Well, they hired me. I'm now on the books of a tutoring agency, though whether any work actually comes through is a different matter. All the same, this is a marvellous thing. Somebody actually thinks me qualified to do something and worthwhile as a person.

Now for the bad news. I may have maimed Colin to some extent.

All: What sort of extent?

To a smashed (but still operative) brake light and a boot that doesn't close sort of extent.

I was looking at it when I came home and saying to myself... "Well, replace the plastic on that thar light and fix it so the boot closes and it's not THAT bad."

It is pretty bad, but I think it looks worse than it is. It's not at all attractive but everything still works and the car still gets from A to B. There's nothing loose of flapping. The major problem is my having been unemployed for three months and therefore not having the money. But this is my own damn fault for hitting the pillar. There was a sun in the eyes problem, but that's beside the point.

It's nice to know I crashed my OWN car though. If I'd done it in my dad's car...

This does give credence to my optimism about the human race, though. When I hit that pillar, a group of people nearby heard the massive bang and came running. They made sure I was okay and helped me assess the damage. They stood and watched while I tested my brake light. One of them got hold of a screwdriver and secured the bumper where it had ripped away over the wheel. The damage is much less thanks to that guy. Two of them tried and tried repeatedly to fix my boot and apologised when they couldn't, like it was their fault. They saw me all okay before they went back to work.

Then, my boot still uncloseable, I stopped at the first servo on the way home, to ask for help getting my boot tied down. A couple getting petrol saw me and offered to help. He even got INSIDE the boot, to try and assess why it wasn't closing. He eventually made a clever rig to tie things down, and it's very very secure. He did a marvellous job.

So, really... I'm right about people being basically nice. On an interpersonal level, most people see someone in trouble and they're happy to stop and help out. No one's out to get you and the majority of people, if they can (they have the means, their own schedule permits) will help. The situation was hardly life threatening. I was going at an absolute snail's pace so it wouldn't even qualify as a smash. All I needed was help making my car safe to drive home.

But people came to help anyway. So, take that cynics!