was okay. He was fine - physically. But was heartbroken – who wouldn’t be, after that? Anyhow, as we inspected the damage it looked like his car had slowly rolled onto some soft weeds and tall grass. The windshield was not cracked anywhere. The pillars were intact. The doors opened and closed. Our biggest worry was the damage that could be done when the tow truck arrived.
Fire trucks, police cars, ambulances – yes, it was quite a scene. They checked out Michel completely to make sure he was okay. His blood pressure was only a little higher than normal. Lucky indeed!
And we were lucky to have such an experienced crew. Gaetan went to visit the farmer whose land was next to the ditch and convinced him to let us send a flat bed into his field. That way would could just turn Michel’s car back over onto its wheels into soft grass, with no dragging and no damage. We convinced the flat bed driver to follow our instructions. All went very smoothly.
As the car tilted back onto its feet, we could see there was no real damage. Amazingly, the mirrors were intact. The antenna wasn’t even bent. There will be lots of body and paint work to do, but no mechanical or structural work required. The car was righted, then rolled easily on the grass and onto the flatbed. The front hood opened and closed like always.
Michel made arrangements to have it brought to Normand, one of our local Pantera owners who has a body shop. We marveled at the strength of these cars. And our amazingly good luck!
It surely was not what we had expected starting out the day, but who could have asked for more under the circumstances - the car and Michel basically unscathed.
And so, a stockbroker gets to forget about the market for a while, and can now concentrate on what color he wants his cat to be by the time we go for a first run next spring.
Shit happens.
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