« Disturbed Down South | Main | Coersion in Carolina »
October 30, 2004
Getting Smashed in Charlotte
I am writing tonight from Jacksonville, Florida. One more night and I'm home! Hurrah!
Now, getting back to my vacation, I woke up in Charlotte last Monday morning, my last night there, to find that my passenger window had been smashed in. What was stolen? Michael's three-year-old radar detector which I only briefly used to get from Columbia to Charlotte and had foolishly left out in plain view. A shopping bag containing a shoebox with shoes and a couple new pair of dress socks. The shoes in the shoebox? An old pair--I wore the ones I had just bought into the hotel. I guess I should have brought it all in.
I want to say that both the Holiday Inn Woodlawn and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department were both extremely helpful in following up. Not that I recovered anything, but I certainly felt better afterward. It seems that Progressive has a $500 deductible for broken windows and it only cost $200 to fix.
Incedentally, I rode back to Columbia with an open window, because I didn't want to wait around in Charlotte anymore and there's a window shop across the street from where my mother works, that was very helpful. The company is called Astro Glass and I wish I could remember the name of the lady that made sure I had the window as soon as I got there.
And special wonderful thanks to Mom who was so helpful in paying for it. She only asked that I hooked up her new wireless keyboard and mouse so they both work. Easiest $200 I ever made! I ♥ you, Mom!
As far as the smash-and-grabber goes--while I certainly feel violated, I can only wish that they got what they needed to get them through another day. Unfortunately, while I don't know what is the going rate for three-year-old radar detectors at the fencer, it can't possibly be enough to buy a decent amount of crack or heroin.
And the one positive side-effect? I not only drove close to the speed limit the remainder of my vacation! Funny how fast you still get places without speeding. Funny how relaxed you are getting there without all the anxiety associated with speeding. No worries about passing slow cars, no agonizing trying to cut off other drivers who are trying to speed too.
Every time someone passed me on the left, I just turned my head and smiled.
Posted by Bastique at October 30, 2004 10:15 PM