Thursday, April 10, 2008

Wall of Contusion


Wall of Contusion
...
I see the latest Princess Diana inquiry has wrapped up. Not much new findings. About the only thing I wonder about is if the driver was as drunk as tests indicate, it seems strange no one noticed. He wasn't swerving all over the place before he got to the tunnel. They still haven't found the white Fiat Uno, the "Grassy Knoll" of the case. The crash expert did say there was no way a Uno could sideswipe a Mercedes off the road, as some have theorized. One possibility though is that the Uno started to change lanes, either in a misguided attempt to be helpful and get out of the way seeing the Merc coming up fast, or by bad luck not realizing the Merc was suddenly there, causing the Merc driver to over-react. That can happen. I know when I come up on a car more quickly than I thought, I never pass without slowing up so to give the other car lots of time to see me and realise my intention to go by.

That reminds me, I saw Di once, for about 2 seconds, which is about as much as a commoner like me can reasonably expect. I'd just graduated university straight into a recession, haha how's that for timing?, and had no job. So when I saw in the paper that Charles and Di were coming, I had lots of time on my hands to take the bus downtown and be part of the throng to see them. He went one way, but she came my way. I was still off to the side, but she stopped and turned to survey the long row of us so we could all get a brief look. Cheerful nod, smile, wave. All in good taste. Many years later, I saw Mr. Al-Fayed, Dodi's dad. I was in London just walking through Harrods when this little old gentleman brushed passed me. I noticed there were all these people buzzing about him on cells and radios. I thought, hey, is that the boss? He got to the escalator and about half way up, turned around and looked about and I saw it was him. Probably on his way to some meeting. Kewl.