Where Cliches Come From

Somebody is so going to have his keys taken away.

I stopped in at the supermarket on my way home yesterday to pick up some carrots to make cole slaw with the leftover cabbages from our St. Patrick's Day dinner for which my brother had bought two heads, one green and one purple, which is way more than we needed for corned beef and cabbage for just the two of us. We, in fact, used a half head of each for the dinner and the other two halves have been in the refrigerator ever since, but won't keep too much longer.

I was only in the store for a few minutes but came out to find the fire department just arriving. There had been an accident in the parking lot and they pulled their huge pumper up to it blocking an entire aisle (fortunately not the one my car was in. I was one aisle over and three cars down from the scene). They may have been in the neighborhood because they arrived awfully fast and without any fanfare.

As the firemen/EMTs checked on the older driver who was still in his car, one of the people standing around (a woman whose SUV was now blocked in by the fire truck and who was settling in for a wait) told me the accident happened when the 87-year-old gentleman tried to back out of his parking space, mistakenly floored the accelerator and plowed in reverse into a sedan on the opposite side of the aisle, turning it and pushing it into the next car over. That third car also slid sideways but missed the fourth car by less than an inch (I looked).

Old person. Parking lot. Wrong pedal. Multi-vehicle accident. Check, check, check and check. Florida. Check.

A police car pulled into the parking lot as I pulled out, also with no fuss or other display of urgency, but as I approached the intersection an ambulance came blasting through with sirens and horns blaring and lights flashing. Either the firefolks had determined the old gent was having issues or the ambulance crew realized they were late to the party. Hope it was the latter.