Another Whack Job Freakshow of a guy

Yesterday I had my first auto accident in Germany. It was very minor thankfully, but a taxi driver hit my side view mirror, demolished it with a loud bang (he was on my side of the road) and then made a run for it. Great. There was a lady on the street walking her dog and she managed to get his license plate number. I spent the morning at the police department making a report in German, learned some new words and realized I did not have the vocabulary for auto mishaps. My policeman was very nice, very understanding, and was also really relieved when he got to talk to my husband on the phone in speedy German and Bairish.

We got some kind of great service from the police, and they called us in the evening to let us know they had identified the hit and run driver and they gave us his address and phone number so that we could call and work out the details of the financial settlement. Ok good. So Bernd calls and a 15 minute discussion ensues and I could tell it was not really going all that well for us to get the money for the mirror. We are only discussing a grand total of 186 Euros but no, our whack job freakshow does not want to pay. He admits hitting me but his logic is that everyone should just pay for their own damages. He luckily did not have any. When asked why he did not stop he said he did recognize that his mirror flipped in toward his car after hitting mine, but he thought the big bang was a rock. He also said it was just not his fault because the street was too narrow because of all the snow lately (the car ahead of him managed to get by me without hitting me and there are not a lot of rocks laying around on top of the snow waiting to hit a taxi cab).
So he also has points on his driving record and wants us to drop the charges (we have no idea if this is even possible) because if he is charged with a hit and run his points will not just fade into the sunset like he had hoped they would.

Now would not the normal folks around us first of all have 1. stopped 2. apologized and 3. been just happy that they only had to pay 186 Euros?

Well not our whack job. We hardly even care about the 186 Euros but now since he's being totally insane it has become the principle of the thing that we have to fight over. And fight over it we will. I suggested to Bernd that he tell the dude that not only will we fight this out in court but we'll ask the court to bill him for the very expensive translator who will have to be hired for me since the judge is particular about German being correct in his courtroom. And then there should be court costs, etc....so if he wants this to get really expensive, feel free to continue to live in a reality where everyone should be responsible for their own damages no matter who is at fault. I would have thought this was maybe an immigrant from somewhere Eastern Europe but no, this is a native German. He told Bernd he would think it all over and call back today. We expect to not ever get that phone call. I would have felt a little sorry for him if he had called, said he was really sorry that he just did not realize, that he's poor and needs to make payments or whatever, but since he's being a complete idiot, game on.

A day in review

I got up this morning, watched even more inauguration coverage on TV, and then switched to the internet. I found this photo in an MSNBC slide show and for me this just says it all.

This is a soldier in Baghdad watching the inauguration. I'm sure he has hope for getting the hell out of Baghdad. I hope for the same.

Happy Obama day everyone

Relief. And more relief.

I've been complaining non-stop about the Bush regime for 8 years now, and now that he's gone all I'm left to gripe about is weather and maybe snow levels and the need to shovel the driveway. Beats having to worry anymore about Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld any old day. Welcome President Obama to all of our lives. Phew.

Icking

I'm not crazy about cold weather, but it sure can be beautiful around here on a frosty winter morning.

Uben and our guest dog Rosie

Icking is up on the hill in the background

Have we waited forever or what??????

The Hills and The City

I'm not sure what is going on around here, but I can watch episodes of The Hills and The City on my computer as if I was in the United States. Normally these videos just won't play here based I suppose on the foreign country ip address, but good old MTV is at least working for me at the moment. Now I should probably be deeply embarrassed that I even watch these shows, but not only do I watch them I frigging love them. I hate Spencer, think Heidi's lost her mind and has no self esteem, wish Audrina had better taste in men, think all the girls are cute and have great clothes. I'm worried about Whitney and the new boy Jay. If you are reading this and you also watch these shows, please leave a comment so I don't feel like such a freakshow.
Thank you.