WOW – how hard can it be to locate one van – sky
blue in colour – Ford Windstar – not exactly little – bigger than a
Smartcar but smaller than a semi (as Mom found out).
My youngest son, Adam, took it upon himself to try to locate the van. He was told that there were three towing companies engaged to look after all the vehicles involved in the pile up. He called all three just to be told that it was too soon for them to give him any answers, that the towing companies were still getting their paperwork together – it was suggested that he call back at a later date.
Being the stubborn person that I am (yes, I take after my mom – must be the Danish side) I started to call the tow companies. It was determined that Big Rock Towing had Mom’s van in their lot and that, yes, with proper ID, we could access the vehicle to retrieve her personal belongings. Do you have any idea the stuff that people keep in their vehicles – WOW – its like having a separate office. I asked Sharon (the person with Big Rock) what type of ID I would need – my last name is different than Mom’s (guess that happened when I got married); she said ID for mom – that’s funny – the paramedic took her bag with her clothes and medication in it and left her purse with her ID in the van!
I explained this to Sharon, advised her that I have ID (my driver’s license – valid!; and my birth certificate [ I think]) and that I had her bottles of medication with her name, etc on it. We made arrangements to meet Thursday morning at 9 ( have to make sure that a driver is there to open the gate).
Silly me – I googled the address – thought to myself – it’s in Okotoks – how hard can it be to locate an impound lot! After all, I am a city gal – they are all over the place in Calgary with signs giving directions. WRONG! Who would have thought that one person (ME) could get lost in Okotoks – a town of what 20,000 people! Well, you can and I did. I, being the intelligent person that I am, called Sharon to get directions just to find out that I drove right by it (what, businesses do not put up signs for grey haired old females! WTF) after getting to the gate (would never have thought this was an impound lot) and not driving into the neighbors yard as, apparently, they are a little cranky (guess they don’t drink Tim Horton’s coffee), I was greeted by the driver Paul. Paul had to give my son directions as Adam decided to follow the google directions to the address listed on the yellow pages. Silly us – why would we think that the listed address actually goes to the impound lot! According to Paul – they don’t use the correct address as apparently some people try to access the lot to retrieve their vehicle improperly – translation illegally!
Paul told me to park my car on the side of the road – I told him that I needed to be close to the van as there was a lot of stuff in it. After he calmed down from laughing, he pointed me in the direction of the van. Who would have thought that you can park vehicles in a small lot like sardines in a can.
Adam and I located the van and stopped dead in our tracks! MOM – HOW ON EARTH DID YOU SURVIVE THIS????? The entire driver’s side of the van was totalled – I mean GONE – NON EXISTANT – DEMOLISHED.
After we survived the shock of the condition of the van, Adam and I started getting all her belongings out of the van – suitcase, walker, lawn chairs, CDs (that she has not played in months). console (in pieces but we took it) keys from the ashtray (had to use a crowbar for that), dishes, socks, gloves, her cell phone (remember the 1:30 wake up call to advise me that she left her cell in the van – got it!), and her purse slightly – (oh thunder rocks!) drenched in water (where did that come from – oh yes, I recall, it was SNOWING that day) . Adam was able to remove what was left of her license plate.
And then we started taking the pictures. Have to document the evidence you know. The only thing that we could not remove was her keys – the steering column was not really in good condition – guess the jaws of life will do that. Oh, we did locate the running lights of the truck that hit her – in the van.
Adam and I stood there for a bit to remember the good times in the van and to say a sad farewell – it was good van.
On the way back to Calgary, Adam happened to spot the driver’s door of the van laying on the side of the road – me, being the photo bug that I am, had to turn around to document that as well.
My youngest son, Adam, took it upon himself to try to locate the van. He was told that there were three towing companies engaged to look after all the vehicles involved in the pile up. He called all three just to be told that it was too soon for them to give him any answers, that the towing companies were still getting their paperwork together – it was suggested that he call back at a later date.
Being the stubborn person that I am (yes, I take after my mom – must be the Danish side) I started to call the tow companies. It was determined that Big Rock Towing had Mom’s van in their lot and that, yes, with proper ID, we could access the vehicle to retrieve her personal belongings. Do you have any idea the stuff that people keep in their vehicles – WOW – its like having a separate office. I asked Sharon (the person with Big Rock) what type of ID I would need – my last name is different than Mom’s (guess that happened when I got married); she said ID for mom – that’s funny – the paramedic took her bag with her clothes and medication in it and left her purse with her ID in the van!
I explained this to Sharon, advised her that I have ID (my driver’s license – valid!; and my birth certificate [ I think]) and that I had her bottles of medication with her name, etc on it. We made arrangements to meet Thursday morning at 9 ( have to make sure that a driver is there to open the gate).
Silly me – I googled the address – thought to myself – it’s in Okotoks – how hard can it be to locate an impound lot! After all, I am a city gal – they are all over the place in Calgary with signs giving directions. WRONG! Who would have thought that one person (ME) could get lost in Okotoks – a town of what 20,000 people! Well, you can and I did. I, being the intelligent person that I am, called Sharon to get directions just to find out that I drove right by it (what, businesses do not put up signs for grey haired old females! WTF) after getting to the gate (would never have thought this was an impound lot) and not driving into the neighbors yard as, apparently, they are a little cranky (guess they don’t drink Tim Horton’s coffee), I was greeted by the driver Paul. Paul had to give my son directions as Adam decided to follow the google directions to the address listed on the yellow pages. Silly us – why would we think that the listed address actually goes to the impound lot! According to Paul – they don’t use the correct address as apparently some people try to access the lot to retrieve their vehicle improperly – translation illegally!
Paul told me to park my car on the side of the road – I told him that I needed to be close to the van as there was a lot of stuff in it. After he calmed down from laughing, he pointed me in the direction of the van. Who would have thought that you can park vehicles in a small lot like sardines in a can.
Adam and I located the van and stopped dead in our tracks! MOM – HOW ON EARTH DID YOU SURVIVE THIS????? The entire driver’s side of the van was totalled – I mean GONE – NON EXISTANT – DEMOLISHED.
After we survived the shock of the condition of the van, Adam and I started getting all her belongings out of the van – suitcase, walker, lawn chairs, CDs (that she has not played in months). console (in pieces but we took it) keys from the ashtray (had to use a crowbar for that), dishes, socks, gloves, her cell phone (remember the 1:30 wake up call to advise me that she left her cell in the van – got it!), and her purse slightly – (oh thunder rocks!) drenched in water (where did that come from – oh yes, I recall, it was SNOWING that day) . Adam was able to remove what was left of her license plate.
And then we started taking the pictures. Have to document the evidence you know. The only thing that we could not remove was her keys – the steering column was not really in good condition – guess the jaws of life will do that. Oh, we did locate the running lights of the truck that hit her – in the van.
Adam and I stood there for a bit to remember the good times in the van and to say a sad farewell – it was good van.
On the way back to Calgary, Adam happened to spot the driver’s door of the van laying on the side of the road – me, being the photo bug that I am, had to turn around to document that as well.
Boy, it's sure nice to see that the engineered life space in the van worked.
ReplyDeletethank goodness for small miracles - I still would like to know how she survived - but I thank God every day for leaving mom with me
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