Life on the land ...December ... so far ...

the ups, the downs, the forwards and backwards ...

This is the house that at the end of August we made an offer on that was accepted and to date are still awaiting completion.  It has become a very long process.  We did have a completion date for last Friday (11th) but the vendor couldn't do that date so we moved it to Monday (14th my birthday) but then late Friday were told that it was delayed.

One day, hopefully soon, we will live here.

In the meantime we've continued to enjoy our daily walks during this second lockdown. We've managed to obtain grocery deliveries but as we get closer to Christmas they have become scarce.  I can't order too far ahead since I don't know where we'll be on the delivery date!

As if that wasn't enough ...

  

      on Wednesday last week (9th) we were driving into Market Drayton to collect a set of step ladders so that I can hang curtains in the new house when we'd got the keys on the Monday.  There are temporary traffic lights about a mile or so from Loggerheads and we stopped in the long queue for the lights to change.  

Always when stopped on a road unexpectedly (this time due to the temp traffic lights) George checks his rear view mirror to check that the car behind has seen us.  The A53 just here is straight as a dye ... and the car behind us was still travelling at 60mph ... George shouted 'oh no' ... I looked towards him to see what was wrong ... he put our car in gear to drive up onto the grass verge to get out of the way as there was just enough room between us and the car in front of us ... and ... too late there was that awful 'crump' ... and our heads shot forward and back again.  

The drivers of the three cars got out, unhurt except for whiplashed necks and it was then we realised that our front divers side has caught the rear of the car in front ... there was either not quite enough room to get through or the momentum of the crash had caused us to hit it ... the driver who hit us telling George that he 'didn't see us' ???

What with the uncertainty of a completion date for our move and all that involves, and then this ... what more can go wrong?

The driver of  a mini bus behind the car that hit us stopped and took charge ringing for the police and an ambulance as both myself and the guy who ran into us had neck pain.  The drivers all took photos of the damage and contacted their respective insurance providers.

We were all in shock ... 

The young lady driver of the car in front of us, who was very obviously in shock, and the mini bus driver directed the very heavy traffic around the crash site until the police eventually arrived about 40 minutes later and ensured that all the information required was shared between the three drivers and continued to direct the traffic waiting for the ambulance to arrive.  A tow truck arrived to take away the vehicle behind us and we managed to move our car, under police direction, to a safer place off the road.  Two hours after the crash the ambulance still hadn't arrived ... I was desperate to use a loo and we decided we could wait no longer.  We spoke to the police who advised us to attend A&E as soon as we could and they cancelled the ambulance call out.

Late afternoon our son, who had fortunately moved house closer to us just a week or so ago and was at home at the time, came to collect us and took us to A&E at the Royal Stoke Hospital.  We were triaged and eventually seen by the consultant who confirmed that we had both suffered whiplash in the accident. 

Early the following day George received a phone call from NFU (National Farmers Union) who are the insurers of the driver who hit us.  They confirmed that the driver was 100% culpable for the accident and informed us that if we were in agreement they would handle the whole claim.  We were happy with that as it would save time and energy to deal with just one person, and we informed our own insurance company of our decision.  Within 24 hours of the accident we were informed that George's pride and joy, his Golf GTI was a write off (uneconomical to repair as there may have been damage to the suspension etc), a settlement offer was agreed, the collection of our Golf was arranged for pick-up on Monday morning, a hire car had been arranged for us, that we would receive a call from Vita Health Group to talk through our injuries and suggest, if required, physiotherapy via a link and later another call from NFU to ask if we wished to enter a claim for the injuries.  We were impressed by their efficiency.

Later that day the hire car arrived - a Toyota Corolla Hybrid.

So we now have seven days to find and buy a new (to us) car.

Practically every time we were in George's pride and joy, he would say 'I do love this car'.  He will miss it enormously.