Sense and Sensibility-ness-ing-ly

Yesterday, on the way to work (about 2 minutes away from work!), I was involved in an accident with a car. The car pulled out of a side street and should have given way - and didn't - and should have seen me - and didn't. I hit the brakes, and luckily was only travelling about 50km/h, but it was not enough. I hit the car on the front driver's side about the wheel arch, rolled across the bonnet and rolled up the road the other side. I am sore, bruised, scraped, and am on crutches mainly because my left leg and knee took the brunt of the car (the doctor's think I have some ligament strain and certainly it hurts to bend and put weight on my leg, etc).

I do remember there were a lot of people about immediately after the accident, some extremely helpful (brought me a bottle of water, a pillow for under my helmet, got me onto my side, called the ambulance), and some not so (suggesting I take my helmet off about 20 seconds after the accident). Everyone was very nice, and I really appreciate the help and it has, somewhat, highlighted that there still is a generic human kindness in society - at least in Auchenflower, Qld. I was very proud of myself that I didn't swear at all - I did yell out "what the hell!?!" when I initially stopped rolling after the accident, and I was sincerely concerned with the state of my work laptop in the bag on my back. My backpack (from Cisco Networkers 2007) is a write off sadly - it was a great bag - as is the pen I got from Networkers which was also great. I was taking some rice cakes to work and they are now rice bite size cakes. My work laptop cosmetically looks fine, but I found out when I got home it's not booting - so today's first job is to transplant the hard disk into another laptop of the same model and hope that starts up fine. No real loss if not, but there is some data on there I'd like that will save some work having to be re-done.

I got a free ride in an ambulance, and was entirely impressed with both the manner of the two ambos (Tanya and Ben, the latter looking surprisingly like Rhys Muldoon) that attended, and the technology used inside the ambulance (they have a Dell ATG hardended laptop to record patient data, and the ambo in the back with me discussed the pros and cons of that process). I called Michelle on the way to the hospital, and just at that moment the morning traffic report came on television and mentioned a "motorcycle into a car in Eagle Terrace Auchenflower" - that was me. Better that I called as I think you could see my bike, and better to be speaking about it than have Michelle be surprised by it on TV. Also called my boss and let him know I would have to miss our 9am meeting. I don't think I communicated the full weight of the situation as he seemed pretty indifferent when I spoke with him, but once I'd spoken with him on my release from hosptial he understood exactly what went on.

I didn't get to inspect my bike before I left, but I know it was in a bad way. The label from inside my speedo was on the ground next to me - and I heard a lot of glass and plastic being swept off the road. I did see my bike on it's stand as I was being put in the ambulance, and the front end looked pretty nasty... handlebars bent and moved, everything on them no longer on them, etc. I am now waiting for the insurance assessor to attend and send some photos back of the condition of the bike. If they can fix it they will, but I am expecting that I'll just get a cheque. Time will tell.

The driver of the Ford Laser (I think) who didn't see me called me later yesterday afternoon - he was pretty shaken up (poor guy). He got a front row seat to the whole thing and reasonably didn't have any injuries to boot. He's admitted fault (that he should have stopped to give way and didn't see me), so the Police who attended will probably fine him as well as the insurance excess he'll cover from his end. I guess that's the silver lining for him - he has insurance and isn't gonna have huge bills to deal with.

As I was travelling to work my recovery costs are all covered under the Worker's Compensation scheme in Queensland. I need to start physio and those costs will be covered, as will any additional medicines or doctor's appointments. The attending doctor at the hospital had clearly never filled out a worker's compensation medical certificate as the one he gave me is not correctly filled out - so I have to go to my doctor's this morning and see if I can push in for an appointment to get the form filled out correctly so that I can return to work (legal mumbo jumbo). To be fair, I move a lot slower now, and getting in and out of a chair is tougher than it should be but I can sit at my desk or in a meeting without an issue. I need to be at work as there's lots to be done... such is life!  ;)

I'll supply photos as they are supplied to me (I'm sure you all want to see them), and I'll leave you with this (that made Tanya the ambo smile): in the ambulance on the way to hospital they ask you a lot of questions (if you're conscious) about your medical history and so forth. One of the questions they asked me was about any allergies I may have - my answer - "Yeah, I'm allergic to cars".