"I've had about a day and a half,"
...I said, when I called Eor at about 5pm to say I was finally leaving work. I was supposed to have left at 3:30. I had been sent to the Augusta and then Rockland to do a little training, and in between, on Rt 17, I managed to witness a car accident, and .
When the car ahead of me started to veer a bit I thought it was trying to avoid something in the road, and then when it crossed the line into the oncoming lane I thought maybe she was turning, and then she just kept on going, in the left lane, and then off over the shoulder and into a bog. It looked like it might be going to flip over, too, for a moment, and I thought, "I'm going to ruin my boots if that's the case," as I was braking, pulling over, and slamming the company car into park so fast that I have no idea if I was fully stopped before I did so - and the car behind me was doing the same. When splash subsided, though, the car was right side up, and only up to the mid of it's hubcaps, with no sign that it was going deeper. The girl in the car behind me was already dialing her phone as I got out and ran back to her, and I hung with her there for a moment or two as she called, then we saw movement from inside the car and a white head popped out the window, so I ran over to talk to her. She said she had no idea what had happened - she was sure she hadn't blacked out, but all she remembered was 'driving in here.'
The girl from the car behind me joined us and offered her opinion that the woman really must have passed out or something. (She was shaking, but said she was just coming from her nursing class - "I should be ready for anything.")
Another car pulled over, a young guy who had rubber wader boots, and he offered to go get her, but I said that as it seemed the car wasn't sinking or anything she might as well stay there for a few minutes until the rescue people got there, and let them direct the efforts. (I was a little concerned that they might actually want to take her out in some prescribed manner to make sure her spine was okay.) And it wasn't long before we had one guy in a rescue truck, and then a friend (or possibly brother) of the woman in the swamp pulled up. He looked a little worried as he was getting out of his car, but he called out to her, "How's the water?" "Oh, it's fine!" (And the girl who had been coming from her nursing class said, "She's so cute!") The rescue guy and the woman's friend decided that the young guy with the boots probably might as well go get her, and I think it was as he was carrying her to the shoulder of the road that the ambulance showed up. She was a tiny little woman, probably not even five feet tall, and she absolutely refused to have the ambulance crew look at her.
I think we soon had a fire engine, too, I'm not sure about that, I just know that a bunch of guys showed up, set up cones, directed traffic, and had us pull our cars over to the side of the road near the bog, and as we were doing that the cops showed up. An ancient guy with that crew asked us what had happened and offered his opinion that 'the good Lord was watching over her,' and then the first rescue guy who'd been on the scene told us that the cops wouldn't need a statement, and told the young guy that he really appreciated his help, and sent us all on our way.
As I was just telling Eor this story he commented that a lot of the quickest first responders are old guys, sitting around with nothing to do, listening to their scanners, and I think he's right, not many of them looked particularly young. :)
So, anyway... the session with the people in Augusta was good, but as far as Rockland all I did for them was deliver them a box full of rubber gloves and other supplies, and then I had to hit the road again and scramble back to Portland. I ate my cashew-butter-and-apple-butter sandwich while driving. I had a splitting headache when I first got home, but it's feeling betterish, now.
The good point of the day was that the Sebring I had to drive may feel a bit like a wallowing whale, but it is quiet and has a nice CD player that doesn't skip like the one in my car, so I listened to some of my all time favorite discs that I hadn't heard in a while. :)
When the car ahead of me started to veer a bit I thought it was trying to avoid something in the road, and then when it crossed the line into the oncoming lane I thought maybe she was turning, and then she just kept on going, in the left lane, and then off over the shoulder and into a bog. It looked like it might be going to flip over, too, for a moment, and I thought, "I'm going to ruin my boots if that's the case," as I was braking, pulling over, and slamming the company car into park so fast that I have no idea if I was fully stopped before I did so - and the car behind me was doing the same. When splash subsided, though, the car was right side up, and only up to the mid of it's hubcaps, with no sign that it was going deeper. The girl in the car behind me was already dialing her phone as I got out and ran back to her, and I hung with her there for a moment or two as she called, then we saw movement from inside the car and a white head popped out the window, so I ran over to talk to her. She said she had no idea what had happened - she was sure she hadn't blacked out, but all she remembered was 'driving in here.'
The girl from the car behind me joined us and offered her opinion that the woman really must have passed out or something. (She was shaking, but said she was just coming from her nursing class - "I should be ready for anything.")
Another car pulled over, a young guy who had rubber wader boots, and he offered to go get her, but I said that as it seemed the car wasn't sinking or anything she might as well stay there for a few minutes until the rescue people got there, and let them direct the efforts. (I was a little concerned that they might actually want to take her out in some prescribed manner to make sure her spine was okay.) And it wasn't long before we had one guy in a rescue truck, and then a friend (or possibly brother) of the woman in the swamp pulled up. He looked a little worried as he was getting out of his car, but he called out to her, "How's the water?" "Oh, it's fine!" (And the girl who had been coming from her nursing class said, "She's so cute!") The rescue guy and the woman's friend decided that the young guy with the boots probably might as well go get her, and I think it was as he was carrying her to the shoulder of the road that the ambulance showed up. She was a tiny little woman, probably not even five feet tall, and she absolutely refused to have the ambulance crew look at her.
I think we soon had a fire engine, too, I'm not sure about that, I just know that a bunch of guys showed up, set up cones, directed traffic, and had us pull our cars over to the side of the road near the bog, and as we were doing that the cops showed up. An ancient guy with that crew asked us what had happened and offered his opinion that 'the good Lord was watching over her,' and then the first rescue guy who'd been on the scene told us that the cops wouldn't need a statement, and told the young guy that he really appreciated his help, and sent us all on our way.
As I was just telling Eor this story he commented that a lot of the quickest first responders are old guys, sitting around with nothing to do, listening to their scanners, and I think he's right, not many of them looked particularly young. :)
So, anyway... the session with the people in Augusta was good, but as far as Rockland all I did for them was deliver them a box full of rubber gloves and other supplies, and then I had to hit the road again and scramble back to Portland. I ate my cashew-butter-and-apple-butter sandwich while driving. I had a splitting headache when I first got home, but it's feeling betterish, now.
The good point of the day was that the Sebring I had to drive may feel a bit like a wallowing whale, but it is quiet and has a nice CD player that doesn't skip like the one in my car, so I listened to some of my all time favorite discs that I hadn't heard in a while. :)