Wednesday, September 3, 2008

A Sherlock moment

This morning I travelled to the university with my partner and as she pulls up, I look out the window at the car in the adjacent space and had a Sherlock moment (it happens now and then). As I stepped out of the car, I said:

"The driver of that car wears a lot of large rings on their right hand".

"What? How on earth can you know that?"

"Look at the car door. See the pattern of scratches on the duco where the handle is? Lots and lots of little gouges made by something sharp ... and its all up and down near the handle, not concentrated in one particular part, like it would be if it was just one finger. They must have rings on several fingers. And they're *big* - see way up here? The rings are also scratching way up here, *above* where the handle indentation starts, so either the rings are really big, or the person is very tall and has large hands to boot. Now see where the key fits - you really can't unlock it with your right hand and open it with your left (I cross my hands to demonstrate), so those are right hand scratches. Now see the area around the lock? Rings on the left hand, too, but maybe fewer - there are no scratches under the lock, so the little finger is probably ring free, or only has a small ring. I'm guessing a woman with a *lot* of rings - and either she is really tall, or those rings are *huge*, probably set stones."

If we'd had a bit more time I probably could have figured out a half dozen other things out from just looking at the car. A half-decent sleep, and I just start to notice stuff like this.

Does that happen to everyone and they just keep it to themselves, or is it just me?

3 comments:

Valhar2000 said...

Well, yes, but did you see the driver, and his rings? Without confirmation, this is not very impressive.

Efrique said...

Bah! Evidence? Proof?!

Fie!

Unknown said...

Older/lower-end car, right? The fact that this person uses keys regularly means that she doesn't have one of those remote access key fobs, which just about all recent mid-range to high-end cars have (they are *awfully* convenient). If this is true, then the rings are cheap/fake. Someone wearing large, genuine gemstones on multiple fingers a) probably has a fair amount of disposable income and b) has no problem with ostentatious displays of wealth. Someone like that would likely be driving a late model, luxury car.