Car Prang and Birdie song

 It is with a sad heart that these pictures have made it into our Mission Blog.  Yes, poor Foster (our dependable Honda Fit's name) now bares a crumple!  It was a perfect storm of events.  In picture three is a telephone pole right in the middle of the parking lot of a fish restaurant.  I zipped in (yes I was driving and Cathi is innocent) to check on prices of their fish and chips.  Unfortunately they are a fish place that doesn't serve traditional fish and chips.  Well any way, after leaving disappointed and as I always do, when preparing to reverse, I looked around to make sure there was nothing in my rear view (the pole perfectly aligned with the blind spot on the passenger's rear corner.  I saw nothing.  Cathi watched out the side mirror (which only showed what was behind and along the side of the car and not slightly to the left.  I backed up and pivoted the rear to the right in preparation to turn left out of the parking lot and PRANG (Azzie term for car crash)!  I thought I had hit some concrete post hidden from view but it was this massive telephone pole with a smaller metal conduit pole attached (see offending picture!)  I drove away from the pole and got out to survey the damage.  Sad days (see picture at top left)!  By the way, this mishap seems to happen frequently as the condition of the pole will attest.  When I got home and had a chance to really observe the damage, I realized we had actually been greatly blessed: 1) we hadn't hit another car, 2) the dent was caused by the four inch metal pole rather than the wide telephone pole so the diameter of the damage was narrow, 3) had we hit any harder, the dent would have travel up and severely damaged our right rear light cover (it did sustain a small vertical crack which poses no concern).  It would have damaged our hatchback door and crumpled our tail pipe causing exhaust pipe repairs.  Cathi and I agreed that our guarding angels insured our damage was only cosmetic and that dependable Foster would continue to serve us here in the Chicago Mission regardless of the imperfection.  So there you have it!  When we return home we might be able to pop out the upper dent.

Now on the lighter side, I include this picture which is the full visual of the above cropped version.  Those are pigeons sitting on that street light.  A common sight in Chicago.  Seeing them all assembled so vigilantly I was reminded of a song:  

"On Chicago street lights the  birdies are waiting,

Waiting for people to, drive by so they can poo!

On Chicago street lights the birdies are waiting."

Ha!

(The Eric and Cathi Niven family will appreciate this)