It’s not every day a building gets hit by a truck.

Rarer still are the days one gets hit from the inside.


Today was one of my lazier, geekier days. I’d decided to give the zombies some quality time along with the robots, and have been switching back and forth between Resident Evil 4 and the first season of the new Battlestar Galactica. (Get stuck in the game, take a break, watch an episode or two, then right back to the living dead.)

About 5:45 this evening I heard an engine rev, some tires squeal, then heard a rather loud crunch.

I felt it as well.

The building shook and I knew right away what had happened. Somebody misjudged the turn outside (I live on a corner) and managed to ram my building. After the crunch I heard tires spinning on pavement and figured the (less than stellar) driver was trying to extricate himself from the building. I looked out my kitchen window but didn’t see anything. Same for the living room one.

That’s when I noticed the cloud of smoke rising next to my balcony.

I opened the door and stepped outside, but still couldn’t see where the car had struck the building. It couldn’t be on the other side of the kitchen, since the smoke wasn’t on that side of the building. Then I looked down and saw the taillights shining red.

Inside the building.

You see, there’s a home renovations company on the first floor of my building. (I’m not sure if that makes this little tale “ironic” or merely “coincidental.”) They’re a bunch of busy guys, coming and going and doing work in their shop. In an effort to save space, they park their trucks inside at night.

Usually without incident.

Being the person I am, my first thought wasn’t, “shit! I hope my balcony doesn’t fall off!” It was, “Shit! Where’s my camera?!?”

I’m not the only one checking out the scene. (I am, however, the only one taking photos.) Neighbors are popping out of their homes and seeing just what the heck’s going on. Right about this time the dude (who I’m presuming to be the driver) comes around back.

This is when it gets odd.

Everybody is very casual about the whole thing – I mean really casual – which kind of trips me out. Were this in the US, people would be
screaming at the dude, cursing him out, and he’d just say “fuck you people” and go back inside. Instead, he’s all “sumimasen” and shit, and says something about the brake. The neighbors are cool with it, happy that he’s okay and all, acting as though this sort of thing happens every day. He looks up and sees me, and I get a “sumimasen” all my very own. The crisis (or non-crisis in my neighbors’ minds) over and done with, everybody heads back inside.

A short while later the dude’s out back rigging up a tarp to cover the damage. I guess it’d be unsightly or something to leave it as it is. Or maybe he’s going to get right to work on fixing things up tonight, and wants to keep the draft to a minimum. Somehow he manages to get it tied off to the bottom of my (and my neighbor’s) balcony railing, all without me hearing a sound. That’s a bit odd, since the bottom of the railing is about 12 feet off the ground. He’s gotten that all done when the wind starts picking up. Before he can tie off the bottom, the wind’s snatched it and flipped it up over my railing. The flapping sounds (which I’m really hoping I won’t have to listen to all night) get my attention and I see what’s happened. I go outside and toss the loose end back down to him. I get a “thank you” for my efforts and he gets back to work. (It’s now tied off neatly and is not flapping about at all.)Before he got the tarp up I took a good look at the damage. It seems like he managed to avoid hitting any major structural bits, which is good. Still, I hope we’re not getting a big quake anytime soon.

I think I’ve had quite enough shaking for one night, thank you. ^.^