thoughts on driving

So maybe these aren’t as much thoughts on driving in general as thoughts I had yesterday while driving through Seattle.  I headed into “the city” yesterday, and stacked my visits so I wouldn’t have to drive in again later this week.  This has become the norm; if I can save an extra hour and a half, then that’s an extra 90 minutes I can spend…you know, doing stuff.

• I was at a 4-way stop yesterday, my turn to stop and wait.  I rolled forward, and as I did so my flip-flop slipped a little and I ended up a little nearer to the intersection than I should have been.  The guy to the left of me drove by in his little white SUV, girlfriend in the front seat with a chihuahua in her lap, peeked over his gold aviators to make eye contact with me, and gave me a big thumbs up.  Obviously he assumed I was ready to cruise through the 4-way without stopping.  Not that his opinion matters, but I found myself wishing I could somehow communicate that my driving wasn’t that bad, that my flip flop slipped, I’m sorry, it’s all just a misunderstanding, I WAS PAYING ATTENTION!  DON’T YOU THUMBS UP ME, darn it.
• I decided to skip I-5 and drive the side streets from Northgate to Capitol Hill.  For non-Seattle residents, this takes about 15 minutes using the interstate, and about 20 cutting through neighborhoods.  As I meandered through the city, I realized I hadn’t been that direction in about a year.  During that time the condo craze had made itself known.  Every now and then a small apartment complex or record store would be holding it’s ground between the cookie cutter five-story hamster cages, and it made me wonder if these would soon be quirky relics of what Seattle used to be, or if they too would be swallowed up into Seattle’s new landscape.  I’m not one of those people who gets angry about the city loosing it’s character; after all, I’ve only lived here for five years, so what do I know.  But it does seem sad that these funky old buildings and interesting neighborhood businesses are disappearing.  Or maybe it just seems sad that only a few are hanging on.
• When I got to Capitol Hill, it occurred to me that I’ve become a little bit desensitised to “city folk”.  A city of 5,000 people on the edge of the forest attracts a slightly different crowd.  It took me a few minutes to realize that the piercings, dreadlocks, short skirts and army boots were all perfectly normal.  These people put those rebellious teenagers that hang out in the parking lot of the North Bend QFC to shame.

As a side note, I was gone 9 hours yesterday, and Bentley didn’t have a single accident.  I am SO proud…although a little confused as to why he feels the need to go “out” every hour on the hour when I’m at home.  That darned bell has etched itself in my ear and started haunting my thoughts.  I swear, I heard a bell ring at a restaurant the other day and I almost popped out of my seat to open the front door for the hostess.