Aug 18: License plate photo results in near-death experience
or, 'Ben's anti-Bush enthusiasm nearly ends in horrible fiery traffic accident'
Yesterday, as I was driving into work for my first day back after my week-and-a-half 'vacation', I saw the following license plate:
I decided that it would be great to post a photo of it here on furiousBlog, so when he turned off at the exit before mine, I followed, camera equipped cell-phone at the ready. I thought this would work out fine, since at the first stoplight, I could snap a quick shot. But, then the prey turned suddenly into a parking lot. So, increasing my stalker quotient a notch or two, I followed. Then, behaving like the wildebeast (I am a clumsy cheetah in this story), he performed another sudden turn, at which point, I decided all was lost. I continued on, made an illegal U-turn, then pulled up to the light exiting the parking lot, accepting defeat.
But, luck was with me, because it turns out that the prey turned simply to make the legal version of my U-turn by cutting through the lot. He then pulled up to the front of the leftmost (out of two) left-turn lanes; I was in the straight/right turn lane behind one other car. So, I pulled out the phonecam and snapped off a shot.
It was at this point that the light turned green, or so I thought. The prey took off like a shot, as did the car in front of me. And so did I, only to be confronted slight seconds later by the front end of an oncoming semi-truck. In one sweeping glance I saw the headlights, then the surprised/angry face of the driver, then (and this is the important part) above the top of the truck, the two left-turn signals that had turned green, and the straight/right-turn signal that had stayed red. The car in front of me, I noticed at this point, had turned left from the straight lane, tricking me into following: leading me like a Siren into the bone-smashing clutches of death by Mack truck.
All of this seemed to happen in slow-motion. It wasn't until I swerved left, tires squealing*, narrowly cheating fate, that I was able to process what had happened and take a look at the photo. Of course, it was impossible to make out the license plate, meaning that my brush with death was all for naught.
* The words 'tires squealing' have been added here for effect only. I'm pretty sure that neither mine nor the truck's tired did any squealing.
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or, 'Ben's anti-Bush enthusiasm nearly ends in horrible fiery traffic accident'
Yesterday, as I was driving into work for my first day back after my week-and-a-half 'vacation', I saw the following license plate:
I decided that it would be great to post a photo of it here on furiousBlog, so when he turned off at the exit before mine, I followed, camera equipped cell-phone at the ready. I thought this would work out fine, since at the first stoplight, I could snap a quick shot. But, then the prey turned suddenly into a parking lot. So, increasing my stalker quotient a notch or two, I followed. Then, behaving like the wildebeast (I am a clumsy cheetah in this story), he performed another sudden turn, at which point, I decided all was lost. I continued on, made an illegal U-turn, then pulled up to the light exiting the parking lot, accepting defeat.
But, luck was with me, because it turns out that the prey turned simply to make the legal version of my U-turn by cutting through the lot. He then pulled up to the front of the leftmost (out of two) left-turn lanes; I was in the straight/right turn lane behind one other car. So, I pulled out the phonecam and snapped off a shot.
It was at this point that the light turned green, or so I thought. The prey took off like a shot, as did the car in front of me. And so did I, only to be confronted slight seconds later by the front end of an oncoming semi-truck. In one sweeping glance I saw the headlights, then the surprised/angry face of the driver, then (and this is the important part) above the top of the truck, the two left-turn signals that had turned green, and the straight/right-turn signal that had stayed red. The car in front of me, I noticed at this point, had turned left from the straight lane, tricking me into following: leading me like a Siren into the bone-smashing clutches of death by Mack truck.
All of this seemed to happen in slow-motion. It wasn't until I swerved left, tires squealing*, narrowly cheating fate, that I was able to process what had happened and take a look at the photo. Of course, it was impossible to make out the license plate, meaning that my brush with death was all for naught.
* The words 'tires squealing' have been added here for effect only. I'm pretty sure that neither mine nor the truck's tired did any squealing.
Yesterday, as I was driving into work for my first day back after my week-and-a-half 'vacation', I saw the following license plate:
I decided that it would be great to post a photo of it here on furiousBlog, so when he turned off at the exit before mine, I followed, camera equipped cell-phone at the ready. I thought this would work out fine, since at the first stoplight, I could snap a quick shot. But, then the prey turned suddenly into a parking lot. So, increasing my stalker quotient a notch or two, I followed. Then, behaving like the wildebeast (I am a clumsy cheetah in this story), he performed another sudden turn, at which point, I decided all was lost. I continued on, made an illegal U-turn, then pulled up to the light exiting the parking lot, accepting defeat.
But, luck was with me, because it turns out that the prey turned simply to make the legal version of my U-turn by cutting through the lot. He then pulled up to the front of the leftmost (out of two) left-turn lanes; I was in the straight/right turn lane behind one other car. So, I pulled out the phonecam and snapped off a shot.
It was at this point that the light turned green, or so I thought. The prey took off like a shot, as did the car in front of me. And so did I, only to be confronted slight seconds later by the front end of an oncoming semi-truck. In one sweeping glance I saw the headlights, then the surprised/angry face of the driver, then (and this is the important part) above the top of the truck, the two left-turn signals that had turned green, and the straight/right-turn signal that had stayed red. The car in front of me, I noticed at this point, had turned left from the straight lane, tricking me into following: leading me like a Siren into the bone-smashing clutches of death by Mack truck.
All of this seemed to happen in slow-motion. It wasn't until I swerved left, tires squealing*, narrowly cheating fate, that I was able to process what had happened and take a look at the photo. Of course, it was impossible to make out the license plate, meaning that my brush with death was all for naught.
* The words 'tires squealing' have been added here for effect only. I'm pretty sure that neither mine nor the truck's tired did any squealing.
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