Damn, frickin’ potholes!

I know it’s part of living in snowball city, but I still hate them. I especially hate the ones you can’t see at night until you either graze them or hit them. I went through a substantial one Monday night as I was exiting the Deerfoot. It was hiding under a puddle and of course it was under the bridge and it was dark and my windows were gummed up with spray when I went through it. It made the most horrendous sound and I thought for sure I’d either blown the tire/popped it off the rim or cracked a shock/strut. I had slowed down to 65 (instead of 100), but still it was too fast. I managed to make it home and nothing appeared to be damaged. I drove to work both Tuesday and Wednesday without problems. It was only by chance last night that a co-worker was walking as I was pulling out of the parking lot when she flagged me down. She said it sounded like I was dragging something or my engine was acting up. Nothing was obvious in the dark, so I drove on with my window down and I heard it too. I pulled over into another parking lot and looked under the car. A cover under the engine area had popped open and was dragging (possibly since Monday night). I couldn’t push it back up, so I called Simon to let him know. (He was out at his second event of the evening and I was supposed to pick him up and drive home.) I drove to Knibbe Automotive via Memorial and Crowchild to limit my speed and, hopefully, to prevent the cover from being ripped ff completely. I called them and left a couple of messages and then took the train home.
I finally got through to them this morning and apparently it was just the underside cover (they’ve had a few given the road conditions around town). They re-secured it, changed my oil (it was nearly due so I figured get done while it’s there if time permitted), and checked for other damage from the pothole fiasco (nothing found). Now I’m just waiting to go and pick it up.
I was worried it would be a major issue or that they couldn’t get to it today. Another storm system is coming through and Simon’s car doesn’t have snow tires, so I’d be forced to use public transportation to get to and fro work tonight during a snow-freezing rain storm which would be at least an hour’s commute if everything ran smoothly (and we know it frequently doesn’t when the weather goes south).