Walking. Just another Monday.

Posted on by Live & Learn

Feb 26th.

Just another ordinary Monday morning, making it 1,392 consecutive (almost) days in a row on this daybreak walk at Cove Island Park. Like in a row.

I loiter around the park, it’s a brisk 35° F. I linger waiting for the sunrise. I take some shots, pause for a moment (sigh), peaceful easy feelings.

And then, The Day starts.

6:45 a.m. I’m driving home, down Weed Avenue. I pass the Swan nesting area; I pass the little cut outs where I would park to take shots before heading home. I’m rubber necking back out over the water. Stop DK. Stop. Look at that Sunrise. I drive to the stop light prepared to turn on Post Road and head home, when the Cove pulls me back. I need to go back.

I park (illegally) as I have hundreds of times, leave the car running on the two lane road (as I have hundreds of times), grab my camera (as I have hundreds of times), crawl over the guard rail and walk to the break wall (as I have hundreds of times).

I’m palming my camera, the lens cap comes off, I raise the camera to eye level – and just THEN as my eye focuses on the shot – – the sickening crunch of metal on metal.

An SUV backs out of driveway and piles into my car.

The peace of the morning crashes in on itself.

I turn to look.

A 25-30 year old Female. Male companion in car. She’s clearly upset: “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The best I could serve up: “You have to be f-ing kidding me.”

I turn my back to her, to them, to this mess, and look at the sunrise. Sunrise, still, as always, magnificent, and waits.

I step up to take the shot (the one above), inhale, pause for a moment and then turn back to the scene.

I call the Police department, and decide, in my current state of mind, it’s best to say nothing. Do Nothing. And wait.

She didn’t mean it. It could have been so much worse. Thousands are dying in the Middle East and the Ukraine. A 1st world problem we have here.

But No. Little me and my car, NEW, < 5k miles, < 6 months old – – resale value tanking with the pending accident report, all searchable in 3 seconds by a future buyer.

Her companion walks out onto the street to take a snapshot of the “No Parking At Any Time” sign. The two murmuring out of earshot. Silent simmer climbing to low boil.

Stamford’s finest arrive in about 30 minutes while I chill in car reading the morning papers. “So, can you tell me what happened?”

Young “lady” states that she was backing out of her driveway, and the sunrise blinded her, and she backed into my car “which was parked illegally.” “He shouldn’t have been parking there, it’s his fault right?”

I stand watching. The Policewoman turns to me, asks me what happened: “I left car running, I jumped out of my car to take a photo, and she hit me.”

She takes our vitals for the accident report, and the young lady continues. “He is responsible, right?”

“Ma’am, he shouldn’t have parked there, but we don’t go backing into people because they are parked where they shouldn’t be.” (Damn right Police Officer! Damn Right!)

We part ways, one hour and 15 minutes later. The serenity of the morning shattered. I pull into our driveway, get out and pause to look at the hickey which mars the new car finish. Shitcanned car in less than 6 months.

And then you have the wonderful process of filing insurance reports and arranging for auto body repair, and the juggling of one car in the household. More 1st world problems, but…

And here comes the police report:

Operator # 1 who was driving vehicle # 1 a Gray xxxx bearing Connecticut registration xxxx. Operator #1 said she was backing out of her drive way , but due to the glares from the sunrise she was unable to see while backing out. Operator#1 said she did not see vehicle # 2 while backing out and she collided with his vehicle. Important to note vehicle # 2 was park in a no parking location at the time of this collision. I then spoke with Operator #2 who was driving a 2024 Black xxxx bearing Connecticut registration xxxx. Operator # 2 said he was parked facing Northbound on Weed Avenue taking pictures of the sunrise. Operator #2 said he saw vehicle # 1 backing out of her drive way and then struck is vehicle. Operator #1 was found to be at fault for this collision. Operator # 2 was given a verbal warning for the no parking violation for this collision.

$1,500 later, and my Baby is back in the driveway, sitting quietly and waiting for her morning drive.

And drive we did this morning.

No driving above the speed limit.

No stopping on 2 lane highways for a spontaneous shot of the rising sun.

Catherine Lacey: “There were moments when I could see our life clearly and knew that everything was beautiful and nothing was right.“

Notes: Shots from this morning’s walk here. Shots from day of and moment of accident on Feb 26th here.

34 thoughts on “Walking. Just another Monday.”

  1. This took a turn (several turns) I was not expecting. Was the shot worth it? 😅 One of your best, I’d say.

    And sorry about the car! I totalled ours a couple months ago (icy patch, skidded) so I really felt your pain, reading this.

    1. Thanks Laila. So sorry to hear about your car. And hope everyone was ok! Not sure if THIS shot was worth the $1500 and aggravation but I’m glad I took a moment to take it at the time.

  4. Thankful that you still shared these stunning images with us. For one day, you truly put the “manic” in a manic Monday. Just promise that every once in a while… you’ll throw caution to the wind and park on that 2 lane road again…..

    1. Thanks Cara. May be a ways off, or very early in the morning…….one warning from our Finest will need to be adhered to. And may need to park in drive way or elsewhere….

  6. somehow I wanted the police officer to Columbo it, recreate the scenario, and figure out the angle of the sun, was it really in her eyes at that moment? your photo timestamped and proof of timing and angle, and when triangulated, it somehow would not have physically possible for her to be blinded at the moment, and it could all magically and mathematically worked out. but this is why I’m a dreamer and not a police officer.

  10. How shit was that David. I hate it when you get hit and it’s never straightforward. But the photo wasn’t so much worth it, but it will have special poignancy. Take care my friend. Julian

  12. Sorry to hear about this David. I am a sports car-alcoholic, and every nick or scratch on my car, regardless of how old the car is, makes me physically ill. If I had my way, whenever I bought a car, I would buy two, and put the second one under glass in my living room! It’s insane to believe that a car will remain in perfect shape over its lifetime… Yet I will never stop trying. Therefore I will never stop feeling these painful moments (last summer I hit a big raccoon in the dark and cracked my front air dam). The fundamental problem, of course. Is that humans… Make mistakes. Glad you are back up and running, and that you got away with a warning on the parking thing. Kudos to the police officer for that.

    PS: your posts have suddenly stopped showing up in my Jetpack feed and I can’t figure out why. My other subscriptions are working OK. Shoot me… Please! I have to log into WordPress manually to see your posts now. That’s why you haven’t seen me blabbering on here recently :-). Happy Sunday!

    1. Paul, is this you! I think so. Welcome back. This line resonated with me: “and every nick or scratch on my car, regardless of how old the car is, makes me physically ill. If I had my way, whenever I bought a car, I would buy two, and put the second one under glass in my living room!” You and i must be blood relatives!

      P.S. I’m going to check to see if there is something going on, on my end re subscriptions and will let you know if I find anything.

  13. No injuries and lessons learned. Another great week as an adult. On the bright side, at least it wasn’t your wife’s car. 😉

  15. When we are fucked and we want to have control over the situation we compare ourselves to other people’s much bigger problem but then we end up in a loop where our own problem is scarier for us because it’s us who have to deal with it.

  17. And two posts later in my Reader, this!: The peace that we are looking for is not peace that crumbles as soon as there is difficulty or chaos. Whether we’re seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises.

    Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.

    Pema Chodron

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