Good and Bad

Another excellent day at the conference with lots of interesting papers and leads to follow-up. My supervisor gave one of them, despite being in the throes of manflu, and we had a meeting during coffee break to talk about the radiocarbon dates. He's offered to pay for several more in the next academic year so I need to work out which other ones would be worthwhile candidates.

So, I arrived back in good spirits and parked up at Sainsbury's so I could pop in and get a couple of things. As I was getting my bag together, a big black Volvo 4WD was reversing into the bay next to me and hit my car. There was the sound of impact and my car rocked, so pretty obviously I'd been hit. 'Oh great', I said to myself, and got out to speak to the driver who was still attempting to park. While I was waiting I shone my phone torch at the side of my car to see if there was any damage but it was too dark to tell. Meanwhile the woman finished her parking manoeuvre and got out of her car. I was expecting her to come round and discuss the incident but she just walked off! So, of course, I went after her and said, 'You do realise that you just hit my car?' to which she immediately said, 'No I didn't'. Not 'Oh no, did I?', or 'Really? Are you sure?' or something indicating that it was a surprise to her. No, she said 'No I didn't'. Actually, though, she DID. I know this because I saw her do it! I also believe another shopper also heard the impact because I saw her looking over just after the bang. There may even be CCTV there as well, you never know.

So I took a photograph of the Volvo's number plate and advised the woman that I would be following the incident up. She walked off into the store and I caught up with her again in there and, I'm afraid to say, I gave her a few home truths about her car being too big for her driving abilities and that she needed to either get a smaller car or practise her bay parking. She said, "You've chosen the wrong person to [follow it up with]" (I can't remember the exact phrase she used) and when I said again that I would be pursuing it she said, "Good luck with that". What a nasty, dishonourable, dishonest person.

Anyway, I got home and found that the patio door was broken (something Son2 had alerted me to earlier in the day) and wouldn't close properly or lock. I therefore embarked on a mission to find a locksmith. The first two were too busy and didn't want the work; the third one I tried said it would be £75 to call him out but, fortunately, he was able to talk me through fixing it myself over the phone. What a nice, kind, helpful person.

Once the door was secured, I completed an online report for the local Police about Volvo Woman. Although I won't know until the morning if there is any damage (which suggests that, if there is, it will only be minor or I'd be able to see it even in the dark), and it probably won't come to anything, I feel much better for having filled in the form!

And now to cook dinner and have a glass of wine.