Road Rage

Since I had a day off today (not really, but I can talk about my professional development another time), I'm going to take the opportunity to not write about school. Today I'm going to share two stories of encounters I've had while driving that made me happy. I have plenty of complaints about Connecticut driving, mostly related to terribly engineered traffic patterns. Sometimes, though, people are nice and sometimes the little guy wins.

This weekend, I went to the mall with a friend. I know, it's not smart to go anywhere near a mall in December. But, we needed a place to hang out and maybe walk around, that is warmer than it was outside. Well, as one might expect around lunchtime on a Saturday in December, the parking lot was full. FULL. We drove around for a bit, narrowly missing out on a few spots here and there because someone else got there first. Eventually, we happened upon a really good spot. It was about 50 feet from the mall entrance, and it was filled with a minivan that was getting ready to pull out of the spot. The child was strapped into the car seat. And here's where I was shocked: as the car owner (husband) walked the shopping cart all the way to the shopping cart station, the other car owner (wife) pulled out of the spot so I could park, while she waited for her husband to return. What? Someone being considerate in a parking lot? At a mall? Before Christmas? And Hannukkah?

My second story is less heartwarming, but satisfying nonetheless. A few weeks ago, I was driving to work, as usual, at an hour far too early. On my way is a fairly new traffic light (put in service about 2 months ago) that has very little traffic so early in the morning, so it can be frustrating sitting there alone so early in the morning waiting for the light to change, when previously there was only a stop sign. That morning, the light was red as I approached (and would probably remain red for a while) and there is a garbage truck right before the light doing its business. I didnt mind, as long as it got moving by the time the lit changed. The car in front of me apparently did mind. It pulled around the garbage truck (on this narrow road) and pulled in front of it to wait at the light (at this point, nearly halfway into the intersection). The garbage men finished their work, while the light was still red, and being municipal employees, and pulled around the other car and crossed the empty intersection against the light. Ha. That'll teach the guy to pass a garbage truck. You'll never win. That tickled my road rage.

Sometimes I forget that I like writing. It's fun.