Wednesday morning I walked through the intersection at Parkdale and Wellington and seconds later heard the unmistakable sound of an accident about to happen. I turned in time to see a car crash into the corner about 20 feet behind me.
First the newspaper boxes went flying and then, almost like it was choreographed, the traffic light pole snapped, hovered, lost its balance, and floated delicately to the ground.
At least that’s how it looked from my perspective. Not so for the woman stepping out of the coffee shop.
She screamed as she stepped out the door and directly into the path of the crashing traffic lights. (They don’t look very big when they’re just hanging there changing colours: apparently they look much larger when they’re hurtling towards you. She moved fast, then shook hard. The waitress came out and coaxed her back inside for a nice cup of tea.) Meanwhile, the lights just lay there on the sidewalk, changing colours like everything was cool.
If I ever get a car it’s going to be a Ford. (Does anyone know what model that is?*) It wreaked havoc on everything in its path, but emerged unscathed. I don’t think it even got a dent.
The driver got out and shouted “Jesus Christ, I don’t need this goddam shit today!” I thought this was a very compelling argument for making that goddam shit unhappen.
At the other end of the day, on my way home, I was thrilled to see that the recently vacated Songbird Music store on the north side of Gladstone is going to be an antique store! I LOVE antique stores. There’s not much there yet, just a giant head and a sign, but I’m anticipating great things from The White Monkey: daguerreotypes, old cameras, vintage purses, antique playing cards, mannequins, old sheet music, all kinds of treasures. I love it already.
*What kind of Ford is this anyway?
It loiks like an old Crown Victoria (cop car) to me. But I am just a girl…so I don’t know for sure…Kati probably could look at its headlights and tell you though…she’s good like that
What an eventful life you have! I love the lights doing their thing lying on the sidewalk. Good thing you had your camera with you so you could document all that g-d s__.
Isn’t it nice that you were not too close! The driver made the mistake and yet it sounds as though he doesn’t really accept the blame. Stay well.
That’s all very thrilling. Zoom: Citizen Journalist.
Deb is correct. Old Crown Victoria