So, this happened:
Let me backtrack. It was yesterday, about 2:30, and Frederick and I were heading out for a walk in Seven Lakes. I picked Seven Lakes, because the day before he and I had almost got stranded in Holly Recreation area, because having got down a snowy slope on the way in, we failed at least three times to get back up it. What made it worse was a hunter in a pickup truck watched us drive 3/4 of the way up the slope and fail and slip back down again, and then happily drove past us without any offer of help. Well, having backed up another slope to give ourselves a run-up I figured he'd make it out easily (being in a pickup) so charged after him. And this time we were going to make it easily, except he got slower and slower (and was taking up the middle of the road) and stopped, blocking us, and stopping us making it. But the next time we made it with him still struggling, and I felt not a twinge of regret. Anyway, the point being, I picked Seven Lakes because it was flat and more likely to be ploughed. So, of course, we skidded off the road and hit a tree. We were going very slowly but totally lost control and I can remember having enough time to wonder if we were going to miss the tree or hit it and oh shit we're going to hit it, and is this the time to regret that the air bag warning light has been on for weeks... and then BAM. A slightly simple kid on a bike whom we'd just passed on the ride, cycled up and said he thought it was a shot going off. He was obviously starved for company because he wittered on as I just wanted to talk to AAA and see if Frederick was all right (he seemed fine - he was dazed but a bit giggly), but he kept commenting on all the people who just drove by without stopping. To be fair, some stopped, and I was happy not to have to keep saying we were fine, but it was worth commenting on. Anyway, I took Frederick on a quick walk while we were waiting for Jami to come and pick him up (luckily Thomas was not out DoorDashing in her car) and meanwhile tried to contact AAA. The phone said it would be about an hour to get through to a person (apparently I wasn't the only one having problems on icy roads) and would I like to try texting? I would, and did, but when I got to the part about "did I want it towed home" and I said "no" it decided that I needed to talk to someone after all, and said it would be about 18 minutes. So I handed Frederick over to Jami and cleared out everything I could remember to look for and then was stuck waiting around in a state park, with nowhere warm. Thankfully it wasn't that cold (high 30s) and I was dressed for walking in the snow, but still. After AN HOUR, I got sick of waiting and figured that they could tow it without me, and Thomas came and picked me up. They never did call back, so I tried calling later from home and they said they were sorry about that and would pick up the car and tow it to AutoLab in Fenton. Satisfied, I retired early to bed (feeling the after-effects of adrenaline) ready to call AutoLab the next morning and see about selling the dear old 2007 Saab 9-3 for scrap. [Update: it brought in a whopping $150, which is way less than I paid for the roof rack that we used about twice.] Well, cut to next day and AutoLab tell me nothing came in, but she'd check and call back. She did, and told me that a tow company said it was going to tow it, but when it got to the scene it canceled saying that it was a state law that they can't touch a car without a police accident report. Well, this was news to me. So, new plan: go back to the car (and park Jami's car out of sight), call the cops, get an accident report and then try AAA again. Strangely, this went off without a hitch (as you can see in the second two pictures above, which are from today) no pun intended, as the cop didn't ask any time-specific questions so I wasn't required to pretend it just happened. I asked the tow truck driver if this was a new state law, because when my Prius hit a deer, I don't recall calling the cops. He said no, but some people aren't particular about it, but somebody he worked with once got clapped in handcuffs when cops happened upon him towing before an accident report. (This tow driver also said "Some people see snow and ice in winter, but I just see green!") So, right now, my car is sitting at Austin's Collision, which was even closer, and, I hope, will buy the car for scrap. The lady there didn't know, because the boss was taking his wife "to have her cataracts done" but would call back later today (he didn't - try him again tomorrow), and they had a deal with Auto Parts which definitely buys cars for scrap (but to which the tow truck driver refused to take the car, I guess because you're supposed to go through the insurance company (so they can raise your rates) and first pretend that you intend to fix it. ANYWAY, old car successfully taken care of, time to get a NEW car. This was much simpler, as Jami has it down to a fine art, what with her having to get two new cars in just over a month in Fall of 2019. And to our delight, we found that Toyota had a $9,000 2014 Prius (albeit with 144,000 miles on it, which is about what both my last Prius and the Saab had when I got them). Just a couple of hours sitting around waiting for finances and insurance to come through, listening to the Smiths and and the Cure and New Order piping through Dealership sound-system and reflecting that the cool music of my teens is now the music middle-aged people buy cars to, and hearing that Jamie (the short young woman in charge of selling me the car) had a younger son who was born on July 19th too, and the other (I thought of her as "older") lady in charge of getting me to sign a million forms was also born on that day, and was in fact exactly a year younger than me... and here it is, in all its "Sea Foam Pearl" (or some such nonsense) glory:
So, all's well that ends well, except for the $300 per month payments for the foreseeable future. Also I feel like I've been worked over like a punch bag (and Frederick seems a little tender) and my hand has swelled up like me foot did that one time a hornet stung it in the attic at Bindon:
I will miss the 6-disc changer in the old Saab, but everything else was breaking down one by one. In the past year or so the heated seat (what I loved most about it, at least in December through March) had broken down, the air conditioning went out in July, the rear wiper stopped working, the fuel gauge (that I'd replaced for for $300 (the actual thing was cheap, but you have to take out the entire engine to replace it) when I bought the car) worked less and less at least half the indicators (and half the headlights) had burned out, and the brakes were making worrying grinding noises. And it juddered at any speed above 60. And joy of joys, this Prius, unlike my last ALSO has WORKING seat warmers!
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