Posted 2:04 PM by Floyd

Yesterday I learned something. The thing I learned was, do not assume that the driver you follow is on the same planet as you.

I was driving to downtown Mountain View to have lunch with my wife at Fu Lam Mum, a Cantonese restaurant that has yummy chow fun and salty fish fried rice. I was about to turn into a parking lot and was behind a Buick. The Buick turned in and caught a space right at the entrance. I turned in after it. The Buick then started to reverse. No problem, I thought; the driver wants to wiggle around for a better fit in the parking space. The Buick kept coming toward me. I reached for the horn, and got hit just as I let off a blast.

Now I backed up. (I have reflexes like Ozzie Smith, five minutes after his death.) The Buick pulled out and kept driving. I parked in the space it had vacated, and saw that the Buick had not stopped, and continued to drive in the parking lot.

When I got out of the car two men on the sidewalk shouted to me and told me they would be witnesses. I spent a few minutes talking to them and getting their names. They work for Paypal, whose offices are next to the parking lot. They told me the Buick had parked at the end of the next row.

I went over to the Buick. It was empty! At this point I got mad. I had been hit-and-run! Actually that was not accurate. I had been hit-and-walked. I called the Mountain View police from a pay phone near the restaurant, and saw my wife. We waited for awhile till a motorcycle cop showed up.

The cop had a pretty good idea of what was going on. He asked if I had seen the driver; if the driver was perhaps elderly. I had not seen the driver. I went back to my car to get my insurance and registration. I realized quickly that I had not transferred my new insurance card to my car; my insurance is renewed every six months and the latest renewal was last Sunday. Then I started to look for my registration. As I did this I realized that it was just a few weeks ago that I had taken my car in for a smog check. After which I sent in my registration and a check. For my 2004 registration. Which was due on June 14. Which I have not received yet.

Meanwhile the cop had gone into the Asian market nearby, and came out a few minutes later with a little old Asian lady. She was as nice and apologetic as could be. Though it took her awhile to realize she had anything to apologize for; she said that when she hit me, she thought it was the curb! All in a day's work for this lady.

I told the cop I didn't need to make any trouble and we could exchange insurance information. Fortunately when I said I couldn't find my information he let it pass. This little lesson cost me a half hour of my life, and a little cracking in the paint of my front bumper. Now I plan to stay well behind cars in parking lots, and keep my finger on the horn.