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Since I've arrived in Cincinnati, I've been sick. I've been fighting a terrible sinus infection for almost a week now and had to go to Walgreens, pay some mula (89 for visit, 59 for pills) to see a doctor and get some antibiotics. 

 

Things are getting better, but what a somewhat shitty first week in cinny. Oh well. 

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Whoa, I had a car accident this Saturday when the south of the Netherlands and parts of Germany got hit by a snowstorm. I totalled my car. I'm OK though, the airbags didn't even trigger. I was heading out to bring my girlfriend to the station, I drove super carefully and only 70 km/h. But the road was an ice skating ring and I got into a spin out of the blue and hit the railing. The front was just busted up, so I called the Polizei and the Dutch Wegenwacht to pick me up, we waited in the blistering cold for 45 minutes and then we got towed off. Totally made a 'damage selfie' too.

 

The biggest bummer is that by happenstance I changed my insurance from all-risk to limited, which is now biting me in the ass hard: I've lost my car and I'm getting no money at all. It sucks enormously. At least we're both fine. But fuck me, that went fast and there was literally nothing I could do save not going out that day (which was advised and broadcasted).

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Man, that sucks! Do you usually have separate winter/summer tires over there?

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Whoa, I had a car accident this Saturday

 

Oh, that really sucks Rodi, but I'm glad you and your girlfriend are okay.

I've had a similar crash into a ditch after hitting a patch of diesel fuel at night; when something like that takes the car there's not much you can do.

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Aw man Rodi, that sucks, but yes glad you are okay.

 

I also happened to change my insurance to not have uninsured drivers like four years ago when I didn't have a lot of money and then forgot to turn it back on when I did and then a lady just smashed into the side of my car (passengers) and her insurance was expired. So I was screwed and I drive around with two broken doors forever.

 

I'm surprised your airbags didn't go off. Do you think they are operating well? That's a scary thought to me if they were not working but there was no "Check Airbag" light on.

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That really sucks Roderick. As someone who moved from a sunny climate to a super snowy climate in the last few years, driving in a snowstorm makes me more terrified than anything. I got into a minor accident when my car lost control on snow/ice while driving last year, and it's still with me. I'm glad you and your girlfriend are ok, though. 

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Yeah, I always somehow operated under the assumption that if I'd drive carefully and well enough, nothing major could/would happen to me, but that fantasy is off the table now. You can just get swept away by any old gust of wind and you're out. In Germany, winter tires are enforced, but not in the Netherlands. I've learned my lesson though, when I get a new car I'm getting separate tires for the season.

 

I don't know if the airbags malfunctioned. Though the car was totalled, the interior was undamaged and the bump wasn't that bad, it really wasn't more than 'mild bumper car hit'. Crazy thing: as we went into a spin both of us stayed completely calm. I immediately assessed that we wouldn't get banged up too much and said to my girlfriend: "Hang on tight!" like out of a goddamn movie trailer.

 

Also, the German police totally complimented me on the way I'd secured the scene of the accident. Yesssss!

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Yeah, I always somehow operated under the assumption that if I'd drive carefully and well enough, nothing major could/would happen to me, but that fantasy is off the table now. You can just get swept away by any old gust of wind and you're out.

 

I lost a car two winters ago driving in mildly heavy rain. I was driving on a highway, not even at the speed limit, and went over some standing water that looked no different from the wet pavement next to it. I hydroplaned and coasted slowly, like some majestic ship, into a six-foot ditch filled almost to the brim with water, promptly totaling the car without a scratch on it or me. I don't know what I could have done, and it made me incredibly nervous to drive in anything heavier than a drizzle for months.

 

So yeah, your story is very familiar and you have all of my sympathy, Rodi. Hopefully, getting a new car won't be as hard for you as it was for me!

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Yikes. I've never hydroplaned... let's just get gundams instead to bring us from point a to b.

 

And I'll see about buying a new car in the coming months. Hopefully I can get a nice one for no more than 5000 europeans. My dad and friends are already on the lookout.

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Crazy thing: as we went into a spin both of us stayed completely calm. I immediately assessed that we wouldn't get banged up too much and said to my girlfriend: "Hang on tight!" like out of a goddamn movie trailer.

You really should have made an 'ice' pun.

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I actually drove in snow for the first time this past week during my trip to Sweden. Scary stuff, I was in the middle of a snowstorm so there wasn't a ton of snow on the ground but there was plenty in my windshield. Had studded tires but that didn't help me from skidding just a little bit now and then.

