Thursday, May 18, 2006

Cute old people

I was walking to work this morning when I saw something precious. For those of you that may or may not know Parnassus avenue at UCSF is a war zone. Allow me to set the scene:
-Cars are trying to find free parking, which doesn't exist and that only makes the cars more ferocious and desperate.
-Muni drivers are even more tense because they are getting behind schedule as the traffic moves so slowly, and it puts them farther and farther from their next menthol.
-Shuttle bus drivers are aiming for anything that moves, and doing so at a high rate of speed.
-Pedestrians, feeling threatened, are emboldened to walk where they want when they want as kind of a "fuck you" to the cars. Or my personal favorite "I am a doctor you can't hit me as I jaywalk because aside from locomotion on pavement I prefer to walk on water, I save lives and I am impervious to 1 ton hunks of metal and machine moving rapidly... I am a doctor."
-City and University meter maids are zipping around handing out parking tickets as fast as they can to all the folks who think they found free parking in front of a fire hydrant or in the middle of the street.
-Delivery truck drivers are parked in the suicide lane to make deliveries. The commercial loading zones are full of cars illegally parked and getting tickets so the truck drivers park in the middle of the road and offload there. This makes left hand turns a dangerous prospect.

So this morning I see a man pushing his wife in her wheelchair. He is about 85 and looks pretty fit. She is younger than him but has suffered a pretty serious stroke. She is ceased up on her right side and is drooling on her bib. I could tell that he loved her because her bib matched her pink velour jogging suit. As he was trying to cross Parnassus avenue in the crosswalk he got caught in no-man's land between two illegally parked delivery trucks and someone trying to make a left turn. I could see him getting frustrated that no cars were stopping to let him complete his journey across the crosswalk. I mean they couldn't see him because of all the shenanigans in the middle lane. Finally he pops, he screams "Fuck you all I am walking HERE!"

He moves out into oncoming traffic, the next car was going WAY over the speed limit and had to screech to a halt. Then the man started walking toward the car. The car backed up, and the man kept walking toward it. It was a showdown. Like I would expect a hyena and a lion to fight over some carrion in the middle of the dry season. Then he got to the handicap entrace to the side walk, pushed his wife up on ramp and kissed her on the cheek.

1 Comments:

Blogger ::skh:: said...

Awesome! If I ever need a bib, please make it one with a picture of cute dogs or one that matches my outfit.

9:54 AM PDT  

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