Things that go crash in the night

At about 2:00 AM on Monday morning (AKA Sunday night) Jeannette and I were startled from sleep by a loud noise.  While both of us were immediately awoken there was some disagreement about the source of the sound.

I was of the opinion that the sound was that of something falling outside, though I couldn't imagine what that could possibly be given what I know of the area surrounding our bedroom window.  Jeannette, alternatively, was of the opinion that the sound was that of a car crash.

Being the attentive husband that I am (and also being interested in the source of the sound) I went to our bedroom window to see if I could see what had happened.

Just as I arrived I saw and heard a car speeding away.  Because it was dark all I could see of the car were its tail lights and general shape (probably a hatch back).  And the area from which the car was departing did not appear particularly disturbed.

As I couldn't determine the source of the noise and as nothing more appeared to be afoot we tried to return to sleep.  After a period of time we were successful.

By the next morning I'd inadvertently managed to put the whole incident out of my head.  Instead of dwelling on the strange events of the night before I made coffee, ate breakfast, showered, and prepared for work.  

It was only as I was starting my walk to work that I was reminded of the events of the previous night because of the presence of a police car, a neighbour sweeping up smashed car debris, and a newly totalled car.  Apparently Jeannette had been right to place the sound as a car crash.

Though the neighbour sweeping the debris lives much closer to the site of the accident she had not actually heard the event the previous evening so by speaking to the police officer I was at least able to provide an approximate time and semi-description of the vehicle.  Based on my exchanges with our neighbour and the police officer I also got the sense that the neighbours whose car had been hit had also managed to sleep through the event and hadn't learned anything was amiss until just a few minutes before I came on the scene.  I also learned that, perhaps not surprisingly, that this looked like the work of a drunk driver.

Despite the fact that this was a fair bit more excitement than our quiet neighbourhood is used to, I haven't heard much discussion of the event.  I am starting to think that most people slept through the original event and then weren't out on the street early enough to see the police presence and car removal.

This event taken with our own car troubles last weekend are leaving me with the impression that we might be best not to park on the street unless its absolutely unavoidable.

It happened again

For the second time this year our car, this time while the car was parked, has been hit by a driver backing up a much larger vehicle.

In this case, fortunately, the damage is relatively minimal and doesn't impact the operation of the car.  It seems that the driver of the other vehicle backed his trailer hitch into a plastic grill under our bummer and which was then hooked on as he pulled forward.  As far as I can tell, the damage seems limited to this single piece of plastic.

Of course, the really amusing part about the whole event is that truck was being operated by our neighbour's adult son.  So after he told me about the damage he had to go in and tell his mother, which probably gave him a flashback to his teenage years.

Life always seems to have a way of bringing one back into contact with large bureaucracies (in this case the our insurance company).

A Few Quick Notes 350

-Today (Friday) was an absolutely beautiful day. The skies were clear, the temperature not oppressively hot, and there was even a nice breeze. This is exactly the kind of summer weather that I really like.

-Today I had to head into Dal to run to take care of some paperwork. Afterwards I made my way over to Quinpool to take care of a sale purchase I wanted to make. Last but not least on my list of errands, I made my way to a friend's apartment to pick up an aloe plant that she was giving me. My friend and I eventually decided to go get a coffee and ended up spending quite a while talking and having a good time.

Just after 4:00 we realized that it was after 4:00 and that we both had things to do and needed to get going. She made her way back to her place and I to mine.

Not to long after I returned home I noticed that the stove's clock was flashing. A little while later I was going through my RSS feeds and I learned that the South End had experienced a power outage for the better part of the afternoon. So it turns out that, inadvertently, I was able to use time that would have otherwise been unproductive to socialize. Slacking win.

-At a point this afternoon, while walking between Quinpool and my friend's apartment, I noticed a number of flashing lights and emergency vehicles ahead of me. In many ways it looked like the scene of an accident, but it appeared to be missing the requisite crashed vehicles. As I drew closer to the emergency vehicles it became clear that it was an accident with two vehicles, but that one of the vehicles was a motorized scooter (as might be used by individuals with problems walking) that appeared to be on its way across a cross walk. Talk about a downer of a scene.

Not too long after I found the story about the power outage, CBC also had a story about this incident.

-For some reason I wasn't able to go to sleep until about 5:00 AM this morning. Not surprisingly, this left me quite exhausted today. After returning from my errands and then having dinner I ended up crashing for about an hour and fifteen minutes. It turned out that it was one of the most intense naps that I have had in weeks. I was really out. The best part, of course, was that I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to work.

