August 24th, 2021

Yesterday, apparently, was Inconsiderate Driver's Day.  It wasn't notated on my calendar which clearly was an oversight on somebody's part.  It would have been nice to have the headzup.

The worst of it was in the grocery store parking lot.  Oh the short drive over was fraught with people turning left from the right lane and right from the left lane, cruising through stop signs as if they weren't there and bicyclers weaving through it all.  There is always some level of bad driving going on, I mean this is a tourist destination town after all.  But yesterday was worse than usual.

Especially in the grocery store parking lot.  Parking lots should be a  easier.   Everything is well marked, well lit and it's straight lines!   It should be so simple.  I say "should" while laughing because parking lots are probably the most dangerous places to drive on the planet.  At least it was yesterday.

First of all, there was the pedestrian obstacle course.  The people who walk right down the middle of the driving aisles without a care in the world about the veritable parade of vehicles trailing behind them sooooooo very slowly.  The adults accompanied by untethered very  young children who, unaware of the inherent dangers of a parking lot  are running and playing and frolicking  amongst the moving freakin' vehicles while mum or dad are pushing a cart, eyes intent on the phones (!!!)  They terrify me.  The ones who do walk on the side of the driving aisles but keep switching side to side while never once looking behind them to see if anyone is coming.  sigh.

But the cars were worse.  Heaven's to Murgatroyd, the cars.  There were the usual assortment of inconsiderate parkers of course:  Very large cars pulled only half way into a parking space so that their butt is hanging in the aisle, the cars taking multiple spaces. I've seen as many as 4 spaces taken up by, what I can only assume is a Super Special car.  The cars parked so far to the right or left in a space that you have to hope that whoever needs to get into the car beside it is super skinny and very flexible.   

But actual moving vehicles were the worst I've ever seen.  Multiple drivers going the wrong way up or down the CLEARLY marked driving aisles, driving cross lots without considering that another car might be driving properly up or down those same aisles, and the worst of the worst, the ones speeding, I mean really , flying up or down the driving aisles of the parking lot as if it were the last lap of the INDY 500!    Crazy People.

There were carriages willy nilly everywhere all over the parking lot.  For some reason it was also, don't bother to return your carriages properly day.   Just another obstacle for the course I suppose.

And, as logically follows, people drive their carts in the grocery store aisles exactly the same way that they drive their cars.  Flying up and down aisles, practically knocking over displays and old ladies as they go.  Parking their cart on one side of the aisles while standing in the middle/left apparently memorizing the contents of the other side of the aisle. Unmoving. Unconcerned that nobody can get through.    There were people cutting other people off left and right,  bumping other people's carriages,  reaching over people's carriages to get things off the shelf instead of waiting two seconds for them to finish what they were doing (??),  a near fight broke out in the 10 items or less aisles between two shoppers arguing over who did or did not have the requisite number of items in their cart. geez.

I was never in my life so happy to be done shopping and go home.  Of course once I finished shopping and had my groceries safely stowed in my car (cart properly returned!),  I still had to run the gauntlet of  scary drivers all the way home.  It was not pretty. But I was extra vigilant,  anticipating when someone was going to pull out in front of me without stopping at their stop sign or checking to see if someone (me) was coming, or contrary wise come to a complete stop for no reason that I can comprehend in the middle of the road.  Driving crazy fast or stupid slow.  Alternately. Turning without signaling,  weaving back and forth between lanes (choose one!) oh the list goes on and on.

Thank goodness Monday is over!  Perhaps now we can get back to a normal level of driving which is to say, mostly ok, some great and some awful.  

Mark it on your own calendars folks, August 23rd, Inconsiderate Drivers Day.