Stupid People Suck

I should have been feeling the holiday spirit. Sure, I've had a bit of a sinus headache for two days, but I was hoping that was bringing us more snow for Christmas instead of the misty drizzle slowly melting everything down into a nice Manhattan mush. It was pajama day at work, guaranteed to put me in a slightly better mood. And, of course, the surprise of having Monday off from work (unpaid, of course, are you kidding me?) unexpectedly really did raise my spirits.

So it is with a certain amount of chagrin when I say that I'm feeling just a tad bit less than good will to all for the holidays. And I usually love the holidays.

I can't help it. I hate- nay, detest vehemently, the drivers here in Rochester. It could just be all of Minnesota for all I know, but this is getting completely ridiculous. Yes, New England drivers have a reputation and deservedly so. The drivers in the NorthEast are rude and fast. Not exactly the best of combinations. But the drivers here....oh ho the drivers here. I don't even know how to describe it. I am not exaggerating when I say that I truly feel my life is at risk every time I go anywhere in my car. And the snow and ice have not brought slower, more cautious driving, it seems to have made everything worse. (Don't make me go off on how they stopped plowing the roads altogether and have left most of the side streets a mass of ice and slush, expecting them to wear down over the course of two weeks.) Every day, almost every trip small trip in the car, I witness blatant running of red lights. The kind of red light running that makes you wish a runaway semi were to come blaring through the intersection at 80 mph. And I hate wishing those things because I really feel that they're beneath me, but still. Let's see, I'm crossing a bridge with six differentintersections and lights and my red light turned at least three seconds and two car lengths back. But nobody from the other sides have started into the intersection yet so I'll go ahead and make this left hand turn across four lanes.

My favorite, of course, was today. A situation I've seen coming for sometime and thank goodness for that! This is a very residential city. Houses and small streets everywhere. And the cost of putting stop and yield signs at every intersection in every neighborhood is beyond astronomical (not that it would change the actual asthetics of the place). But even if law doesn't dictate that feeder streets must stop or yield to oncoming traffic, common sense would. (Ah, common sense, I've heard of that. I believe it went out with S&H Green Stamps.) Several times on the road into the daycare, I've come across cars that barrell out of their little dead ends and feeder streets barely even pausing to look for traffic. Which I find kind of interesting considering there's a school at one end of the road and a daycare at the other. And it's not like there's not a fairly steady stream of traffic. Because of these people almost pulling out in front of or broad side to me so many times in the course of the last few weeks I was on the lookout and ready for the jackass who actually did. After somewhat stopping, turning both directions to look and staring into my face as he pulls out directly in front of me.

Did I mention the part where they stopped plowing the roads?

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my husband (who never reads these things) for putting new tires on my car last week. If it had been the old ones, I probably never would have been able to stop on the ice/slush patch in time.

Of course, the drive home was almost as eventful.

Matt and the kid are at the mall (visiting Santa for the 8th time) and I called to ask if he was stuffing their faces full of pepperoni pizza or should I make dinner? Of course I had to tell him that the drivers are even worse this evening and please be careful coming home. My incredibly sympathetic husband ("Just cause you had a bad day doesn't mean you need to freak out on me driving!"), while agreeing about the condition of drivers and roads here, tells me to just get over it. How can I?

How is it I grew up in the same country as everybody else and yet I cannot stand the general driving conditions of my compatriots? I don't understand the mentality of dangerous driving. I don't understand the need to run red lights, tailgate slower traffic six inches off their bumper, use sloppy driving habits that are a danger to not just the general public, but ourselves as well.

Hmmm...tailgates. I'm hungry now. Must go look for a slab of ribs and some charcoal. No need for a match, my temper will do.