my mother, my cat and me

I awoke yesterday to find it was raining. Ugh. <*sigh*>

It wasn’t so much that I was going to have to juggle a tote and an umbrella or that it was going to be a dreary day. The thing I dreaded was having to deal with traffic. It seems that drivers in Baltimore – or at least the ones traveling through my neighborhood – really like puddles. They drive through at seemingly faster-than-needed speeds, resulting in waves of water splashing pedestrians who just want to cross the street. Given years of avoiding the wave, I’m an old pro. Now it’s not so much the fear of getting splashed as it is annoyance of having to navigate the wave early in the morning. 

The life of a pedestrian is challenging. A couple of weeks ago, I was already in the crosswalk and halfway across the street when a bus started turning into the street. I had to scurry back to the curb, even though I had the light and signal to walk. It’s not the first time that something like this has happened.

It’s amazing how many cars don’t seem to want to actually stop, even when they see you. They continue slowly rolling toward you. Just. Stop. It’s not hard and would give me a clearer indication that you have seen that I exist and am in your car’s path. Instead, the slow roll creates confusion about whether I should continue or go back – I cannot read your mind, driver!

I hope there is a special [insert eternal damnation-type] punishment for drivers that invade the crosswalk when they have a red light. A pedestrian either has to cross behind them and inhale their exhaust or venture out into oncoming traffic to cross in front of them. All because they apparently couldn’t find the break early enough to prevent them going into the crosswalk. I always feel like a cranky old person when it comes to dealing with traffic – “get out of my crosswalk” instead of “get off my lawn”.

I’m sure drivers have horror stories about pedestrians darting into the street and crossing against the light. I understand … we’re probably no picnic either. But, I’m smaller and less structurally strong than a 2-ton vehicle, so, yes, I take it personally … as an invasion of my personal space.

I don’t know why I get annoyed at these things. Perhaps because I can’t control the cars. Perhaps because I feel weak against a steel behemoth coming at me. Perhaps I don’t see the other side, i.e., annoying or dangerous pedestrians, because I don’t have a car. Perhaps I’m just being biased. Maybe all of these combine to feed my irrational irritation!

So fair warning that I may occasionally rant! I know, I should be more adult about these things but, well, we all need to scream occasionally. It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. Thanks for listening 🙂