Just a bit shaken

I had meant to put up a post about my short break in New Zealand, and I might try to, tomorrow maybe, depending, but I’m feeling just a little shaken. I was in an accident today; another driver came through a red light and smashed into my car as I went through on a green light. I don’t seem to be hurt, ‘though I promise to be wary with respect to whiplash injuries, and neither was the other driver. My car however, is not so good. The back left passenger door, and the skirt, and the rear fender and the rear panel, are all dented and broken about, and the left rear wheel is on a bad lean, and the petrol tank looks as though it may need to be replaced.

I do feel sorry for the other driver. He was definitely at fault, and he admitted it. But I think it was one of those moments where you lose concentration briefly, and don’t perceive something, like a red light. He must have spent a great deal of time afterwards thinking, “If only…”

Very fortunately, it was just me in the car. I might not be so forgiving if my daughters or my partner had been there, and had been injured or scared.

Yes, we’re fully covered by insurance, as is the other driver. This is a damned nuisance, but that’s all.

Learning to read

Giovanni directed me to this painting by Giacomo Ceruti.

(image scanned by Giovanni)

He said:

Following the example of Caravaggio and especially Andrea Magnasco, Ceruti painted working class subjects, which was a novelty in those days. I thought you might appreciate the detail of a girl of humble extraction who was being taught to read – again, not a terribly popular pastime in Italy in those days. There is another lovely painting of his with very similar subject, “bobbin lace school”, but this one stood out for me due to that particular detail.