Mount Pleasant Main Street in the AM


Mount Pleasant Main Street in the AM

I like this simple shot
even if it is simple

this addition comes as a late addition to this post
a late unrelated addition to this post
sometimes I drift back and rant on previous posts
sometimes I drift back and make this additions to try and hide things in my posts

when I got out of work the ground was getting slick from the dropping temperatures and the mix of rain and freezing rain
so... I bypassed the notion of a post work ride... there was no time... there was little ambition

okay... there was some time but there was zero ambition
I gave into the one of my many demons... apathy
it was easy to rationalize that the risks of riding outweighting the gains
the thought of getting sick fell low on the list behind the other filmsy rationalizations
some of those rationalizations involved crashing or getting his by an aware car

without the rider there was still my short straight bicycle commute home

the ground was iced over in some spots
darn right slick in some spots... ice rink slick
sure in other spots the ground was nothing more than wet
that altering unpredictablity of things added to the danger
confidence could be false... no cornering on ice without studded tires

some cars driving around with nothing more than a foot by foot square cleared on their ice covered windshield
while other cars were void of ice as they came from parking garages where they were not getting touched by the elements through the course of the day
the streets were not filled up with cars with fogged up windows... cars driven by people too ignorant to know how to operated something as simple as a car defroster... no, the car windows were not fogged up... but the cars were being overated by this same ignorant set of drivers

I traveled straight home
straight home where I would have enough time for a slightly longer than normal hike with the dog before freeing the babysitter and playing mr. mom with the kids as mom attends a pta style meeting

I traveled down the road
as I went down the road I was aggitated by the ignorace of the assholes around me
I was being passed fast and close by cars that I would pass seconds later
I was being tailgated by cars when there was traffic backed up just ahead
this usually pisses me off... but on a day like today it would make sense for cars to bring down their speed and increase the following distance and the passing distance
so it really pissed me off

I was aggitated more easily as it bothers me that people are unable to adapt to the situation
the car causes a de-evolution

so when a car decided to play chicken with me on the 1700 block of Lamont Street my blood boiled
I stopped my bicycle
I stopped my bicycle maintaining my line
keeping my trajectory

I was in my lane... the right lane... just out of the door zone of the parked cars
to the left things were blocked
the lane of oncoming traffic was blocked by a Fed Ex truck... or now as I think back it was a Giant Peapod deilvery truck
like a dumb redneck going onto an occupied one lane bride
it was a stalemate

the driver stared at me blankly
like I was a squirrel in the street that should know better or it will not live another day
I just stood there
I motioned for the car to back up
the driver did nothing
so I went alongside the car and he rolled down the window
his face was void of expression
he did not speak
it was clear from his skin tone and his facial features he was of latino origins
I did not know if he spoke english or spanish as he just looked at me with this blank expression
I said a few words then he pulled away

my guess.... bi-lingually ignorant and a bi-lingual asshole
stupid in any language
why did he roll down his window if he was not willing to discuss the matter
as he pulled away he flipped me off
which makes him a bi-lingual pussy as well
a bi-lingual pussy who almost hit the peapod guy crossing the street

he flipped me off... shouted back... GO BACK TO FLORIDA
as he had florida plates
then the fantasies went through my head
fantasies that I would never act on
but recurring fantasies just the same
my mind driffed back to reality as I rolled the final blocks towards home

IQ tests instead of driving test...
because the drivers have shown that they can not drive yet they passed this test
so the driving test is not a good enough filter to make the roads safe
IQ tests would work better

less people would be licensed to drive

yes... I am angry
was my life at risk with his driving choice... well... we would have had a head on collision had I not stopped my bike
was it my duty to dodge him rather than ride where it is legal for me to be
this man could have waited to his right until the line of travel was clear
but instead he just drove into the left hand lane towards the gap that was occupied by a cyclist
that cyclist being me
that guy being a standard asshole of the road

what was his rational?
did he not see me?
had he not looked?
does he not look and anticipate four car lengths ahead?

or

was it that he felt that a car has more right than a bicycle?
that I have less right to space and safety because I am not in a car?
that he is superior or at least more important because he owns a car?

fricken asshole.... fricken under-evolved asshole that has no clue and will never have any clue

how do we give the clueless a clue?
public service announcements?
did that crying indian stop pollution?