Road Warrior

As I said recently, the drives both into and out of Toronto did not go badly at all. But, I indeed did not enjoy our major drive while there. We went from the core area way out to the northwestern suburbs —— a trip entailing four (count 'em) four expressways — the Gardner, the 427, the 401, and the 410. Oh, I did fine, but 45 minutes of fast and intense expressway driving is not my idea of fun.

When we left the city yesterday, the further we got, the less the traffic and the greater the pleasure. Mostly. But permit me to rail just a bit at rural drivers.

I don't so much mind the slow drivers: those odd and bizarre souls who insist on travelling at precisely the posted limit. How can I get too upset? They are obeying the law after all. But I do get a tad exasperated with those who can't make up their minds. They drive slowly; they speed up for no apparent reason; then, they slow back down — again for no apparent reason. You see, I like to use cruise control, and it's ever so frustrating when others drive so erratically. One guy really took the cake. He touched his brakes and slowed down whenever a car went by —— cars going in the opposite direction if you please. Whenever he wasn't going around a bend or dealing with the trauma of cars going in the opposite direction, he managed to speed up and render the passing of him quite problematic. But I just had to find a way to do it (pass him) ... or else go mad ... even madder.

Because it was only a two-lane highway and because there are slower vehicles on such roads, every so often the good road people add a passing lane where the slower cars are to pull into the right lane to allow faster vehicles to pass. This usually works quite well, but every now and then you come across a total nitwit. Said nitwit creeps along until he gets to one of those passing sections. He then revs 'er up making it deucedly difficult for anyone to actually get by him. Seriously, one guy I was following yesterday dawdled at 90kph until we got to the passing sections where he speeded up to 110kph. What's with that, eh?

Just so you know that I'm not an excessive speed monster, I also have aught against the gal who tailgated me for 15 minutes without passing. It's one thing to follow ever so closely behind when you're looking for an opportunity to pass the car in front, but if you're content to proceed at that same speed for mile after countless mile, then do drop back and give some room for goodness sake.

Behold, these are some of my gripes about rural drivers. If only more motorists could approach my level perfectionton —— humble perfection, of course.