Dinner Anyone?
Hey..... Normally, you wouldn't see another SOL this soon, but something happened on Wednesday that scared the crap out of me. My Adventure Club went out to our Monthly "Cultural Dinner" this week, and in addition to dinner, I ALMOST suffered bodily injury.
No, not due to the food. Although the place that we went to was very unusual. We went to a restaurant that served..... Ethiopian Food! Yeah, I know what you're thinking, I thought so too, but hey, I was wrong, it was actually quite good.
They serve it in big plates for 2, that you share with the person across from you, and there was a pile of beef in the middle with 2 sets of 6 vegetable/potato piles, with one set of veggie piles on each side of the plate, and get this..... No Eating Utensils. They serve the plate with this bread type thing, that is sort of like a thick spongy crepe'. You tear off a rectangle of the bread, drape it over whatever you want to pick up, and "pinch" the bread around the food, and eat it like that. Cool huh? I found it to be a little spicy, but I LOVE spicy, so I thought it was GREAT!
So, what was the bodily injury part? Well, the dinner started at 6:30pm, so that means, rush hour traffic. I'm driving down Chandler Blvd, in the center lane, and at 1 stoplight, I glance to my left, and the woman driver is fiddling with her radio. We go down a ways, and I move into the left lane, to turn set up to left in a few lights at Arizona Ave. We come to a normal stop at the next light, with 3 cars ahead of me, and I glance up in the rear view mirror, and I see about 6 car lengths of space, and Headlights coming at me..... WAY TOO FAST. It feels like slow motion, but I look forward again, mentally WILLING the cars ahead of me to GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY! Then I hear brakes locking up, and tires squealing behind me, and I braced my head against the headrest awaiting the expected impact.....
At that moment, the car ahead of me started to move, and I SLAMMED my foot down on the accelerator, and quickly JAMMED it back on the brake, and my Jaguar Leaped forward about 3 feet, and stopped before hitting the car in front of me, and the expected impact from behind........ Didn't happen (WHEW). I looked in my side mirror, and the car behind me, was at a 45 degree angle, half way into the left turn lane.
The only thing I can guess, is that the combination of her turning the wheel at the last minute, with my "Leap Forward" avoided the impact, but I'm SURE that it was VERY close. To my credit, I refrained from giving her the "single finger" sign that I was tempted to, but I turned on my "Caution Flashers" the ENTIRE WAY to the next light, and when she passed me in the left turn lane at the next light, I couldn't help giving her my "dirtiest look". I think I was AT LEAST entitled to that, since she very nearly destroyed my $40K Automobile, not to mention me..... and I think she got the "Pay Attention To Your Driving You Idiot", message that I was trying to send.
So..... (Whew!) how was your week?
No, not due to the food. Although the place that we went to was very unusual. We went to a restaurant that served..... Ethiopian Food! Yeah, I know what you're thinking, I thought so too, but hey, I was wrong, it was actually quite good.
They serve it in big plates for 2, that you share with the person across from you, and there was a pile of beef in the middle with 2 sets of 6 vegetable/potato piles, with one set of veggie piles on each side of the plate, and get this..... No Eating Utensils. They serve the plate with this bread type thing, that is sort of like a thick spongy crepe'. You tear off a rectangle of the bread, drape it over whatever you want to pick up, and "pinch" the bread around the food, and eat it like that. Cool huh? I found it to be a little spicy, but I LOVE spicy, so I thought it was GREAT!
So, what was the bodily injury part? Well, the dinner started at 6:30pm, so that means, rush hour traffic. I'm driving down Chandler Blvd, in the center lane, and at 1 stoplight, I glance to my left, and the woman driver is fiddling with her radio. We go down a ways, and I move into the left lane, to turn set up to left in a few lights at Arizona Ave. We come to a normal stop at the next light, with 3 cars ahead of me, and I glance up in the rear view mirror, and I see about 6 car lengths of space, and Headlights coming at me..... WAY TOO FAST. It feels like slow motion, but I look forward again, mentally WILLING the cars ahead of me to GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY! Then I hear brakes locking up, and tires squealing behind me, and I braced my head against the headrest awaiting the expected impact.....
At that moment, the car ahead of me started to move, and I SLAMMED my foot down on the accelerator, and quickly JAMMED it back on the brake, and my Jaguar Leaped forward about 3 feet, and stopped before hitting the car in front of me, and the expected impact from behind........ Didn't happen (WHEW). I looked in my side mirror, and the car behind me, was at a 45 degree angle, half way into the left turn lane.
The only thing I can guess, is that the combination of her turning the wheel at the last minute, with my "Leap Forward" avoided the impact, but I'm SURE that it was VERY close. To my credit, I refrained from giving her the "single finger" sign that I was tempted to, but I turned on my "Caution Flashers" the ENTIRE WAY to the next light, and when she passed me in the left turn lane at the next light, I couldn't help giving her my "dirtiest look". I think I was AT LEAST entitled to that, since she very nearly destroyed my $40K Automobile, not to mention me..... and I think she got the "Pay Attention To Your Driving You Idiot", message that I was trying to send.
So..... (Whew!) how was your week?
posted by TomH | 9:09 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Tom,
Hey does anyone ever post comments to your blog? I have been reading it here today, mostly because I live in Arizona too. Anyway it is pretty intertaining.
Meg
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Hi Meg,
Occasionally, someone will post a comment, or send me an email, but not so often. Thanks for the feedback :-)
TomH
Post a Comment
<< Home