Bad And Getting Bad

There's been rain in Los Angeles over the last few days. It hasn't been too severe by even local standards, and presumably looked milder still to those from naturally rainier locales. It rains seldom here, but commonly rains hard for a week straight when it does. This wasn't one of those, although maybe it could strengthen into one. That's not the point, anyway. The point is more about our reaction to it.

What you usually start hearing about before long is how everybody is freaking out on the roads. I guess that's true. I'm not heavily invested in driving activities, as I don't myself drive. Still, I have the advantage of being strictly an observer and not a combatant in the wars that are driving and parking anywhere, let alone here. Do people really come unglued driving in the rain? I guess that's fair to say, to a point.

The Drive To Succeed

Something that used to happen a fair amount, but which doesn't happen too much anymore, is that I would have to sneak away from gatherings of friends. It would get to where it was time to leave, and the rest would be driving. I would have walked there or taken public transportation, and I was self-conscious about it. I had no desire to be known as the guy who always needed a ride because he couldn't drive himself.

When people would leave, I would just try to confidently walk away in hopes that no one would notice me go and not stop at a car. It worked out that way often enough, but I would sometimes be embarrassed that it didn't. I'd accept a ride at that point, but had the notion that I wished the knowledge contained. Eventually everyone knew that I didn't have a car, but it seemed at that point to be a less stigmatized thing.

Don't Drive

It's been a while since I've driven regularly. As I said to a friend just a bit ago, the driving experiences I've had since I moved to LA could be counted definitely on two hands and maybe on one. Consequently, I went from being a game driver to a gunshy one. I won't say that I went from being a good one to a bad one, but it's unquestionably true that I have grown rather rusty. I don't seek out chances to do it, that's for sure.

Ultimately I aspire to driving again as needed, but a love for doing it is difficult for me to relate to, particularly among city dwellers. One can't really drive except out on the open highway, and only then if it is clear. Here, left to buses and trains, I get by. Every once in a long while though, I stumble into a situation where I'm somehow the best option when a car needs to be moved from one place to another. At such times, I'm definitely an unwilling hero with glory thrust upon him.

Janey Law

I gather that in the army, every officer and enlisted man is regarded as a rifleman. At least I heard remarks along those lines made in 'Patton' and 'Band Of Brothers'. What it means to me is that no matter what duties any of them is assigned, they must be fit to fight. Whether a cook, a typist or a driver, each was to be in good shape and familiarity with the tools of war. I find that admirable if as true as I imagine it to be. I don't think it is so true in other realms of human endeavor.

I happened to be out on the sidewalk in front of my bank when a meter maid was writing a ticket for some SUV. I say meter maid in spite of its perhaps archaic nature because I know of no more appropriate term, be the person in that job a man or a woman. I cannot think of anyone in Parking Enforcement who appeared fit to do anything but what they were, and in many cases I think they would benefit from being shifted to something even less labor-intensive.

Unhindered

I had just exited a bus and was about to cross the street when I saw an ambulance tear around the corner and make its way behind a restaurant where a fire truck already lay idling at the curb in front. I could not make out the nature of the emergency from my vantage point, and it seemed unwise to attempt getting closer. It was not the ambulance's objective that was of real interest to me anyway. I was thinking more of the unique freedom that both firefighter and paramedic have on the roads.

It seems like they are more or less at liberty to ignore whatever standards of road safety they like so long as they cause no collateral harm and reach their destination in the shortest amount of time possible. I would not be the least bit surprised if there were someone in either profession who, with exasperation, would want to dispel my ignorant beliefs in this matter. I hope they'll keep that to themselves, because it makes me happy to think of someone existing who speeds along the roadways unfettered by ordinary bounds like the rest of us.

Car Tripping

It seems as if I perhaps don't take many long car trips the way I once did. The family often did so years ago, going someplace in-state or even cross-country periodically. When I was in Boy Scouts, we drove someplace well out of town once a month for camping and perhaps hiking. Doing it often enough was maybe both good and bad. One went through it enough times to work out how it might be made as pleasant an experience as possible, but how pleasant could the ride really become? Kids of the age my sister and I were really must be drugged in order to be peaceful for such a length of time. My parents were of the new school which eschewed chloroform.

It will probably come as no surprise that I found the best means of passing the time in the car to be reading. I could go through a lot of them, for there were few real distractions competing for my attention most of a day on the road. There at least used to be nothing in between cities but cows and rest stops, but it seems like sprawl swallows up more and more of the desolate stretches that used to help me focus. Anyway, reading was what I mainly did except when I was playing video games. I think now that those were more an attempt to connect with my peers than anything. The books did little to endear me to classmates, but were really more enjoyable in the car.