Let it Go......Road Rage is Not Good.....

I do not believe in road rage. I am usually so passive on the road that it drives my hubby nuts. I let people in front of me, I don't try to cut anyone off, and I don't tailgate.

There's only one thing about other drivers that can raise my blood pressure:

When they don't turn on their headlights in the rain.

Not only is it a law in our state that drivers turn on their headlights in the rain, it's just common sense. Which I realize is far from common.

Sometimes I try to be helpful and flash my lights at them. Then I look in my rearview mirror to see if it has had any effect. Sometimes I see the taillights come on, and I feel an intense sense of satisfaction. Superiority even.

It is not a friendly flash of the lights, however. When I do it, I move the blinker switch violently, and I find myself clenching my teeth. Sometimes I snarl, "Idiot." But not when I'm in Atlanta. I'm not THAT stupid.

I even had a comment published in the Vent section of Atlanta Journal that said: "All you drivers with automatic headlights: When it's raining but not dark enough for your lights to come on, you are allowed to turn them on yourself." I thought it was so cool that not only did they publish it, they published it on my birthday.

Why can't I let it go? Why does that one little piece of evidence of complete and total lack of consideration for other drivers make me so crazy? I swear I can feel my blood pressure go up. If I see a cop car without its lights in the rain, it's even worse.

It does remind me, however, of a funny story I read one time in Reader's Digest. And we all know that Reader's Digest doesn't lie.

Seems that in one state, since drivers could not process the fact that they should turn on their headlights in the rain, the law was worded differently. The law stated that "headlights must be turned on when windshield wipers are on." [Shouldn't car manufacturers just start making that an automatic thing? I'm just sayin'.....]

One woman was riding with her aunt on a clear evening right at twilight. When it became dark enough for the aunt to have to turn on her headlights, she also turned on her wipers and muttered, "I think that's a stupid law."

I guess some people aren't going to get it no matter HOW they word it.

Can you tell I've been driving in the rain in Atlanta today?

Deep cleansing breath. Deep cleansing breath.

Sore Sitter-Down.....

Now that I have a brand-new Harley (see yesterday's post), I only hope I will be able to ride it to school tomorrow. After the 170-mile round trip yesterday to get it, I was a little sore in the sitting down place. Then today my sister and I did a 54-mile BICYCLE ride on the tandem. The weather was perfect (well, a little hot at the end), and the route was nice. The only complaint I would have is 20 miles before the FIRST rest stop, and then 20 miles between the LAST rest stop and the end of the ride. It was a very rural route (excellent from a traffic viewpoint), so it's not like we had the choice of stopping at a store. That's a long time to go without a potty break, and I ran out of water. I tend to panic when I run out of water. I probably won't ever die from dehydration on a bike ride, but for me the THOUGHT of being out of water completely overtakes my concentration and I obsess about it. I almost stopped at a fire station and asked the folks there if I could fill up my water bottle. Surely they couldn't have turned me down, could they?

It's been a wonderful weekend, but I confess that I didn't get a lot done in the school work department. (That's not really unusual for a weekend, however.) Nor did I do laundry (in progress as we speak). Nor did I vacuum and mop (can wait a couple of days). Nor did I clean out the refrigerator (note to self...don't open some of those bowls). Nor did I go to the grocery store (oops.....this one may cause a problem). Not to fear, I try to keep an emergency frozen pizza in the freezer for occasions such as these.

Apropos of absolutely nothing..... (I love saying "apropos").......

On the way home from the bike ride today, I saw a bumper sticker on a car that said, "Happiness is a Tight ______." Insert 5-letter word that means cat and is often used to refer to the female genitalia. I HATE that word. Always have, always will.

I was so offended. And I'm by no means a prude. I believe in free speech, yada yada yada, but I think that's going too far. What kind of person SELLS stuff like that? And what kind of person BUYS stuff like that? And what kind of person drives around in a car with that message on the back bumper?

I tried not to generalize about the man driving, and I tried not to chalk it up to his being from a county in our state that has received much negative attention on the news lately and whose public school system just lost their accreditation.

I don't usually stoop to road rage, but this one nearly got the best of me. Sigh.