This morning at 6:55 a.m., we were awakened by a huge crash and then a loud thud. We both sprung out of bed and I thought someone had hit our car. (We live in an historic neighborhood that was originally built "pre-car" so most houses don't have driveways. Hence we park on the street.)
We hurried to the French doors out to the balcony and almost right below our balcony, a guy in a truck had driven up over the curb on the levee, knocked down a telephone pole and the truck ended up on its driver's side on the street. I hurried and called 911 to report the wreck as I watched the driver get into the backseat (double cab truck), roll down the window and hop out. Luckily, he wasn't hurt (he looked like Mr. Workout and even jumped back into the truck via that back window to get his wallet when the cops showed up and then lifted himself out again with no effort whatsoever). A bunch of people ended up outside and he said he looked away for a second, jumped the curb on the levee and just happened to jump it right near a telephone pole. The pole was laying across the street but did not hit his car and there were no live wires showing. I'll bet you anything he was texting but of course, there was no mention of that (you can use a cell phone while driving here but no texting and no social media are allowed. They changed the law to add social media this year when people busted for texting said they weren't texting but were checking their Facebook!) You have to wonder what kind of idiot does that while driving!
The amazing thing is how the city sprang into action. This happened at 7 a.m. and luckily, we didn't lose power, cable or phone (thank God as Brian was looking forward to the LSU game on the tube at 2:30 p.m.). First, a wrecker came and removed the truck (quite an ordeal). A crew from the power company came out next and moved the downed pole next to the curb. Then AT&T showed up, painted the downed pole bright orange and tied bright orange ties to the now sagging power/cable/phone lines so they were visible to the cars using the street. Then about an hour later, a company came with a new pole, installed it and picked up the broken pole. Shortly thereafter, AT&T returned and raised the saggin lines to the proper place on the new pole. By 2 p.m., you couldn't tell a thing had happened. For us in New Orleans, this was nothing short of miraculous. We figured it would be weeks before it was done. Brian was like a little boy, as he went outside to watch each of the steps!
The best part of it all was that yesterday afternoon, Brian parked the car right where that pole fell down in front of our neighbor's house (we're one house off the corner and he was parked on the corner). He couldn't find his cell phone later in the day so when he checked the car and found it (he'd lose his head if it wasn't attached to his shoulders), he decided to move the car up about 10 feet so it would be in front of our house. What a drag that would've been and you know even with insurance, it would've cost us some money and would have been a general PITA!
We hurried to the French doors out to the balcony and almost right below our balcony, a guy in a truck had driven up over the curb on the levee, knocked down a telephone pole and the truck ended up on its driver's side on the street. I hurried and called 911 to report the wreck as I watched the driver get into the backseat (double cab truck), roll down the window and hop out. Luckily, he wasn't hurt (he looked like Mr. Workout and even jumped back into the truck via that back window to get his wallet when the cops showed up and then lifted himself out again with no effort whatsoever). A bunch of people ended up outside and he said he looked away for a second, jumped the curb on the levee and just happened to jump it right near a telephone pole. The pole was laying across the street but did not hit his car and there were no live wires showing. I'll bet you anything he was texting but of course, there was no mention of that (you can use a cell phone while driving here but no texting and no social media are allowed. They changed the law to add social media this year when people busted for texting said they weren't texting but were checking their Facebook!) You have to wonder what kind of idiot does that while driving!
The amazing thing is how the city sprang into action. This happened at 7 a.m. and luckily, we didn't lose power, cable or phone (thank God as Brian was looking forward to the LSU game on the tube at 2:30 p.m.). First, a wrecker came and removed the truck (quite an ordeal). A crew from the power company came out next and moved the downed pole next to the curb. Then AT&T showed up, painted the downed pole bright orange and tied bright orange ties to the now sagging power/cable/phone lines so they were visible to the cars using the street. Then about an hour later, a company came with a new pole, installed it and picked up the broken pole. Shortly thereafter, AT&T returned and raised the saggin lines to the proper place on the new pole. By 2 p.m., you couldn't tell a thing had happened. For us in New Orleans, this was nothing short of miraculous. We figured it would be weeks before it was done. Brian was like a little boy, as he went outside to watch each of the steps!
The best part of it all was that yesterday afternoon, Brian parked the car right where that pole fell down in front of our neighbor's house (we're one house off the corner and he was parked on the corner). He couldn't find his cell phone later in the day so when he checked the car and found it (he'd lose his head if it wasn't attached to his shoulders), he decided to move the car up about 10 feet so it would be in front of our house. What a drag that would've been and you know even with insurance, it would've cost us some money and would have been a general PITA!