Help the Aged? I don't think they need it...
I live in a city with rather a lot of major one way streets, and non-locals seem to find them extremely confusing. I was walking home recently and noticed a pair of oldies, probably in their late seventies or early eighties, attempting to navigate their way through the ebb and flow of rush hour traffic in their boatlike vintage Cadillac sedan. They'd obviously seen the turning they wanted a bit too late, and were attempting to make a left turn from the centre lane on a busy six-lane one-way street. Oblivious to the other drivers, the green traffic light in front of them, and the basic rules of the road, they steadfastly refused to move from the centre lane, preferring to stop traffic in the faint hope that someone would let them in so that they could turn left across three lanes of traffic. Not surprisingly, there were several near misses with other vehicles. I was watching all of this happening as I was walking along, shaking my head and feeling superior. That is, until I walked right into a newspaper box, giving myself a minor black eye. My face was scarlet (and blue!) as I raced home, hopefully before too many people in my neighbourhood noticed what had happened. Oh, how the boyfriend laughed when I got home and explained my injury.

That will teach me not to make fun of the old. They have powers, you know.
(BlackArmadillo Avoided writing that article on, Sun 5 Sep 2004, 12:56, Reply)