Ok, so not quite that kind of airbag - I just liked the cartoon when I went searching for pics of airbags.

Mum had a car accident yesterday. And, thanks to the airbag, I think, she came out of it relatively unscathed, despite being run into head on, and the car being a write-off. Thankfully it was also a relatively low-speed impact, just around the bend from home. It's a diabolical street - a crescent, in which the residents park on the inside and outside kerb, leaving usually only a car width to drive through.

The residents and regular visitors know the drill. When you 'meet' an oncoming car, the one who can find a space to pull over will do so, letting the other car pass first. This time there were cars parked all along the kerb to Mum's left (we drive on the left here!), but for once, there were none on the other side. Mum slowed, but expected the oncoming car to move over.

The car didn't, it kept sailing on, and *smash*, - a complete head on - not even a misjudged clipping of the corner of the car.

Mum said she then saw all white - and wondered for a split second "Am I dead?". An instant later she realised it was the airbag. Thank goodness for the airbag. Her only injury is a gash to her right arm, which did cut into a vein, most likely from some broken plastic (from the airbag housing?) Some stitches for that - bruising, and a rash, apparently, from the powder the airbag is stored in, and orders to get checked out by her GP during the week.

Both my sister's and my first reaction was to worry about how much bleeding might have happened because Mum has been on Prednisone for a few years now - which causes the skin to be really thin, so she would just bump herself and cause a tear. Thankfully she is now on such a low dose that it wasn't a problem.

So, Mum got a ride in an ambulance despite insisting that she was ok. Dad was called off the golf course, and I wonder if putting up with his jokey blokey carry-on with the nurses wasn't harder to deal with than the actual accident. The nurse reckoned Mum deserved a medal for putting up with that for 45 years.

The young girl - a P-Plater (provisional licence) - that ran into her had chest pains (no airbag).. I don't know the extent of her injuries. Her father (they lived not far from Mum and Dad) was apparently insisting that the sun was in her eyes, but she was heading east, and it was 2.00 in the afternoon. Hmmm. The policeman didn't talk to Mum yesterday but will see her on Monday afternoon. Perhaps he could already see from the positions of the cars exactly what happened.

You always dread getting a call about someone close to you being in a car accident. Thankfully this one had a happy ending. Mum will be sore for a couple of days, but most likely back on the golf course in a week. Dad is more concerned with the decisions involved in buying a replacement car. Their two daughters' greatest concern, now that we know Mum is ok, is wondering if Dad will actually manage something as domestically challenging as getting dinner for Mum for a change, and if he managed to make the bed up ok (seeing Mum had stripped it yesterday morning.) Seeing Dad's culinary expertise runs to - oh - going up and picking up a pizza - we won't be expecting anything special in that department. It does make you wonder how he would cope if heaven forbid anything had happened to mum, but even moreso, if he would be capable of looking after her for any extended period if her injuries had been worse.

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