 

My experience was limited there, but driving in a serious Florida thunderstorm has scared me much more. Hydroplaning is awful, I've done it a handful of times with no serious consequences but it's put a pit in my stomach every time. Only thing to do in that situation is to pump the brakes and hope you catch a little traction instead of panicking and slamming the brakes to engage ABS.

 

I also lost a car to flooding in a way, drove on a road during a long storm here and the car stalled. After letting it dry out for a few hours it was driveable, but enough of the components were shot that it had things failing left and right so I traded it in before it went kaput.

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I lost a car two winters ago driving in mildly heavy rain. I was driving on a highway, not even at the speed limit, and went over some standing water that looked no different from the wet pavement next to it. I hydroplaned and coasted slowly, like some majestic ship, into a six-foot ditch filled almost to the brim with water, promptly totaling the car without a scratch on it or me. I don't know what I could have done, and it made me incredibly nervous to drive in anything heavier than a drizzle for months.

 

So yeah, your story is very familiar and you have all of my sympathy, Rodi. Hopefully, getting a new car won't be as hard for you as it was for me!

Hydroplaning off into the ditch is the worst. In a very similar situation as you described, I ended up going into one of those goofy, Smokey and the Bandit style spins. Ended up in the bottom of a ditch next to the interstate, but thankfully the car was unscathed and I was able to drive out. But it left me more nervous about driving for months, and driving in rain for years. I've had a couple of serious accidents with cars, and neither of them made me as twitchy driving as hydroplaning did.

Rodi, glad that you and your girl are okay.

Jon, that's kind of crazy to me. Had you been in snow much at all before? I've known a couple of people from Florida who managed to make it to adulthood without ever being around snow.

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i ice-skated my first car when I was 17 into a tree.  I wasn't going more than 10-15 because of the fresh ice and upcoming turn in my neighborhood...then just started sliding.  It was an old buick with the impossible to use in an emergency E-Brake, i had enough time to pump regular brakes, use said E-brake and to tell my brother we werent going to stop.  A couple hundred dollars at local junk yard and a lot of evenings in the garage i fixed it myself, but what a mess

 

 

Currently though I got a new car over the summer and am fairly worried of the got-to-come-eventually Chicago snowstorm.  

My old vehicle had sport tires, excessive power, and a generally smaller/lighter car - but my current vehicle is more sedan-y, heavier, and sometimes feels like it cant get out of its way.  Based on its performance in heavy rain i think i'm going to miss the smaller vehicle and agility

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Jon, that's kind of crazy to me. Had you been in snow much at all before? I've known a couple of people from Florida who managed to make it to adulthood without ever being around snow.

 

That snowstorm was the first time I had seen snow since I was four and I can barely remember that at all. Gothenburg got about 2 inches that night, don't really know how significant a storm that constitutes. It was indeed crazy. 

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You really should have made an 'ice' pun.

 

Might be my number one regret right now.

 

Undermind, I might actually get a bigger vehicle this time around, since that'll ensure more grip on the road than a smaller city car. Most of all though, I'm simply not gonna drive in dangerous weather anymore. As soon as it starts pouring and freezing, I'm outta the game. Safety first.

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I was just told that my landlords have sold their house and that I am being evicted, I have two months to find a new place. the problem is I can't afford anywhere else so either I become homeless or I move back to my hometown.

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Oh man, Grayson, that's awful. Do you have any friends you could stay with while you look for something?

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God, that sucks man. :/ What a terrible time to find out too.
I hope you can figure something out. Maybe if the landlords are decent they might be able to suggest a place for you to check out? No idea what apartment hunting is like over there.

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there is a huge housing crysis here so I might be screwed.

 

I hope you can take some small ironic pleasure in the fact that you typed "crysis" instead of "crisis".

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I spent too long on google images looking for a house with Mr Crysis in the same picture.

Grayson, is there not something like spareroom.com in your sea you can use to find a temporary house share? That website has saved my ass multiple times.

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I spent too long on google images looking for a house with Mr Crysis in the same picture.

Grayson, is there not something like spareroom.com in your sea you can use to find a temporary house share? That website has saved my ass multiple times.

 

woah I never knew it existed, I will check this out. Thank you!

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I have seen some Reddit subs where people are looking for roommates, could be a place to poke around. I generally don't love Reddit, but the broad center of it seems okay and worth tapping into.

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