In the weeds
After I dropped out of university, I moved into a farmhouse north of town, about halfway to the airport. I did a little indoor farming myself there, and became enamoured with the lifestyle.

I began to enjoy the emptiness and quiet of the neighborhood. We were only 45 minutes from a small city in the wilderness British Columbia, Canada, but at certain times of the day, traffic ceased and one could feel all alone in the world.

I wore Salvation Army store clothes, and drove an old pickup. With the secrecy of my particular type of farming, I became a caricature of a backwoods yahoo.

One day, I was driving towards town on the highway, and had stopped at a red light waiting to turn left. I felt a little goofy waiting there as there was no one else on the road, but I wasn't in a hurry, and it would be just my luck to have a cop come over the hill just as I was running the light.

Then suddenly, a cop did come over the hill. He was riding a motorcycle at speed, and quickly slowed down to come to a stop right in front of me in the middle of the intersection. He signalled for me to stay where I was. Then another motorcycle cop sped by. Soon after, a large new black limosine cruised through the intersection against the light, which had changed.

I suddenly realised this was a high security VIP being escorted by the RCMP. It was an almost surreal situation to find myself in. I was totally alone on the road except for these cops and the limo, and it happened so fast.

It wasn't until after the limo sped by, with the passenger giving the royal wave to the non-existent crowd that I remembered that Prince Edward was in town for a visit.
(DeepBlue, Tue 8 Aug 2006, 21:03, Reply)