This reminds me of one of my accidents in which it was my fault. I was driving home from the eye doctor in light traffic with my wife in the shotgun seat. On the drive home, I decided to put on my new “progressive” multi-focals, the first I’d ever had. We were approaching a line of cars stopped at a red light. Just as my very correct Swedish wife said, “Winston, now is not the time to test your new..” BAM! I hit the guy in front of me at about 7 miles an hour. I couldn’t tell depth at all through the new glasses and rolled right into him. I felt like a real idiot.
The guy, who was driving a jalopy of an old Toyota, acted all upset about a small dent I’d added to the collection already in his rear fender. I didn’t want my insurance company to get involved in this, so I asked him what it would take to fix it. He lit up like an airport. I could see the wheels turning. His eyes rapidly appraised my car. I quickly decided to beat him to the punch and offered him $350. He jumped at it, then followed me to the ATM for the big payoff.
My wife, of course, was not happy. And I had sabotaged a very entertaining presentation I had carefully put together concerning new sails for the boat of which I planned to reveal to her that night at dinner, but now had to be put off for at least a week. What a pain in the ass it all was.