Hi. Still trying to keep myself honest here.
I've tried to be a better driver, more attentive, especially to anyone smaller than my car. When I'm driving, I'm not an 800-pound gorilla, I'm an approximately 2,400-pound gorilla. I do something wrong, I could easily hurt or kill someone. I'm working harder to, I hope, NEVER DO THAT. I know that I'm batting maybe .300 for slowing down and stopping when pedestrians with their right-of-way want to cross. I'm working to raise the average.
And got to watch a fellow driver get exasperated by that.
This afternoon, a little before 5:00: I have just turned onto westbound S.E. Hawthorne, in the right lane, and I slow down as I approach 25th Ave. where people clearly want to cross Hawthorne. A driver in the left lane passes me, and as she (finally) slows down (a bit) I see her gesture that hand-up, palm-open gesture that means, in unofficial sign language, "What are those idiots doing?!" She was getting exasperated by having to slow for walkers. How dare they walk!
I laughed. I am not proud; I laughed. No way she or anyone else could've heard me; she wouldn't get my reaction, but at least no one would hear it and possibly think I was laughing at them. So no more bad reactions.
I am not proud I laughed, but I am amused. But I did make as my next stop the Belmont Goats, soon to move to Lents (the fence is finally getting placed for their upcoming home lot), because I thought it a good idea to get a breather from people.
In the future? More driving, and (I hope) better driving. Even if it makes some people mad.
