April 6, 2004:

BANG! GBMINI meets mini van :(

Stupid Driver! Me, that is.
Exiting route 1 onto 114. Stop sign. 114 is two lanes, with cars coming but on the outside lane. Mini van ahead of me begins to pull into gap and I decide there is room for me too.
Then BANG! Sickening noise. Hazards on … amazing how much noise is made when you are only doing 5-10mph!
The driver of the mini van is a very nice friendly lady.
We examine the mini van - the bottom edge of the tailgate is buckled slightly and I wonder how GBMINI managed to do that:

(after reviewing the pics with my colleague, we think the impact pushed the mini van bumper up into the edge of the tailgate).
Check the mini van tailgate - still works. Good.
Examine GBMINI. Where is the damage?! The license plate holder is pushed in and slightly popped the lower grille out of its hooks:

(you can see the dirt line where GBMINI and the mini van met)
There does not seem to be any damage behind the bumper but I am not sure if there is a bigger gap than before between the hood and the bumper … back to MINI Peabody where Gary thinks all is OK. I hope so.
This was a lesson. The “motoring gods” were not on my side and needed to educate me … but the “MINI gods” decided that a little education was enough.
My stomach still hurts. But that is only “in the mind”.
Thankfully neither the nice lady nor I were actually hurt.