Beautiful day

Really.

The sky this morning was incredible...there were breaks in the clouds and beams of sunlight blazing down all over the horizon like some alien attack. Of course I thought of an alien attack. Music was good -meaning the ipod contraption that I pass for a sound system decided to work very well. The song selection was solid (friends, picture me saying "the song selection was solid".....thanks.) Thought flowing....Feeling ok.....but lot's going on lately. And then, a confused driver swings from the cruising lane, where it had been trapped behind a lumbering giant of an 18 wheeler, into the passing lane bringing the entire flow of traffic down to to 57 mph. For miles. Nobody could pass. Then, I'm tryin' to go 80 mph in the passing lane but my speed is nowhere close to where the guy behind me thinks it should be. So, I get tired of him ridin' my ass so I pull over to the other lane, but he doesn't fly right past me, as I suspected he might. Nope. Instead, he drove next to my car, rather than passin', and trapping me behind an huge truck. THEN, I almost get sideswiped by a lady in a red....OH fuck this... Blah blah balh alhs, hblah, ...right, I'm going off the tracks here.

The real thing is, what causes this rash of driving behavior through a full day? This evening, the administrative crew and myself discussed the following potential causes. Either it is the "aligning of the stars effect". Or, "the ripple effect" from a small number of drivers who happen to be off their game for whatever reason. They manage to screw many other drivers up through their incredible driving ignorance, causing a massive ripple effect to the roadways. Roadways such as the ever-vile Mass Pike. I think about that daily while dodging death on the Mass Pike. Are there cosmic forces at work that make people who are operating motor vehicles not be good at it? And/or render others intolerant to those who are not good at it?? Or is it the ripple effect from a small number of dullards who create enough hassle to throw off the very flow of vehicles traversing the massive roadway??

Is it both?

Either way, I'm looking forward to not driving to Worcester every day.

Oh and, on the way home I got to add a nice 30 minute out-of-my-way treat to my day because: A 18 fucking wheel trailer truck had flipped over right on the exit to the Mass Pike. All us fools in our folly got routed to the exit for the Mass Pike which goes the opposite way. Upon my unhappy arrival at the next exit, I could tell that this had been going on for awhile. "This" being the emergency crews blocking the other exit to get the ridiculous crash scene cleaned up. There were 100? Maybe 150? Cars, all in gridlock, trying to do various levels of u-turn to go the other way. I finally fight my way through the din to get in the lane, to get back to the direction of the Pike I need. Finally, as I am almost in the desired lane, I was suddenly forced to jump on the brakes as I see a Nissan SUV --with a CT plate, of course--whip a u-turn at the last second, into my lane and right at my car. The vehicle came about two feet from crushin' my drivers side door......is it the stars? The fools?? Something else?

I pass by the toll booth operator on my way to MA 90 West, who very-audibly says to whomever she is talking to on the phone, "these are the smaaaat ones..." --in her stupid Eastern, MA accent-- referencing the people who did not go through the toll booth and pay --like I did-- but instead were pullin' u-turns before the tolls....the "smaat" ones.

So, I also got called stupid. Indirectly.


Whine...whine, whine...whine.



~ZFJ

And now, Jan Terri!!!