On My Way Home

Yesterday was kind of an interesting journey from work, mostly in aggravating ways, but not all, so I thought I would write about it. There's a lot about stupidity in it, so that will tie in to some of my upcoming topics nicely.

I was walking down 2nd, as I do, and less than two blocks away from work I noticed a persistent blaring of a horn. Even before I could see what was going on, I remember thinking that it was excessive. There was no way the person being signaled had not noticed and the blast was not letting up at all. This was not honking--this was holding down the horn.

There were flashing blue lights further down the road, perhaps an accident or a traffic stop reminding us to all share the road legally and civilly, but the horn persisted.

The actual issue was at 2nd and Madison. I walked past the car with the horn, and noticed that the driver was indeed resting on the horn, and looking bored. My first thought was, Really, buddy? You think that's helping? This was quickly replaced, though, by my concern at noticing that there was an infant in a car seat in the back, and wondering about possible hearing loss. At least the baby wasn't crying.

On to the truck that was holding up Horn-guy. Once I could see past the corner the problem was obvious: Hawthorne Bridge was backed up all the way to the corner. Truck-guy needed to turn, but there was no room for him, and by the looks of things there wasn't going to be room any time soon.

In that situation, I probably would have given up on turning, gone straight, and figured out a different route, rather than leaving people trapped behind me through multiple light changes, so I do understand the frustration of Horn-guy a little, but Truck-guy is also in a frustrating situation, and again, the horn is just not helping.

I wondered if I should do anything, but the police station is right there, and there were people all around, so I kept going.

Suddenly the horn stopped and shouting started. Horn-guy had gotten out of his car (leaving an infant alone, in a running car, on a busy street full of frustrated drivers) so he could yell through Truck-guy's window.

Again, I wondered if I should intervene, but a police cruiser had emerged from the underground parking, and a guy who was on the sidewalk was talking to the driver, so it seemed covered. I kept walking.

The horn started again, so Horn-guy had returned to his car, but nothing else appeared to have changed. I did notice that the cruiser had not pulled out yet, which seemed odd. The left lane was moving--only the right lane was stalled.

I kept walking, but constantly looking back, and Horn-guy was angling out into the left lane, and other drivers were letting him. As soon as he made it through the intersection, the cruiser lit up and pulled him over--I am guessing for disturbing the peace or disorderly conduct or something like that. All the bystanders erupted in cheers. By then, everybody hated Horn-guy.

So there I was, really irritated with human stupidity, and obnoxiousness, especially with a baby in the back, and then I just see the most amazing rainbow. It made a complete arch across the sky, and was bright and vivid. There was a building blocking the middle, but I rounded that and could see the whole thing, and it was just amazingly beautiful, and it was perfectly timed as a reminder that not everything is ugly and stupid.

Of course then I got on the train, which was really crowded and some people were kind of jerks about that, but it smelled better than the day before, so that was nice.

Then when I got off the train, some guy started yelling at someone who got on his bike to ride away that he was not supposed to ride there, ("Screw you!" "Oh yeah? Come back here and say that!"), but the guy did not come back, so another fight was averted, and without any involvement by me or police.

I got on the bus, and the crowding was compounded by a family of three taking up twice as many seats as they needed, and making fun of the mentally handicapped person who complained about there being no seats again. However, someone else moved over for him, and I don't think he knew that they were mocking him, so that could have been worse. And then the one girl moved her enormous purse to let another person sit down, and I thought, okay, they're coming around, but it was someone they already knew. But you know, they had a rough day. They’d left at 6 AM to get to the plasma donation center, and then only two of them could donate, delaying plans for eating deep-fried shrimp.

Eventually I got off the bus, and was able to make dinner and enjoy it with my family while regaling them with stories of public transportation and thoroughfares. And today wasn’t nearly as eventful. There were seats, and the smell was only medium-bad. And I passed a guy who looked just like a Samurai, but he was not picking any fights.

I guess the moral is that people can really suck, sometimes things are cool, and nature is pretty. Maybe that’s why some people like camping.