I don’t know how many times I’ve used the phrase “did a tree fall on him?” but several times, I’d say. Today it actually happened to a contractor in his late 50s. I’m very sorry,

Talk about a old-school expression for sudden death. You’re walking along and suddenly a tree falls on you…instant transportation and a transfer of cosmic energy. A reminder that tomorrow is promised to no one and the only way to live is to presume that bad luck can come calling anywhere and any old time.

If I’d been sitting in that white SUV I would’ve heard the crack and snap and whoosh of the falling tree and immediately dropped to the floor. I might’ve been pinned inside for an hour or two, but I would’ve lived.

Posted at 3:22 pm today by N.Y. Daily News reporter Thomas Tracy: “A man sitting in his car in Queens was crushed to death by a falling tree early this afternoon during Tropical Storm Isaias, officials said. The massive tree came crashing down on the white-colored auto, landing across the car’s roof, on 84th Ave. near Smedley Street in Briarwood about 1 p.m.