Weirdbook.org

A blog experiment by Brad Mills.

Normal weather, abnormal driving

I could really bitch about this weather, but I'm not going to. It's not going to change anything. It is January, after all, and this is how it's supposed to go. The winters of the last decade when the temperature frequently hit 60° were weird; they felt like a cog had slipped loose in the machinery of nature. This feels normal, for a change. Normal is good.

I've got to admit I was a bit dubious about finding a 15-day forecast, and I didn't think there was any way in hell it could be right. Turns out it was pretty accurate. The same forecast is now predicting some above-freezing temperatures starting Monday, which will be the first time in 2010. I noticed ice floes forming on the Elk River as I was driving home this evening. I wonder how many days it would take to freeze the river's surface... I can't remember if I've seen that in the ten-plus years we've lived near it or not.

Wow, has it really been that long? I guess so.

There is one observation I'd like to make, and it concerns people who drive in hazardous road conditions. Generally, they fall into two groups. The people in the first group drive normal human-sized vehicles, exhibit reasonable behavior and courtesy, and exercise caution when it seems dangerous. The people in the other group drive giant trucks with big tires, dart out in front of other people, speed, and generally make driving more hazardous for everyone else. I like to go extra slow when the roads are very bad, and this is for two reasons: One, because it's the safe thing to do (and driving 25 MPH still beats walking), and two, it really pisses off the people in the second group.

Now, I'm not worried about pissing off people in giant trucks. They really don't do much — if they do anything at all, they speed up and drive away in a huff to escape all the slow people. Which is kind of the point.

Posted January 8, 2010 @ 23:51:09 EST. 0 comments.comment
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