Wham!

I had a horrible time getting out of bed this morning. My throat has been dry for the last five days, and though I don't have a headache or fever or the general fatigue that indicates I'm fighting something off, I wonder if I'm fighting something off. Or if I just need more sleep. I'm drinking lots of liquids. It's just pretty annoying.

On the plus side, the cats spent most of the night snuggled up next to me, and next to each other, too. The couple of times I woke up (I usually wake up once or twice a night, more if I'm sleeping poorly) they were curled up together and were terribly cute. This didn't make it any easier to get out of bed.

(It hasn't been particularly cold here at night; maybe in the 50s. But apparently that's cold enough to kick in the cats' warmth reflex.)

Tonight I had a new experience: I was the car right behind a two-car collision on the freeway in stop-and-go traffic.

It was eerie to watch: We'd been stopping-and-starting for a mile or so and were getting close to my exit. Then at one point I watched the guy in front of me accelerate, and start coasting downhill, then I saw the guy in front of him hit his brakes, and the guy in front of me just kept going and picking up speed down the (moderate) hill. Then suddenly WHAM! I heard the collision and saw plastic from the two cars' lights fly around.

I had a good two or three car lengths in front of me so I stopped easily and started assessing the best way to get around them. As I passed them (on the left) I noticed that the back car's front hood was completely mashed. He must have been doing 35 or better, although it didn't look that fast from my vantage point.

I realized a few seconds later that the guy must have been rubbernecking at the fire engines and ambulances on the other side of the freeway, as the radio announced the accident on the northbound side. I was completely oblivious to that, since stop-and-go traffic is enough to occupy my attention while driving. I guess this is a good thing that I don't rubberneck.

I got off at my exit and was halfway home when it occurred to me that I could have stopped and given testimony to the police when they showed up. In my opinion, the accident was totally due to the person in back not paying attention to the road in front of him. Though I really have no idea what the protocol is in situations like that. I probably ought to learn.

Anyway, the accident shook me up a bit and made me realize how serious an accident even in relatively slow traffic can be. I hate stop-and-go traffic anyway, and not just because it's slow but because it's a pain to try to navigate through. I think I might try harder to avoid situations like that in the future, where possible.