My wife was driving to get me from work last night and a woman tried to cut dangerously in front of her at a junction. My wife wouldn't let her. As a result of this, the woman followed her to the car park of Randall's where she was heading, blocking her in with her car. The woman then threatened her, abusive language and all. She even managed to scratch my wife's arm while at the same time phoning 911 to claim my wife had assaulted her. Even without taking into account that my wife is over eight months pregnant and had our two-and-a-half year old son with her, this was a strange claim to make seeing how she had blocked my wife's car in. The police had taken the woman aside and were giving her a stern talking to when I arrived. She had that north Austin look of suburban entitlement. And the over-developed calves of a realtor or financial consultant. My mind turns to garish stereotypes rather than fruitless vengeance fantasies, although I was hoping the cops would tase her just, you know, to keep in practice. Actually they were nice guys -- they also gave my wife a phone number in case she wanted to file charges against the woman. Not saying you should ma'am, but....

We were discussing whether to do this or not on the way back home ten minutes later when a car veered out of nowhere and sideswiped us on the driver's side. If my wife hadn't swerved into a thankfully empty lane, who knows what would have happened. The front hubcap and rear view mirror were smashed off and a little paint chipped off but no real damage. We got what we thought was the license plate of the car as it did not bother stopping, although when the cop, a different cop this time, ran it through the database it was not listed, so he may well have had serious reasons for not sticking around to swap insurance details.

It's a good job I believe in coincidence as what are the chances of this, even in the reckless driving capital of Texas? Two 911-worthy encounters with automotive psychos, one with with road rage, the other who knows what, in less than half an hour?

I tell you, peak oil can't come soon enough...