-At about 1:15 AM this morning, after several hours of work, I decided to take a break to make some humus. Though it isn't as nice as my last batch, it is still pretty tasty. I am eating some of it as I prepare this post.

-I have alluded to today's productivity already, but I guess I might make a more conclusive statement for the sake of posterity. Though I got a bit of a late start, I eventually managed to put in a few hours of good work. My plan for tomorrow is to do some tidying of footnotes and my conclusion. I can't wait to get the party started.

-The seems to be an overwhelming, almost deafening, e-communications silence coming from Las Vegas these days. Since shortly after their arrival in Nevada I have heard nothing from either Rebecca or Neil. Even more troubling is that our user stats suggest that no one in Nevada has been checking the blog.

This evening I realized that Neil could even phone his reports in if he wanted (we could use Google Voice and then post the messages) if typing is too trying. I hope that he at least remembers how he as been passing his days so he can eventually post a rather nice, well-researched travelogue that would outline what he and Rebecca did while they were in the proximity of such opportunities for sin, and winning money.

Someone is in for a bit of a surprise

This evening I was making my way to towards the waterfront to check out a few Busker Festival acts when I noticed that one of the cars I was passing seemed to be parked very poorly. The front time was on the curb, quite near a sign post. My first thought was to try and imagine how someone could have done such a poor parking job.



I then noticed that there appeared to be something under one of the windshield wipers. At first I thought it must be a ticket that had been issued because of the poor parking job. When I got a little closer it became clear that it was a note. As I was reading the note things just didn't make sense to me. Eventually I came to the conclusion that someone must have hit the car.



I then made my way around to the other side of the car and discovered that someone did hit the car. The skid marks suggest that they not only hit the car pretty solidly, but also managed to push it up onto the curb, just narrowly missing the sign post.



Anyway, by the time I made my way back from the waterfront about an hour and a half later the note was still on the car. It appeared that the owner had still not discovered the accident. I really can't imagine how they will feel when they eventually do return to their vehicle and learn that it is not quite the same shape it was when the left it on the street.

What a day for a marathon

Yesterday I learned that the Halifax Marathon (or as it is officially called the Scotiabank Bluenose Marathon) was to take place today and that Neil and Rebecca would be volunteering at a water station all day. Given that neither of them has showed all that much interest in competitive running in the past I was a little surprised to hear that they were to be participating. Even more surprising was that to be able to volunteer today they had to take an online training session. The session included content on the history of the marathon and Nova Scotia as well as 'safety' content (apparently all drinks should be handed out only by gloved hands).

That Neil and Rebecca were involved encouraged me to head out for a walk this morning to take in a few of the marathon related sights. Unfortunately, I think that most of what I saw ended up being related to the various shorter runs that were taking place at the same time on similar routes.

I was pretty excited to see one of the water stations, which I presume is somewhat similar to the one Neil and Rebecca are working at the moment (they have to be there from 8:30 to 2:30 if my memory serves me correctly). At first I thought that this set-up was the finish line and that this was a pretty lame marathon, eventually the presence of hundreds of cups of water and Gatorade clued me into the fact that I my original impression was a little wrong (though I still don't think that this marathon is quite on pace with the NYC marathon, which is the only other marathon that I have seen).



Eventually I made my way around the commons and came to the real finish line, which was next to the Metro Centre. This was a little more like what I expected at the finish line.



When I arrived the race was about 3 hours and 16 minutes old and a number of people were still making their way across the finish line. The good thing about my timing was that many of the people finishing were in pretty good shape and didn't look as though they were about to die. My other marathon experience would suggest that sometimes as these things drag on some of the participants don't look so good as they near the finish line (one guy I saw a few years ago looked as though he was about to die, which he may have as when I last saw him he was on the ground surrounded by paramedics and non-responsive).

After a few minutes of finish line action I decided to make my way back home. When I was about a block away from our apartment I noticed a car and a bus that seemed to be in a strange configuration. As I approached the scene it became clear that the car emerging from an underground parking facility had hit the bus as it was at a bus stop. The woman who was likely the driver was still talking to the bus driver, who didn't seem interested in moving any time soon. While neither vehicle seemed to have sustained much damage I do imagine that it will be pretty embarrassing for the driver of the car, who wants to be known as the person that managed to t-bone a parked bus?

The people I felt particularly bad for were the bus passengers. All of a sudden their bus trip was delayed quite drastically. I wonder how long it took things to get going again?