wild night in simcoe

So you know how occasionally you see on the news where people lose control of their cars and their cars go crashing into buildings? Well it happens more often than you'd think. In fact...

So we were out in the sticks digging through antique malls for weird stuff, as we're wont to do. Started to head back east on 3, towards 6 and Hamilton and the QEW. Anyway we were hungry and we decided to have a old fashioned go to the Pizza Hut and get a pizza and a pitcher of soda kind of dinner. It's been 20 years since I ate in a Pizza Hut. So we stopped at the one in Simcoe.

It took a while for our food to arrive, but it did show up. Place was full but it started to thin out as we ate. We were on our second piece of pizza when we spilled some drink and had to move to another booth. Hey, it happens. No sooner have we gotten settled in our booth when I look up out the window and notice a car parking in the spot facing our booth. Only he isn't stopping. I actually thought "hey this is like one of those things you see on TV where somebody loses control of their car and smashes into a building!" There is a loud bang.





Yes. The car, a fairly new Lincoln, just rode right up on the sidewalk and smashed right into the side of the Pizza Hut. The impact knocked the moulding out of the wall, knocked all the glassware and plates off the table, and knocked the table itself off its post and out of the wall it was screwed in. We were left sitting there with pizza in our hands and a table in our laps.





Our reaction after the initial shock is kind of a amused "what the hell just happened"? The staff rushed out to make sure we were OK. The car is still in the parking lot, manuvering around trying to park correctly! JUST SHUT IT OFF PAL, YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH DRIVING FOR ONE DAY.

The driver comes in, he's an older man with a cane. Apparently he had had one of those moments when you're reaching for the brake but you hit the gas instead (?). He's all like "I'll pay for the damage, I just want to have dinner first!" He's not nearly as embarrassed and freaked out as *I* would have been, had *I* just rammed *my* Lincoln into a Pizza Hut. If he'd hit 15 minutes previously there would have been kids sitting in that booth. If he'd managed to get up a little more speed maybe he'd have made it all the way through the wall and we'd have been crushed. As it happened, he got up enough speed to get over the curb and 10 feet of sidewalk. Are there skid marks indicating a last minute panic brake? No sir.



You can see where his license plate holder left its imprint in the side of the building. I guess that cladding isn't too strong.



So, the destroyed pizza was taken off our bill, we assured everybody we were fine and accepted thanks from our fellow diners for being part of the evening's entertainment, and then we went outside to leave. Only we couldn't because the police and the fire department had arrived.



So we stuck around a bit and watched the bemused looks on the emergency personnel. I gave a statement to the police. The driver also had to come out and talk to the police. Once you smash into a building your evening's plans for a quiet dinner will not continue, sorry. Apparently this is not the first time our senior driver has failed to distinguish between his brake pedal and his gas pedal, and he will no longer be driving. Which is a good thing. I'll give you one crashed building; but two? You're done. BTW, damage to the Lincoln was minimal. Air bags didn't even deploy. So if you want a car that can stand up to some Saturday night Pizza Hut ramming, the Lincoln is the way to go!

Never even got a 'sorry' from the old guy. Throw the book at him, Simcoe PD!