[Introduction: Since this story arrived to me via Telegram, I decided to retell it to my fidonet friends via the same mechanism.]

Setting the scene.. The two main subjects of this story are a mother and daughter (both very close family friends of mine). They and the rest of their family decided to spend a few days in their cottage about 40 minutes drive north of my town for a few days during the Christmas holidays.

This is their Christmas Eve story..

"Sadly this Christmas didn?t turn out as planned.

"Being holed up here is nice. Time to decompress. Although it takes planning to deal with not having the water turned on, it?s really not an issue for us. We melt snow for washing dishes, and bring up drinking water.

"Kat (daughter) and I did have an adventure Christmas Eve between our zoom chat with the extended family and the church service stream. We had planned to make dinner in between but realized we forgot the butter. Kat and I popped out to the little shop in Lake St Peter. It was about 4:30 and it had already closed. It was drizzling and getting dark. We called the General store in Maynooth and we had 12 minutes to get there before they closed. We bee lined it there and not only got the butter but the LCBO was still open so picked up another bottle of bubbly.

"The rain had turned to thick heavy snow so quickly that our drive back was slow. The bare road was now snow covered and snotty, as I call it. It was that hypnotic snowfall coming at the window.

"Kat and I were belting out Christmas songs when we saw weird vertical flashing lights before the turn off for the cottage. It was a pick up truck that had slid off the road and turned on its side. It must have just happened. We called 911 and climbed over the mound of snow to get to the truck. I could see movement but because the air bags blew, the cabin was full of the powder that?s in them. He was ok, thankfully but could not get the door open to climb out the other door. Kat was able to climb up enough to get the door open so he could get out. This guy was 85+. We got him in our truck, covered him in a blanket and waited for emergency services to arrive. It took a while. He had been on his way to our north road to visit a buddy for tea when his wheel caught the shoulder and pulled him off the road into the ditch and trees. He called his wife from my phone ( who is also as old as dirt) who could not figure out how to get their mini van in gear. He was trying to explain it. Oy! I think that scared us more. It was really snowing now.

"Finally the police arrived. The ambulance was on its way to check him out too. He said his neck was sore but needed to get back to the farm to do chores. He has a few hundred chickens, a dozen goats and 2 horses. We told him we?d get eggs from him next season.

"Needless to say that adrenaline rush had us both shaking. We got back to the cottage without issue.

--- tg BBS v0.6.3
* Origin: Fido by Telegram BBS by Stas Mishchenkov (2:460/58)