Observation Sparks Curiosity

I was in Boston trying to find parking, and one of the first things I noticed was that a bus was traveling on a residential street it normally doesn’t. On a three-lane one way street with cars merging in from the intersection, I turned left onto this street — and could only stay in the left lane. Something happened, but what?

Calm and Collected Because It Pays To Be Early

In any case, I need to park. But first I’ll need to get out of this gridlock. I had to park about 10 blocks away from where I normally do. While I’m running later than expected, at least I have some buffer time so that I’m not stressing out in bumper to bumper traffic.

Glancing Elsewhere While Others Cannot Stop Staring

I was trying to cross a bridge but the street right before the bridge was sectioned off with police tape. I remember seeing a truck on the street and a few people staring at it. Others were starting to crowd in to take a look, and I heard someone say, “You can’t cross the road here.” I didn’t see anything notable, so I shifted gears to finding a way to get across.

In retrospect, because I was focused on my goal to cross the bridge, I might’ve missed what people had been staring so intently at.

Reality Sinks In — OMG

I learned an hour later that a pedestrian was killed by a truck at the bridge I couldn’t cross. The police officer explained how people just fly down this road and gave her attitude when she asked them to not block the intersection. There’s a school on the other side of the bridge, so a lot people — many kids no doubt — also cross here. A passerby even commented that, before she knew about this, she thought it was great there wasn’t any traffic on the road. I don’t know why she mentioned it, but maybe nervousness is her version of my loss for words.

At the same time, I’m sure a number of drivers have thought worse. After all, it wasn’t a typical rush-hour traffic jam.

Be Careful Out There

I see people running out in roads all the time. Hey, even I do it. I don’t know about you, but I often gauge whether I can run across the street before the car reaches me. Is the chance worth it? It’s a reminder to stick to lights when I can — while exercising good judgment with making sure cars stop first. Just because the light is red, it doesn’t mean a car stops.

Artists can color the sky red because they know that it is blue.
— Jules Feiffer