Once upon a time there was a bright yellow Gemini with a black interior – aptly named Bevan. My brother and I shared a car during the year or two we were at University in Brisbane together but when he left the car went to Sydney with him. My not-wealthy but loving parents proffered Bevan as a replacement, which I gratefully accepted.
It wasn’t long after Bevan came into my life however, that we had an (ummmm) altercation in a local car park.
I’d been doing some grocery shopping (probably stocking up on diet coke which I drank by the litre even back in 1987) when I reversed out of my car park straight into someone (parked behind me) also reversing out at a similar time. Obviously neither of us saw the other.
As the incident was a long time ago my memories are a bit murky. However… what I do recall is that the male driver was VERY attractive; a bit older than me but gorgeous (probably only late 20s and I would have been 18-19yrs old) with a luxury car, like a BMW or Mercedes. And (for reasons I cannot remember) I seemed to think the bingle was my fault.
Bevan escaped the incident unscathed, but the cute guy’s car had a small dent (and possibly bore some bright yellow paint as a bonus). I was mortified, which I’m sure was obvious, and possibly almost in tears.
I was wearing my residential college basketball shirt (as per the pic above) so – if there was any doubt I was a Uni student, that would have sealed it. Fortunately I could sense he felt sorry for me and after a brief discussion he told me not to worry about it and left.
In fact he’d seemed a bit flirty.
Of course if I could go back in time I would make some feeble attempt to get his number or at least milked the ‘poor sweet Uni student’ thing a little more.* But at the time all I could think was how much his repairs might cost my parents and what it would do to my insurance.
Fortunately however, it was as if the entire thing never happened: the accident that wasn’t.
Do you remember your first car accident?
Would you have flirted?
I’m linking up with Kerri Sackville again today for her #MyFirst blogging challenge.
* Actually, no I wouldn’t have as I wasn’t the flirty type… #alas
February 24, 2014
I’m glad it was a non-accident. A friend of mine’s had a similar thing happen. Luckily, both cars had two bars and that was all that happened. I’ve written my car accident up for Kerri’s linky today too. It involves a parked car, someone opening the driver’s side door in front of me, some other cars and a tram. (That probably sounds more dramatic than it actually was!)
February 24, 2014
Oh, I’m intrigued!
February 24, 2014
My first accident was in a car park too. Someone had parked in the wrong spot so I had to drive with precision to avoid them. Unfortunately my skill at judging the dimensions of my Mum’s car wasn’t very well refined and, although I missed the parked car I didn’t miss the cement post. Oops. I was devastated – bawled my eyes out when I had to tell my parents and all that happened was Dad hugged me and told me it was okay, no one was hurt.
You never forget your first.
February 24, 2014
Oh that’s a sweet story. Kind of.
My ‘worst’ accident took place in a parking lot also. My SIL had borrowed my car and parked it and another driver forgot to put their park break on and their car rolled into mine! Fortunately heaps of people saw it and when she returned to the car there were several little notes including one from the local police station as someone had flagged it with them!
February 26, 2014
LOL! Lookin’ very hawt there against the bright yellow 🙂
I hate accidents, no matter how small. I get all flustered and panicked. So, flirting would’ve been the last thing on my mind.
My first accident was horrendous. Not even 100 metres from my home and with the next door neighbour, no less. I won’t bore you with any other details except to say, my mum was hyperventilating that I ruined her car.
February 26, 2014
Oh dear… thankfully my car was pretty much unscathed (and – quite honestly – a dent would have added some character!!!).
Deb
February 27, 2014
Would you know my name… if I saw you in Bevan??? (Oh god I hope you get that reference….)
February 27, 2014
Yes…. hasn’t got quite the same ring to it as the original though. Plus Bevan was far from heavenly!
September 4, 2017
Yep, I would have flirted. 🙂 By the way, that’s a cool car!
September 5, 2017
Good ole’ Bevan. I wonder how long he lasted after we parted ways…. (in 1989!)
September 4, 2017
*phew* That was lucky! A shame you didn’t get his number though.
My first car accident was slightly similar, I was in traffic in Artarmon driving back home from the SBS studios and there was a tonne of traffic. Anyway, in all the traffic, another car hit me from behind. I freaked out, went out to check the car and it looked ok, maybe there was a little scratch. I was so mortified and worried that I’d be in trouble with my parents that I told the guy not to worry about it and that it was fine…. yep, young and stupid. The boot didn’t exactly close properly after that, but no one else noticed.
September 5, 2017
I’m not sure I even told anyone as I was absolutely mortified!
September 4, 2017
Oh it’s good that he just left rather than making a fuss – sometimes no one is at fault!
September 5, 2017
I suspect I looked kinda pathetic and he felt sorry for me. Perhaps I was teary!
September 4, 2017
Bevan!!!! LOL.
My first accident had me screaming obscenities in absolute hysterical anger and shock at the driver who caused my brand new Holden Barina to be almost written off. Not quite flirting.
Actually, that was my second bingle – and it wasn’t my fault.
My first bingle was my fault (in a car park) and I was in my parent’s car and was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be so I bolted not even leaving a note. One of life’s regrets …
September 5, 2017
Oops!
And I can imagine it’d be worse in a new car, though I’m not sure I’m too precious about my car (or cars, including those from the past). They’re usually fixable though being out of pocket financially can be problematic.
September 4, 2017
Great story Deb – it’s funny to look back on all the scrapes we managed to survive in our teenage days (that would be literal and figurative scrapes btw!)
September 5, 2017
Ha, yes very true Leanne!
September 4, 2017
Phew! Glad it wasn’t an accident and that there wasn’t any fuss.
SSG xxx
September 5, 2017
Absolutely!
September 5, 2017
Oh how cool was that story. I hear you about carpark bingles. I had one (not my fault!) in Mum’s car when I was parked at netball and someone backed into Mum’s car. Cant recall what happened next except that I was the one who had to come home and tell Mum and Dad! Thank you for linking up for #lifethisweek 34/52. Next Week’s prompt: LTW is ONE!
September 5, 2017
I remember getting a parking ticket in my parent’s car and having to tell them. My dad was HUGELY law-abiding (the sort of person who also put money in others’ parking meters if they’d expired) so it was probably their one and only parking ticket ever.