Railing about Driving!

Driving these days is making me crazy. Everywhere I go the highways are lined right up to the edge, and I DO mean the edge, with K-rail. It’s nerve-racking and dangerous scooting by those concrete buttresses with only inches to spare. On top of that, what’s with all the walls? How many beautiful trees, especially northern California’s very own redwoods have bit the dust to clear way for more asphalt? The beautiful vegetation has been replaced with twenty-foot tall walls on each side of every freeway making me feel as if I’m driving through a tunnel! The only way to look is up, not that that’s a bad thing!

I truly wish I had the “big picture” of how all this mess will look in the end. For now, every time I leave town it’s a crapshoot as to which turn I will be instructed to take, how many stop signs will lie in my path, or if, indeed, my road actually has come to a dead end!

The town I live in is famous for its potholes and nothing is getting better. Driving around and through a series of cones must be easier than manipulating around deep, huge holes that grow in diameter with every rain, not that there’s been much of that, but that’s another story!

Finally, is every driver out on the highway on speed? Aggressive driving by folks in ancient Chevys, high-tech Priuses, or beat-up, Ford pickup trucks seems to be the norm. Those poor vehicles must be groaning under the pressure of the driver who simply has to be in front. It truly is a “me, me, my, my, I” world, I guess. What ever happened to slow down, check out the scenery, and give the old arteries a break? And what about parking lots? Am I imagining that the parking spaces are getting narrower and that I am being required to limp over one too many speed bumps to find an empty one? Folks in parking lots aren’t very thoughtful either. They rush into a space, screech to a halt, thrown open the car door as wide as they can, before even shutting off the engine, thinking ahead, I suppose, to what purchases must be made. I have a brand new, luxury car that already sports its first car-door ding and I’m not too happy about it! A little consideration would be nice. Am I the only person who is bugged by that?

I don’t usually write whiney blogs, but a fifteen-mile trip to Costco and back yesterday in traffic that is revving up for the holidays got me going! I walked my dogs three miles this morning, avoided being run down crossing the street, and am home now ready to watch a little football! My car and I are playing it safe!