Monday, February 8, 2010

A very hard day...

Nearly all of my entries have been happy & upbeat, but not this one. So if you wanna skip it, feel free.
The day began with a misunderstanding between me & a friend that lead to hard and/or hurt feelings. How I hate computers sometimes & hate my hearing loss even more, as it has caused me to be reluctant to talk on the phone. Anyhow, that got resolved.
Returning from the grocery store I witnessed an "accident". The word is in quotes because part of it was and the other part was intentional I believe.
I was pulling onto a very busy 6 lane road where I had to go to the center, pause, then make a left & merge into traffic. The turn went well & I was in front of a little black boxy type vehicle. After making the turn I looked in my rear view mirror to see the black box still in his lane & a very large sedan in the grass next to him running parallel. A very close call.
Just a few seconds later, the big sedan was to the right of the box. He moved into the box's lane, hitting him & forcing him off the road. It looked like the sedan did it on purpose. They made a left, following each other, and I proceeded on.
I realized that the guy in the box might need a witness, so I turned around & went back. They were parked, out of their cars & writing down tag numbers & such.
The sedan driver, an older man, came over to me & started blaming everything on the box's driver & calling it road rage. I told him I was there as a witness, then told him what I'd seen. He got visibly upset & said I was wrong & tried to convince me of such. I stood my ground, then went & talked to the box's driver, a young guy very upset & shaking. I told him I saw what happened & he was very grateful I had returned. He said police were on the way.
While we waited the 20 minutes or so for the trooper to arrive, the older guy tried again to change my mind. He even said he'd been a POW in Viet Nam for 4 years & was a former Navy pilot. I still stood my ground.
When the trooper arrived, he talked with the older guy first, then the younger guy then took me way off to the side to hear about what I had seen. He thanked me & said he would put me in the report as a witness & appreciated me staying around as most people don't.
As I got on my scooter to leave, the trooper was telling the older guy he was going to give him a ticket for improper lane change. The older guy came straight to me, told me he was being charged & that I was wrong. I just shook my head & drove off.
While talking with the older guy before the trooper arrived, we discovered both of us were staying at Sun n Fun & he had seen my scooter there. When I got back to my site I parked it near the back instead of near the street. After all, if he intentionally hit another car why not run over my scooter! Then I did something I've never done before. I got my .38 special & put it next to my door under a pillow, just in case he decided to look me up. As I was eating lunch I saw him drive by but he didn't stop.
After lunch I was walking through the park looking at available sites for next time. Yep, sure enough he pulled up beside me & rolled down his window.
He said "you looking for a site for next year?" I said yes, & he said "you don't want that one." I asked why & he said it was near a lot of traffic & would be too noisy. I thanked him & he left saying "I'll talk to you later." We'll see, but I doubt it. He was much calmer than before, that's for sure.
I periodically check my credit card & bank statements while traveling to be sure all is well. This time it wasn't. There were 3 mystery charges on my credit card totalling over $570. I called USAA right away & they cancelled the card. The hard part will be getting a new one to me here before Thursday morning when I'm supposed to leave. Now the pressure is on Fed Ex!
Think I'll go for a walk then head for the hot tub & stay there until I turn to jello. It has been a day of very unpleasant surprises in the midst of many, many happy & carefree days. So, it'll pass & I'll be happy once again. But no relaxing completely until the new credit card arrives.

2 comments:

  1. I might keep that gun handy - this guy sounds like a maniac.

    Hope this is your only bad day on the 'escape-ade' you're on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your play on words Mamie. That's really very cool. Thanks for the support. And yes, please do recommend some books for me to read.

    ReplyDelete

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