I am not going to tell myself that “accidents just happen” and to get over it anymore - at least not anymore today. There are those that say the younger generation is too self centered, inconsiderate and down-right obnoxious. Maybe so, but guess where they learned those fine arts. You guessed it; from our generation. Or at least the slightly younger portion of my generation that I see during my daily commute to and from work.
A rainy day, even if I can’t lounge around the house to enjoy it, is usually something I find relaxing and refreshing. Ok, that’s odd to many of you, but maybe it’s my childhood in England coming through. However, today’s very welcome morning rainstorm was not to be one of those days.
An hour before the alarm roused me I was awakened by the rumble of thunder, but without a pause I smiled and just rolled over and snuggled deeper under the light cover. A moment later I was confronted by two loud and distraught felines. Now these are relatively new adoptees in the household so if a little thunder unnerves them, it’s understandable. But realizing the human was awake brought on persistent howling for not cat food, but people food. Thank you, previous owner, who seems to have hand fed these two from your own plate on continual basis. You risked their health, taught them bad habits and totally sabotaged any future human’s contact with these two beggars. Thank you for your lack of responsible pet ownership.
Leaving the whining girls to their full bowls of nutritious food designed for their species, I escaped to the car with the remains of my toast and tea and headed for the train station. By now the rain had stopped and the air was refreshing. It seemed as though the morning was going to right itself for me. Wrong! As I had driven barely a block from the house when I nearly ran over someone. Not the usual squirrel or stray pet, or even the occasional coyote on the prowl. No, this was an adult human jogging in the middle of the street, in the dark and dressed in a either a dark gray or faded black jogging suit. She was about as invisible as a moving, live body could possibly be ….. until she was between my headlights about 6 feet from the bumper headed right for me as if she couldn’t see the thing in the area with lights on – my oncoming car. I slammed on the brakes and cut the wheel sharply as she loped by, more attuned to whatever was blaring through her earplugs, than the environment she was moving through.
Once the adrenalin surge subsided, I continued my drive to the train station with an increased appreciation for the latter part of my route with copious lighting. But the invasion of idiots and insensitivity was not over. It was just gearing up for the final round.
Parking the car and finding my way to my usual spot on the platform to wait for my ride to work was unremarkable, unless you are traumatized by sporadic drizzle in the absence of an umbrella. Though sometimes compared with Dorothy’s Wicked Witch of the West, I am not related and I do not melt from contact with water and only torrential downpours are incentive for me to carry one. However, like most people, especially when dressed for work, I do not appreciate being unnecessarily splashed. Apparently there are those fellow travelers who feel that as long as it is not them being doused, all is well. More than once in the 10 minute wait I was treated to a sprinkling as someone shook their umbrella vigorously in my direction to dry it. Apparently they consider it better that I be wet than their accessory designed for use when water falls from above. At least making me dodge to keep from being gouged in the eye by the points of the contraption as they walked along in crowds, heedless of where they were aiming their portable shelter.
When the train arrived I hurried aboard ahead of those once again opening and shutting their umbrellas and found my seat. And it was this positioning that afforded me a view of the climax of the morning’s stupidity without being one of its victims. Closer to the door we board through, a man had taken one of the aisle facing seats and then set his cup of coffee down while making himself comfortable. The train lurched on takeoff and instantly the aisle and adjacent flooring of that half of the car was coated in a solution of hot coffee, cream and sweetener of some sort. Not exactly recommended for washing such flooring. You see this otherwise normal looking gentleman apparently thought (1) trains glide smoothly along the tracks, (2) oversized, top heavy paper cups are stable and unlikely to tip and (3) those covers provided at the coffee shop are just for decoration and to slow down your enjoyment of the beverage. Three stops later when I was departing the train, the hard working conductor had managed to mop that half of the car with all the available paper towels, why the six riders that would have been seated in area stood for their ride across town.
Ironically, when I finally sat down at my desk, I was greeted with a challenge to use the term “semi-permeable” in a sentence. There were oh so many options. Brains that were only semi-permeable to learning or common sense? No, it is my stupidity deflector membrane that must have been only semi-permeable this morning.
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