Car Free On Memorial Day Weekend?

Yet another sign you are an aging baby boomer: You remember when the holidays, Memorial day and Labor day, were observed on the days on which they fell, not a Monday. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what happened. The Government passed legislation into law which moved Memorial to the last Monday in May, so Americans could enjoy a 3 day weekend. A similar thing was done with Labor Day. Of course, the oil companies had a heavy hand in this, since they knew that people would go out and drive, get stuck in traffic jams, and burn up millions of gallons of gasoline in the process. This put enormous profits in the pockets of oil companies, of course.

I guess there must be something wrong with me. I spent this Memorial weekend car free, starting Thursday evening. The weather here was wonderful for a change, albeit a little windy. Hammering a fixed-gear bike into a good headwind will make you stonger, if it doesn’t kill you. Hardy-har-har. Not to worry, all you oil execs, The next few days are going to be cold and rainy.

So, what did did I learn while cruising about on my fixie? I learned that:

-when stuck in traffic caused by a town parade, pounding your fist on the dashboard will not make the traffic jam vanish. This was done by a rather cheesed off looking man in a Porche SUV. Uh, when did Porche get into SUV’s?

-Screaming, and making a war face while talking on your cell phone, will not make the traffic magically go away. This, I learned from a woman in a beater car, who was trapped in a jam on Route 62. There were two small children in the back seat. They looked terrfied. Funny, but no one else who was on a bike was screaming into a cell phone with a war face. Oh well,,,

-From the TV news tonight, I learned that SUV’s, often touted for their safety, seem to fly to pieces as easily as anything else, when they contact things such as concrete bridge supports.

-People eat at McDonald’s at strange times of the day.

-Small children, say around aged 10, apparently do not have to go home at a certain time. They are permitted to hang around convenience store parking lots at 9 PM or later.

-The small children hanging around those convenience store lots like to use the “F word”. They like to use it a lot.

-Small town parades are still fun to watch.

-The bleachers at high school athletic fields seem to be gathering spots for beer bottles, wine bottles, and liquor bottles. I wonder why?

Onward through the fog….