we have progress.
Jaywalker progress. On Sunday I started the heel flap. I think this must be the slowest jaywalker on the planet.
Thinking of pedestrians and traffic I want to rant for a little bit. Please feel free to stop reading now if you want.. I have no pictures, there is progress, but I don’t think there is anything to show.
<begin rant>
Stop signs are there for a reason people. Please stop (before the line). Please look. If you know you happen to be driving by a school or a play ground or near another place that children might be playing (or running around, or just being children) such as a library, please do not go peeling around the corner at crazy speeds for a residential neighborhood. Are you really going to get to your location that much faster? Is it really that important? Please do not give pedestrians an evil look if they are patiently waiting on the side walk to ensure that you do stop. Many (at least I) will attempt to make eye contact with you whether or not you try to wave us by. I want to make sure you are paying enough attention to stop and stay stopped, I have had cars start to roll into me because after waving me on the driver saw a break in traffic and decided to go anyway. Why this rant? I dropped some books off at a branch of the BPL today and I hate walking there because of the traffic patterns and behavior. On my way home, while walking past a plumbing supply company, I hesitated to cross because a car had just peeled out of the corner (it is an evil intersection) and I saw another preparing to exit the parking lot. So I stopped and waited. I wasn’t in a rush at all. The driver motioned me past and then opened his door and said with a smile, “I saw you hesitate”, and we started talking. He is an employee at that store and informed me that to his knowledge there hasn’t been an accident at that corner (b’h!!) (the library is at the next corner and the kids go running around but that’s a rant for another day) .. He said that a police officer has started sitting near the corner and gives a very large number of tickets, mostly for people blowing the stop sign or exceeding the speed limit (on a TURN). There is a school the next block over.. He said it gets quite scary towards school-day end. Neither of us could understand what causes these drivers to do it. Because of the neighborhood many of the drivers happen to fit a certain group of people with certain beliefs and dress. And their driving habits aren’t helping with how others perceive them (or make me want to get my license that soon because I really don’t want to deal with these unpredictable drivers, how did they pass their road tests? May I take my exam there?). We both just hope that the police presence helps and that they figure out something to fix the corner. And that we continue to be lucky. We wished each other safe journeys and went on our way. So please, STOP. School is about to start.
<end rant>