Traffic Patternless
Last night, driving to my parents' new house to do laundry, I was very annoyed to discover that at 7PM, I was still picking my way through rush-hour traffic. I mean, I know I live in a city, but this is ridiculous.
Then, I managed to forget that the intersection of 4th Avenue, Broadway, and Congress is the single clusterfuck in the entire downtown area that I do my best to route around. It's okay going through it from the east, but from the west or south, it's pretty damn creepy. So of course, that's where I needed to be. I should have taken Stone to Broadway and came at it from the east, but I managed to overshoot stone and spent ten minutes picking my way through side streets and up and down one-ways to actually reach the new house.
It really is a beautiful house. So this is what a mumblety-mumble dollar home looks like.
On the way home, there was a cross-road puddle of water on Stone. I can't even call it a wash, since it was barely flowing (if at all). But the guy in the truck in front of me freaked out and slowed down to five miles an hour.
I'm sorry, I yelled at him. He had six times the clearance he needed and it wasn't even flowing. What the hell? All I can assume is that he was afraid of hydroplaning because he's never done it. Whereas, driving a small car, I've learned the dynamics of hyroplaning quite thoroughly. When you've got a small wash flowing through a dip in the road and you're in a small car, you don't hit the brakes. You keep your speed constant, aim straight ahead, and let Sir Isaac Newton get you to the other side. It's the best way to cross the water.
If you slow down, one of two things may happen. One is, you just run out of momentum in the middle of the wash and you're suddenly grabbing for traction. The other, even worse, is that if you were doing the five-mile-an-hour crawl and don't have any momentum to start with . . . you may swamp the car. Because you just don't have the ground clearance to deal with that kind of situation.
Grr.
This morning, I sat at a stoplight behind a big, white Hummer. The license plate holder said, "I'm not spoiled, just loved." The plate read, "4 HER."
What ever happened to giving jewelry?
Then, I managed to forget that the intersection of 4th Avenue, Broadway, and Congress is the single clusterfuck in the entire downtown area that I do my best to route around. It's okay going through it from the east, but from the west or south, it's pretty damn creepy. So of course, that's where I needed to be. I should have taken Stone to Broadway and came at it from the east, but I managed to overshoot stone and spent ten minutes picking my way through side streets and up and down one-ways to actually reach the new house.
It really is a beautiful house. So this is what a mumblety-mumble dollar home looks like.
On the way home, there was a cross-road puddle of water on Stone. I can't even call it a wash, since it was barely flowing (if at all). But the guy in the truck in front of me freaked out and slowed down to five miles an hour.
I'm sorry, I yelled at him. He had six times the clearance he needed and it wasn't even flowing. What the hell? All I can assume is that he was afraid of hydroplaning because he's never done it. Whereas, driving a small car, I've learned the dynamics of hyroplaning quite thoroughly. When you've got a small wash flowing through a dip in the road and you're in a small car, you don't hit the brakes. You keep your speed constant, aim straight ahead, and let Sir Isaac Newton get you to the other side. It's the best way to cross the water.
If you slow down, one of two things may happen. One is, you just run out of momentum in the middle of the wash and you're suddenly grabbing for traction. The other, even worse, is that if you were doing the five-mile-an-hour crawl and don't have any momentum to start with . . . you may swamp the car. Because you just don't have the ground clearance to deal with that kind of situation.
Grr.
This morning, I sat at a stoplight behind a big, white Hummer. The license plate holder said, "I'm not spoiled, just loved." The plate read, "4 HER."
What ever happened to giving jewelry?
posted by Journey | 9:06 AM
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