Curse Of Millhaven
2007-11-22 06:10:07 UTC
Okay, I am always "almost" getting hit by cars since I walk so much.
A lot of times I have to make eye contact with drivers or whatever
since they are easing into the crosswalk to make right turns and so
many people seem to not know how to make right turns anyway.
So I am walking through town and crossing a driveway of a large
shopping center. I see some older Mercedes (1970-ish) with either semi-
tinted windows or even a filthy windshield. The car is rolling up to
the driveway real slow, I think maybe slowing down to give this
pedestrian the right away as required by law.
But it keeps slowly rolling so I gotta jump out of the way barely
missing the right (passenger) side bumper. I pause and look at him at
he slowly rolls by. Totally oblivious that he almost hit a pedestrian.
Suddenly I am flooded with anger and adrenaline. I kick the rear of
the car as it goes by. It stops. I throw my arms up. His window rolls
down as he is pulling in the street. I don't say anything (when I am
this pissed off it's all gibberish anyway), I just assume someone is
getting a beat down tonight but I am not going to step in front of or
behind the car to get to him.
He is driving slow and he rolls down the window. I am also walking
slow trying to assess the situation, reconsider my temper and hope
it's not me who is going to end up bleeding on the pavement. When I
can see the dude in his darkened car, I can tell he is a lot older. He
starts swearing "fuck you motherfucker fucking fucker" in a thick
eastern European-ish accent. He is waving his hands around. I just
throw my arms out like "come on dude," though, his arms disappear.
This makes me slightly nervous, and I am walking only slightly behind
his car at an angle. His arms re-appear with his middle finger.
At some point during this exchange he yells "I didn't see you," which
doesn't really matter to me because I ain't exactly invisible.
So we are walking along, I am a little pissed but I also don't really
want to throw down with an old man, but since he is swearing and
flipping me off and driving really slow I am still throwing out the
"come on" hand signals to see if he is stupid enough to try it anyway.
Then I yell "watch where you are driving," not even so much referring
to the incident of a few seconds ago, but the fact that, again, he
isn't watching the road or traffic or what's going on.
Suddenly his car veers toward me and I notice I am walking over
another driveway, the entrance to the McDonald's I run a bit and then
turn around to see he isn't pointing his car at me anymore. I ain't
playing anymore now or cutting him any slack for being a geezer. As
far as I am concerned, that is the same as pointing a loaded weapon at
me. I lunge at his driver's side. I am going to get inside his car and
hurt him since this time it wasn't even a careless mistake.
He peels off into traffic and takes off.
I know I shouldn't have lost my temper like that and kicked his stupid
car (not that it would damage it, those things weigh more than SUV's),
and in the past when I resisted my first instinct to kick something
off over it, I would tell myself "If it becomes a war of you vs cars,
the cars are going to win" and I have also long suspected that one of
the top ways I stand a chance of going out is to be hit by a car, only
because of how much walking I do and what I see when I am doing it. I
am afraid my actions may have set such a fate in motion.
And mostly I am pissed off because the roads are filled with people
who have no business driving. People who are elderly and with poor
reflexes, people who are blind and too vain to wear glasses, people
with filthy windshields or people who have more important things to do
than watch where the hell they are going.
It seems like if you can suck oxygen and give the government it's cut,
you are allowed to drive, end of story.
If you are still with me, thanks for reading all that, I feel a little
better already.
A lot of times I have to make eye contact with drivers or whatever
since they are easing into the crosswalk to make right turns and so
many people seem to not know how to make right turns anyway.
So I am walking through town and crossing a driveway of a large
shopping center. I see some older Mercedes (1970-ish) with either semi-
tinted windows or even a filthy windshield. The car is rolling up to
the driveway real slow, I think maybe slowing down to give this
pedestrian the right away as required by law.
But it keeps slowly rolling so I gotta jump out of the way barely
missing the right (passenger) side bumper. I pause and look at him at
he slowly rolls by. Totally oblivious that he almost hit a pedestrian.
Suddenly I am flooded with anger and adrenaline. I kick the rear of
the car as it goes by. It stops. I throw my arms up. His window rolls
down as he is pulling in the street. I don't say anything (when I am
this pissed off it's all gibberish anyway), I just assume someone is
getting a beat down tonight but I am not going to step in front of or
behind the car to get to him.
He is driving slow and he rolls down the window. I am also walking
slow trying to assess the situation, reconsider my temper and hope
it's not me who is going to end up bleeding on the pavement. When I
can see the dude in his darkened car, I can tell he is a lot older. He
starts swearing "fuck you motherfucker fucking fucker" in a thick
eastern European-ish accent. He is waving his hands around. I just
throw my arms out like "come on dude," though, his arms disappear.
This makes me slightly nervous, and I am walking only slightly behind
his car at an angle. His arms re-appear with his middle finger.
At some point during this exchange he yells "I didn't see you," which
doesn't really matter to me because I ain't exactly invisible.
So we are walking along, I am a little pissed but I also don't really
want to throw down with an old man, but since he is swearing and
flipping me off and driving really slow I am still throwing out the
"come on" hand signals to see if he is stupid enough to try it anyway.
Then I yell "watch where you are driving," not even so much referring
to the incident of a few seconds ago, but the fact that, again, he
isn't watching the road or traffic or what's going on.
Suddenly his car veers toward me and I notice I am walking over
another driveway, the entrance to the McDonald's I run a bit and then
turn around to see he isn't pointing his car at me anymore. I ain't
playing anymore now or cutting him any slack for being a geezer. As
far as I am concerned, that is the same as pointing a loaded weapon at
me. I lunge at his driver's side. I am going to get inside his car and
hurt him since this time it wasn't even a careless mistake.
He peels off into traffic and takes off.
I know I shouldn't have lost my temper like that and kicked his stupid
car (not that it would damage it, those things weigh more than SUV's),
and in the past when I resisted my first instinct to kick something
off over it, I would tell myself "If it becomes a war of you vs cars,
the cars are going to win" and I have also long suspected that one of
the top ways I stand a chance of going out is to be hit by a car, only
because of how much walking I do and what I see when I am doing it. I
am afraid my actions may have set such a fate in motion.
And mostly I am pissed off because the roads are filled with people
who have no business driving. People who are elderly and with poor
reflexes, people who are blind and too vain to wear glasses, people
with filthy windshields or people who have more important things to do
than watch where the hell they are going.
It seems like if you can suck oxygen and give the government it's cut,
you are allowed to drive, end of story.
If you are still with me, thanks for reading all that, I feel a little
better already.