Last Sunday I had gathered a lot of green leaves and heather to create and arch med roses and bridal veil for our friends who were going to celebrate their silver wedding Tuesday morning.

Heather

My husband and I regularly take a Sunday walk in the beautiful heath area at a peninsula outside of Viborg. I leave him at his work and go back to my town 70 km away. It saves him for some transportation and he is able to sleep at his office and comes home twice a week.

Where I met the fox

All this to tell you that I drove back in the twilight and while passing the place where we gathered all the leaves  I was listening to some favorite chamber music the string quintet e major of Franz Schubert played by the famous Budapest String Quartet. I enjoyed it immensely this antique transmission from the 1950s.

Then I saw from my right side a red fox fur coming as an arrow or a rocket. At the same moment it hit my front wheel and I felt how the fox circulated around the front wheel and saw how it was slung back to the forest where it came from.

a painting by Swedish Bruno Liljefors

I didn’t feel like stopping and finding maybe a part of a fox on the wheel and as I felt that the gears were still working normally and no lamps were showing up at the dashboard I decided to go home. I had an hour still to drive.

Many thoughts went through my head after this incident.

• How much was damaged on the car ?
• What would I have done if it was a human being running into the car like that?
• I would have stopped immediately !!!
• Could I have done anything to prevent this?
• Had the fox been chasing Jemima Puddle-duck?

From one of Beatrix Potter’s books

I was almost home when I turned to the right at a church five minutes from home. Then I didn’t like the sound of something sweeping against the road. I had to park and have a look.

Around the front wheel was a huge hole and all the plastic things or what ever was hanging down on the ground. I locked the car and walked home. I have neighbors who sell cars for a living. That’s a good thing to have sometimes.

Michael was not at home but his wife told me he was at his office Sunday night trying to sell a car to a customer, but he would soon be back. I waited at home for a long time ( twenty minutes).

Soon after he and his son drove me to the church and had a look. The water and oil were intact and he said that I could drive the car safely to the car garage to have it repaired. At home he fixed the loose part by putting strips around and fix them through holes he made by a drilling machine.

My neighbor helping me in the late evening

I was calmed down enough to sleep and I got up very early to drive to the place I usually get my car repaired. Due to my former work it’s 45 kilometers away as I used to work in that area for many years. It was so important to get another car as we had this arch to be put up the day after.

I arrived before 8 o’clock and after telling the story about the fox the foreman Brian asked me

if I needed a car?

Oh yes indeed thank you.

(I must admit that I was extremely tired the day after all this.)

I got a new car that had only run 400 kilometers and I enjoyed my week.

Yesterday I went back to get my car back. Its more relaxing to drive my car but it doesn’t run so fast as the one I borrowed.

The meeting with the fox cost me 3000 D kr./ $500 as that is the part of the damage the insurance company want you to pay so the real cost is a lot more. I am glad that I managed to cope with the situation and that our planned celebration of our friends was a success. I took a ferry the same day further on to Copenhagen where I ran a race for our soldier veterans at the Citadel in the evening. I beat my record by one minute, 10 K in 57:14 passing the Little Mermaid twice that evening.

My daughter and I after the race