The Daily Antics of a Hopeless Meanderer

Blame it on the (insert stereotype here)

Today has apparently taken a misdirected turn towards crazy and frustrating, though at present, mutually exclusive. So the multiple comments that I receive regarding encounters with unusual people are not entirely unfounded. I attribute it mostly to spending so much of my day commuting back and forth in a neighborhood where people actually walk around and interact with one another.

As usual, I was speed-walking down the street from Barnes this morning. One observation of noteworthiness is that I almost always obey pedestrian signals (yes, even the silly ones like when the hand is flashing red but the light is green). So, there I was at a four-way stop sign, starting to walk across the street with the insane notion that cars are supposed to yield to those on foot. About three feet away from the other curb, a small blur of rust and old paint came speeding towards me in anxious ferocity. It stopped about a hand's length away from my hemline, and a unfurled head of braided dreadlocks in disaray jetisoned out the driver window and shouted "b*tch!!" in my direction.

Before the passing expression of disbelief could leave my face, the driver, along with her atrocity on wheels had swerved around me and tried its very best to accelerate past 50 on cobblestone road. I should also mention that she was a meter maid. With no doubt is my faith in city employees weakened, if not completely ravaged. But, taken in stride, the entire situation if not for the potential for mortal injury, was kind of funny.

posted by Sheila @ 10/13/2004 01:56:00 PM