Day 3 - 274 -- Impeding Progress

Words for today -- long, tired, traffic. Work consisted of two classes and even more meetings. Am I starting to sound boring and stuck in rut yet?  <smile>  There were a couple of different activities involved in the day. The last minute visit to the physician's office meant an extended wait at the end of their day, but it seems to have helped with the malady that arrived this morning. Grocery shopping was next on the list. A group of coupons for extra points arrived this week and interestingly seemed to be for things that I had planned to buy. Not all coupons scanned correctly, so a supervisor had to be called to 'make it right' with their key scan. It is a great policy, but with a long line of people behind me in the 1-15 item line, I felt the need to apologize to the other shoppers for the hold up.  A minor frustration occurred at the gas pump -- one of which seems to constantly shut off while I am holding the nozzle to fill the tank. I was running on fumes, so should have needed about 50 litres yet the thing wouldn't let me go past 35. After several attempts to continue, I decided maybe I was wrong and went in to pay. When I drove off, the gauge registered about 3/4 of a tank. Again, so frustrating since extra points were available for a purchase of the size it should have been. I was too tired and feeling yucky by then, that I just drove home <smile>.

Driving -- that has been a challenge for some time now in town due to construction on one of the bridges that crosses the brook running through the centre of town. This leaves two other options, but the one being fixed is by the high school and a major residential area. Very long lines occur as people go the long way around to get to work, school or home. This began in the summer and is slated to end in October. We have been assured by the mayor that it only takes two minutes to get from Main Street into the subdivision. Many of us have sat in the lineup for much longer than that. Getting out of my street into the one that leads to campus has been tricky some days, as has heading home at night. This week I sat for over 10 minutes waiting for an opening to get into the flow. I lost count at about 30 cars and there were many many more before there was a break. Interestingly, few drivers will stop to let someone into traffic. I notice this more when at the yield sign heading home at night. Where I lived on the prairies had a bylaw that drivers had to alternate at such confluence points around the bridges. I have also noted this in other cities, but it seems rare here. This can mean lines of cars many blocks long waiting to enter the next big long line. The latter line does seem to move reasonably well once one is able to get into it. This week the traffic seemed so much heavier than usual. There are more cars in town than in August as the students are now present, but this seemed greater than that increase. Last night while getting groceries I met a colleague at the grocery store who was working all weekend because it is Homecoming on campus. I'd lost that nugget of information as it isn't a major event for me. That explained all the extra traffic this week as many alumni returned to town for these festivities.

The frustrations expressed by many people recently seem to be well represented by a song lyric. The singer/songwriter performs with much soul and heart. With this song and lyric he expresses the frustration of traffic difficulties and includes some of his personal values about sustainability along the way. Enjoy!

NOTE: the song of the day is the first in this dual audio file.

Traffic Jam -- James Taylor