Friday, 2 May 2008

A near miss

My daughter and I nearly had an accident this morning. A teenage boy in a huge pickup truck decided to change lanes without glancing over to see that we were in the lane beside him. As I replay the event in my head I can not pinpoint when I responded. By the time I perceived the impending doom, my reflexes had me steering away from him. In fact, what brought my attention to the situation was hearing my own car horn blast as my hand was pressed hard on it.

Daemonic guidance?
Precognition?

I don't have any recollection of the event prior to the horn blast.
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5 comments:

Karl Le Marcs said...

Robin;

WOW.

Firstly, I'm glad that you and Lily are ok.
Secondly, yes, yes and thrice yes - well, it seems it was either Daemonic Guidance or more proof of the temporal delay between our empirical experiences and what is presented to consciousness.
Either way it's good news for you!

On a lighter note, I've always been curious where the term near-miss came from, as surely if you nearly miss something then you have actually hit it!!
*ponders*

2 May 2008 at 18:23
SM Kovalinsky said...

Robin; I have been so busy and distracted as of late that I missed this one until now. How remarkable, and how fortunate for you and your daughter; so very happy, as I am sure all are, that the 2 of you are safe and sound! I certainly do think that some sort of daemonic guidance, perhaps premonition, was at work. I will have to discuss this with Jesamyn, as she and I have often wondered about the "near-miss" phenomunem, and were fascinated with Tony's own example, as were all. Thank you for posting such a profoundly personal, not to mention frightening, incident , and with such clarity. My apologies for having missed this!!! Glad you are well, Robin; continue to take good care.

5 May 2008 at 01:02
Karl Le Marcs said...

Susan Marie:
My Dear Lady, I'm glad someone else commented on Robin's post as I feel it is deeply ITLADic and reminiscent of some of Tony's own experiences in this area.

Robin:
It would be great to hear your follow up remarks to this. It suggests a premonition in your subconscious (Daemonic?) and a time dilation as you hear your own horn. Fascinating!

5 May 2008 at 01:10
Robin said...

Susan Marie,
Thank you for your kind comments, we are both well and no longer shaken by the event. All I feel now is wonderment and fascination about how we are protected!

I'm sure we all could share "near-miss" stories. Tony's post a few weeks ago caused me to reflect deeper on my own incident. I still have no memory of when this fellow began to change lanes. I'm sure it all happened in my peripheral vision. The fact that he was about to crash into my daughter probably influenced the speed of my reflexes. (Maternal instinct of the daemon; another point of discussion for Ken's April 13th gender post?)

And no to Karl's question; I don't remember a feeling of premonition but the time dilation was definitely hollywood style! As Neo dodged the bullets, so Robin dodged the redneck's truck!

And Karl... Point well taken about the 'near-miss' misnomer. I'll try to be more careful with random use of cliche!

5 May 2008 at 03:34
Anthony Peake said...

ROBIN: Nasty circumstance but it seems that your Daemon was already aware of the danger. In my next book I present a whole series of events such as these in which the Daemon actively does something to warn Eidolon. Most of these have never been published before and were sent to me by readers of ITLAD. My favourite is the one when a guy was walking across a factory floor. He was carrying a cup of coffee. His left hand suddenly, and with no will on his part, placed itself over the rim of the coffee cup - just as a drop of oil, presumably from the ceiling, dropped onto the back of the protecting hand. So the Daemon is not just there for the big events, it also helps in keeping your coffee drinkable!

7 May 2008 at 08:52

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