For years now I have worked in the suburbs, never having the joy of working in a downtown skyscraper and never having to live through the downtown commute. At the most I’d have to drive 30 minutes to get from the house to the office. Now, however, I have to endure the drive downtown from our nice cushy suburban town.
It always amazes me at how traffic is so time based. Hit the highway at 7 am on the dot, and you hit very little traffic and can breeze into downtown. Hit the highway at 7:05 am, and your experience is something all together different. You get to experience a sea of red taillights staring out you, people weaving in and out of lanes for that extra car length, and people finishing their daily hygiene rituals in the car.
It always amazes me to see people driving with their knee, drinking a cup of coffee, and putting on their make-up (or shaving) while driving in traffic. These are some true multi-taskers here. Imagine how much they must get done at work if they can manage all of this and not get into a wreck. It’s funny to me, because I was listening to an old TWIT episode on the way into work today (Episode 136) and they were talking about how we humans need so many inputs into our life to be balanced.
I think the ones that amaze me the most are the cell phone talkers, although the ladies putting on eye liner rank right up there. As you approach a slow moving vehicle, with no one around for miles, you can almost wager odds that the person is on a cell phone. This morning, as I was making the snails way to work (I got on the highway at 7:10 am, hence the sea of red), there was a gentleman behind me that was getting a little too close to my rear bumper for my enjoyment. He finally weaved over to the lane next to me, and as he caught up my suspicions were right: he was on his cell phone entranced in a conversation. Now what makes this interesting in my eyes is that he was driving a used car that he recently purchased, and his maneuvering into the next lane put him right behind an 18 wheeler that cost him at least a 1/4 mile on me. Pay attention to the road and you might not have that happen.
So, I guess I will have to get used to the crawl into the office, put on a few podcasts, and enjoy the behaviors of those around me.
