Thoughts on a Monday....
Thoughts on a Monday....
Howdy, folks. Wandering through a day off. Thought I'd put a couple words on the interweb while I watch the Cubs and Rockies....
I'm a 32-year-old man, and about an hour ago, I very nearly got into an accident looking at a pretty girl walking down the street in the next town over. Luckily, I caught hold of reality before having to explain to the Etowah PD that I was somewhat distracted....
Besides...they have plenty on their hands today. A second round of storms blew through while I slept last night. Call it testament to how tired I was...I'm a somewhat light sleeper, but missed these entirely. They were bad enough to knock power out in Knoxville and Chattanooga, as well as in part of Etowah. While there, I saw news trucks from both cities, presumably covering the story of a kid who lost his life with a tree falling on his house. Found myself a little worried this morning that perhaps it was somebody I knew, as three co-workers with teenage kids live over in that area. The addresses do not match up, so it's to the good, at least for my friends.
I now want to pause a moment to give you a brief insight into the mind of your old pal Tommy.
I have an enemy. I do not know if he realizes this. I tend to think he holds me in much the same mind I hold him, though not as a personal issue. I think he probably holds most people in motor vehicles in this light.
He rides a bicycle. In and around my small town, muchly along a road that leads back toward my parents' home in Riceville. Cedar Springs Road is a long, moderate curving road that wanders back toward the foothills. It is not one that you're advised to run terribly quickly on, as a couple of the curves are banked oddly, and there tends to be a gremlin of sorts on a bicycle. He is the aforementioned enemy.
I see him maybe a minute a month. But he is a regular citizen of Cedar Springs Road. He rides a bicycle.
He's serious about it. Reflective strips and religiously tight shorts that a man of his age probably ought to consider "shit I wear underneath my other clothes.
He's out there a lot. Like I said, I see him maybe a minute a month, but that minute is one of the most irritating of the month, without fail.
He's a bicyclist, right? I want to say that I hold no particular grudge against bicyclists. If you want to ride a bike, fine. I'm going to give you plenty of road to ride your bike. I ask only the same: plenty of room to drive my truck.
My point is this: I am willing to share the road. He apparently feels that I do not give him adequate respect for his position as a vehicle.
Three or four years back, I was driving to my folks' house. I got behind this gentleman on a particularly curvy section of the road. I gave him several car length's space, and did not move to pass him until I was in a position I could see what was coming around the corner.
I came to portion of the road where I could see, despite a double line still demanding a no-pass. I moved into the other lane, to go around the guy. At which time the man moves over to the left hand portion of the right driving lane, bringing his bike almost to the line.
As I go buy, I see the gentleman giving me the bird.
I'm a fan. I return the gesture as I move in front of him (again, several car lengths).
In reply, he comes up off the handlebars, and gives me two (2) birds. One with each hand.
I think for half a second, and slam on my brakes, stopping in the road.
I don't know what my next step was, even if there was one. I hadn't lost my temper, though I was moving up the mountain. Similarly, he stopped his bicycle where he rode. For a second, we both sat there. He stared at me, I stared at him in my review mirror.
I drove on.
Like I said, I don't know what I was thinking. I took umbrage...I felt I'd given due consideration, and had been responded to with little more than asinine prickishness. Maybe I didn't respond as well as I could have, though I think I could have done worse--it'd be bad to think I could be blogging from jail in 2009 because I got out and stole the man's bicycle from him....
I guess I should say, I'd take the same umbrage, and probably more, if a car I was trying to pass had done the same. I don't think it's a bicycle thing necessarily, though I feel like you should be able to keep up with the flow of primary traffic before you start acting like a complete ass.
Anyway, this got to be a monthly occurrence. Not necessarily the bird/slam on the brakes show, but he'd take offense to my passing on a double line. Sorry, bud, but I don't feel obligated to drive 11 miles an hour over a four mile stretch.
I've said all that to say this: a bicyclist was killed this weekend in Athens. Not on Cedar Springs Road, but not more than a mile from it. I've spent the last couple of hours wondering...just wondering. If only because I've said to myself "he's gonna really piss somebody off." He got me that day a few years ago, and while I'm not completely laid back, I'm better than a lot. There's a fair number of crazy sunsabitches around these parts.
Anyway. That's about all I've got this afternoon....Y'all take it easy....
