| Friday, May 13, 2005 |
| Friday the 13th? Ok, Ok, I get it. |
I'm not superstitious by nature. My brother will tell you I'm gullible, but I'm not superstitious. Or at least I wasn't until today. I probably shouldn't have gotten out of bed today. In fact, I want a do over - a Mulligan day.
I was supposed to visit our satellite clinics today and check on operations. I generally like these days because I get out of the office, and between Greenspring, Timonium, Towson and Whitemarsh, I can also run an errand here and there and stop for a nice lunch somewhere.
So...I'm on the JFX up to Greenspring Station this morning, and there is a blue Ford sedan sitting right on my bumper, tailgating me just after the Northern Parkway exit. So, I politely slide over to another lane to let him pass. He slides right in behind me and keeps right on tailgating me. I slide over again, and he follows again. Now I'm really getting annoyed with the guy. Also, I'm now boxed in on one side by a big landscaping truck full of lawnmowers and Mexican guys on their way up to Greenspring to manicure the lawns of the rich and famous, so I speed up to get in front of the truck, the blue Ford speeds up too, and when I go to pull in front of the truck - yeah - you saw this one coming before I did right? The flashing lights go on and he pulls me over.
Sigh.
I pull off to the shoulder on Falls Road where they are doing construction on the I-695 overpass. I'm completely annoyed because this trooper, in his unmarked vehicle, essentially dogged me until I went above the speed limit to shake him off my tail - on purpose! I was going to argue with him - but he was definitely not the arguing type (all beefy with dark, aviator glasses and a lantern jaw), so I handed him the license and registration and decided to take my medicine - even though I was framed! While he went back to his car to call it in, I called ahead to tell them I was running about 15 minutes late. So, a $75 ticket for speeding and a $25 fine for not wearing my seat belt (what? and wrinkle a linen blouse that costs $6.95 to dry clean?), he lets me go.
But wait, there's more.
After my meeting, I come out to the parking lot to head to the next clinic, get in the car, drive about 20 yards, and realize something is very, very wrong. I stop the car, get out, and realize that the front right tire is completely flat. Dead. Done in no doubt by something from the construction site when I pulled off the road.
Sigh.
I open the trunk and proceed to empty it of drug boxes (I was taking emergency drug boxes to the clinics to re-stock them), books, folding chairs, etc... to get to the donut tire and jack. I managed to get the car jacked up, the tire off, and get the temporary tire on in about 1/2 hour. By this time, I am filthy from my hands to my elbows. So...I decide to go home, clean up, call the garage and get some lunch. Fine.
But wait, there's more.
I get home, cleaned up, make phone calls to apologize for not getting out to the other sites today, call the office, etc..., and decide that if I have to take the car to the garage for a tire repair, I might as well walk over to the bank and deposit a bunch of checks I have from our Home Owner's Association dues (I am the treasurer). So...I drop the car off, and walk to the M&T bank on Howard St. I get in line - about 12 people long, and I'm just minding my own business, when about 3 cop cars come blazing into the parking lot and 5 or 6 of Baltimore's finest come running into the bank with their weapons drawn and tell everyone to stay where they are. Just like on TV. And it dawns on me....... the bank has just been robbed.
From what I could tell, one of the guys in line in front of me had asked the cashier for money, and simply walked out while she hit the silent alarm. From the squawking noises coming from the officer's communication devices, it sounded as though they might have caught a suspect a few blocks away, but I really don't know, and since I really didn't see anything, I gave them my name and information and walked back to the garage. Oh, and I never did get to make a deposit - they closed the bank for an investigation.
I'm home now. I'm not climbing anything. I'm not going near anything sharp, and I'll probably have my Friday evening wine a little earlier than normal this evening.
Speeding ticket, flat tire, bank robbery - all before 1:00 PM.
Happy Friday the 13th people. It's real. |
posted by Broadsheet @ 2:30 PM   |
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| 9 Editorial Opinions: |
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Talk about bad luck! Well, I hope your evening is better!!!
Fool
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There is absolutely no excuse for not wearing a seatbelt. Would you prefer an unwrinkled blouse over being thrown from the vehicle in an accident?
And I suspect I would've gotten a ticket for my method of dealing with asshole tailgaters, too: slam on the brakes, or just take my foot completely off the gas until they get annoyed with me. Can they give you a ticket for flipping them off when they honk at you?
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Oh, that's terrible! The ticket alone would have been enough to break my spirit and send me back to bed.
Like JWER, I would have just hit the brakes and let him tap me. I saw someone on 695 get framed like that once as well. Can you go to court and contest it?
And, like JWER (this continued agreement with JWER scares me), please wear your seat beat.
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Well, look on the bright side - this is something you'll be able to laugh at later when someone says, "there's no such thing as bad luck on Friday the 13th!"
Ditto what others said about seatbelts. Iron the damn shirt - easier and cheaper than replacing the windshield after your head cracks through it, right?
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People - let's be clear about the seatbelt thing - I was JOKING. Just poking fun at myself for being an idiot. I do wear it - usually.
And Snay - I already cracked my head on a windshield when I totalled a Pinto in 1976 about 8 or 9 months after I got my license.
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USUALLY? Seriously, the only time I don't wear a seatbelt is when I am driving my car from a parking space in front of my house to the alley behind my house, and I usually do then as well.
Perhaps it's because my father crashed his car and was unconscious for three days in his 20's. It might also be because not wearing your seatbelt is just stupid.
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Cheer up, Linda -- if this had happened in LA, the ticket would have been at least $300 (although you could go to Comedy Traffic School to get the points off your record), and if you weren't hit and killed by a careless driver while changing your tire, you'd have had a good chance of getting shot when LAPD's finest charged the bank in their customary shoot first, investigate later style.
And while there is no doubt in my mind that changing tires is among your many skills, isn't that what AAA is for -- so you don't have to dryclean your blouse and ruin your manicure? :-)
My mother was born on a Friday the 13th in January, so she preferred to think of it as a good luck day...
(And ditto on the seatbelt always, not usually.)
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PS Obviously a blogger neophyte -- or maybe a Google neophyte; just installed the Google sidebar. It pulled this up for me, and I never noticed it was from a DIFFERENT Friday the 13th!
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Talk about bad luck! Well, I hope your evening is better!!!
Fool