What's the rush

I had a great birthday weekend...actually, more like a week of pageant-like activity.  Went to Red Robin with a friend, had the family get together at Jason's Deli, and went to Friendly Farm with Peggy on a "just-us" date on Saturday.  It's always good to go there, dine like kings and queens, and see our friend April.

It was an interesting birthday weekend in that it's been hotter than the hinges on Hades around here; that's usually the case at the end of June, but we had one helluva storm late on Friday night.  The weather people had been calling for a storm all day, but I don't think any of them expected what we got, which was a million Marylanders without power early on Saturday morning, and even late Sunday, there were about a half that many still in the dark without air conditioning or refrigerators or hot water. Just awful.  They call this sort of storm a "derecho," which is Spanish for "straight," and that's what this mess was.  It came straight from the Midwest all day, leaving trees scattered like toothpicks from Indiana to Maryland.  And the fact that, unlike the aftermath of a hurricane, when the weather oddly turns pleasant in many cases, it is still hotter than the dashboard of a '64 Plymouth that's been sitting in the sun at a broken-down strip mall.  Temperatures over 100° and high humidity do not make for happy days, and my heart goes out to all who have been suffering.

On the way to Friendly Farm on Saturday, we were stopped at the light at Manor Rd and Sweet Air Rd. The light was red.  Peggy was looking at the Weather Channel on her phone, because it looked like another storm was coming along.  The light changed and I, engaged in conversation with my wonderful wife, failed to tromp on the gas pedal within one nanosecond of that change, to the disappointment of the man driving a Volvo behind me.

Citizen's arrest!

So he blew his Swedish horn at me, and as I started off driving, I looked in the rvm* to see a tfa**, his face contorted in rage as he piloted his sedan along Manor Rd, down the hill toward the pike.   I thought it best to be observant of any and all traffic regulations as I made my way along, so I made sure to keep my speed at exactly the posted 35 mph.  I caught the occasional glance at him behind me as we paddled our gondolas along the macadam path to happiness.  He was hollering at someone on his hand-held cell phone, which is against the law in Maryland (the use of the hand-held, not the hollering) but I thought it best not to try to effect a citizen's arrest.

He turned right (naturally) while I went straight at the light at the Pike, and I was sorry that we had to part company.  I'm sure that wherever he zoomed off to in his Volvo was an important destination, and his presence there surely lit up the afternoon for many.  We went up to the Farm and saw our friend and had a wonderful dinner and lots of fun and love. If Mr Volvo had come up and dined with us, perhaps he wouldn't be in such a doggone hurry and he could learn to enjoy himself a little.

*   rear view mirror
** you know what it means