Howdy, folks. Wandering through a day off. Thought I'd put a couple words on the interweb while I watch the Cubs and Rockies....
I'm a 32-year-old man, and about an hour ago, I very nearly got into an accident looking at a pretty girl walking down the street in the next town over. Luckily, I caught hold of reality before having to explain to the Etowah PD that I was somewhat distracted....
Besides...they have plenty on their hands today. A second round of storms blew through while I slept last night. Call it testament to how tired I was...I'm a somewhat light sleeper, but missed these entirely. They were bad enough to knock power out in Knoxville and Chattanooga, as well as in part of Etowah. While there, I saw news trucks from both cities, presumably covering the story of a kid who lost his life with a tree falling on his house. Found myself a little worried this morning that perhaps it was somebody I knew, as three co-workers with teenage kids live over in that area. The addresses do not match up, so it's to the good, at least for my friends.
I now want to pause a moment to give you a brief insight into the mind of your old pal Tommy.
I have an enemy. I do not know if he realizes this. I tend to think he holds me in much the same mind I hold him, though not as a personal issue. I think he probably holds most people in motor vehicles in this light.
He rides a bicycle. In and around my small town, muchly along a road that leads back toward my parents' home in Riceville. Cedar Springs Road is a long, moderate curving road that wanders back toward the foothills. It is not one that you're advised to run terribly quickly on, as a couple of the curves are banked oddly, and there tends to be a gremlin of sorts on a bicycle. He is the aforementioned enemy.
I see him maybe a minute a month. But he is a regular citizen of Cedar Springs Road. He rides a bicycle.
He's serious about it. Reflective strips and religiously tight shorts that a man of his age probably ought to consider "shit I wear underneath my other clothes.
He's out there a lot. Like I said, I see him maybe a minute a month, but that minute is one of the most irritating of the month, without fail.
He's a bicyclist, right? I want to say that I hold no particular grudge against bicyclists. If you want to ride a bike, fine. I'm going to give you plenty of road to ride your bike. I ask only the same: plenty of room to drive my truck.
My point is this: I am willing to share the road. He apparently feels that I do not give him adequate respect for his position as a vehicle.
Three or four years back, I was driving to my folks' house. I got behind this gentleman on a particularly curvy section of the road. I gave him several car length's space, and did not move to pass him until I was in a position I could see what was coming around the corner.
I came to portion of the road where I could see, despite a double line still demanding a no-pass. I moved into the other lane, to go around the guy. At which time the man moves over to the left hand portion of the right driving lane, bringing his bike almost to the line.
As I go buy, I see the gentleman giving me the bird.
I'm a fan. I return the gesture as I move in front of him (again, several car lengths).
In reply, he comes up off the handlebars, and gives me two (2) birds. One with each hand.
I think for half a second, and slam on my brakes, stopping in the road.
I don't know what my next step was, even if there was one. I hadn't lost my temper, though I was moving up the mountain. Similarly, he stopped his bicycle where he rode. For a second, we both sat there. He stared at me, I stared at him in my review mirror.
I drove on.
Like I said, I don't know what I was thinking. I took umbrage...I felt I'd given due consideration, and had been responded to with little more than asinine prickishness. Maybe I didn't respond as well as I could have, though I think I could have done worse--it'd be bad to think I could be blogging from jail in 2009 because I got out and stole the man's bicycle from him....
I guess I should say, I'd take the same umbrage, and probably more, if a car I was trying to pass had done the same. I don't think it's a bicycle thing necessarily, though I feel like you should be able to keep up with the flow of primary traffic before you start acting like a complete ass.
Anyway, this got to be a monthly occurrence. Not necessarily the bird/slam on the brakes show, but he'd take offense to my passing on a double line. Sorry, bud, but I don't feel obligated to drive 11 miles an hour over a four mile stretch.
I've said all that to say this: a bicyclist was killed this weekend in Athens. Not on Cedar Springs Road, but not more than a mile from it. I've spent the last couple of hours wondering...just wondering. If only because I've said to myself "he's gonna really piss somebody off." He got me that day a few years ago, and while I'm not completely laid back, I'm better than a lot. There's a fair number of crazy sunsabitches around these parts.
Anyway. That's about all I've got this afternoon....Y'all take it easy....
posted by Tommy at
15:54
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