Tuesday last, around 11:11 AM, the electricity went out. I tried to notify the electric company of the power outage, but the app needed to be updated and it took forever. No one on the Facebook town site was having problems with their electricity.
I wandered into the living room thinking I'd go old school and just call the electric company. I saw a police car in front of the house and an officer walking down the front steps. I opened the door and asked if I could help him.
"I thought no one was home..."
(Note to self make a note for the storm door. Knock out of order. Enter porch and ring the doorbell)
"Did you see a red truck hit the telephone pole at the end of your driveway?"
"Oh, so that's why the electricity went out."
"Yeah, your house and probably that house." He pointed with his chin to the Leaf Lady's house. "The guy knocked the framus at the top of the pole. See?"
I squinted. Couldn't see a thing, but offered an, "Oh! I couldn't get through to the electric company to notify them of the outage. And I didn't see or hear anything."
"That's ok. My dispatcher called in the outage. The guy left his tire on your lawn. I'll send Highway over to remove it. Has that pole always been leaning like that?"
"Thanks. Yeah. It's not the first time the pole has been hit and the pole is in the ditch so not in real solid ground."
His turn to say Oh.
Lots of hub-bub on the town's Facebook page. No one but us lost electricity. A lady further down the road said the guy drove by her house real slow. Like 30 miles per hour. Another woman further down the road, said sparks from the rim ignited leaves at the end of her property. Fortunately, she and her husband had just gotten home so they were able to put the fire out with a garden hose. Someone else said the police caught up with the guy 2 miles from my house.
I boiled water for another cup of tea in Cauldren Fyre. and had a cup of tea. Priorities. The electric company sent a bucket truck and a couple of guys. They got the electricity back on an hour and a half later. I went out to check the damage. A pretty good skid mark into the ditch and the tire.
This is the third time this pole has been hit. The first time by a teen driver driving her daddy's brand-new, little red Porsche. She hit the pole and careened across the street coming to stop a few yards up and not hitting any of the trees. She ran screaming down the street. I sat with her girlfriend on our steps to make sure she was ok. while Himself went to call the police and report the accident. The second time, a kid driving a truck, bent to retrieve a CD or something that fell in his car. He whacked the pole and sheered it from the base. The pole fell but miraculously landed upright in the ditch though the wires to our house sagged nearly to the driveway. In the middle of the night, the electric company and telephone company argued outside who's pole it belonged to before it was replaced.
So, when I saw this I was 😲 Now, I thought the officer meant, the tire came off the car and the guy continued driving on the rim. But not only did the tire come off, but the axle, suspension. Whatever holds the wheel on the car. The guy must have driven two miles down the road on the chassis. Everyone lean to the left!
