Thursday, May 12, 2005

A driver complains

- What's it with the big SUV and Altima/Accord/Taurus owners who park in the spots designated for "Compacts"? It's not enough that they own the roads. They have to own our parking spots as well.

Their cars barely fit in the spots, and when I am forced to park next to them in my small car, I have to open my door gingerly to ensure his* car does not get dented. Don't blame me if there's a nice scratch on your shiny passenger side door tomorrow.

- Will gas prices ever go down? I bleed through every pore daily, and regret the day I rented a place so far away that I cannot walk to work. A bike (as in bicycle) seems more and more tempting by the day. Maybe I'll buy a Segway.

- You. On the cellphone. Get off it. Nothing you are talking about is so important that you take one hand off the steering for that. Especially considering that you are right now taking an extremely sharp turn with that other hand, and are coming dangerously close to me in the facing lane. Just because it isn't legislation here doesn't mean you have to do it. You aren't the only one who is busy, you know.

* It may very well be a she. Written that way for simplicity. Also, in a software company like the one I work at, it is less probable - skewed ratios and all that.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Ajay,
I just realised that most of your posts aren't musings...they are plain old bitching n moaning !!

Can you as a favour write 2 posts in succession which are upbeat?You know...just to see if you can

Ajay said...

My last few posts:

A driver complains

One about songwriters I like, and why I like them

Monuments to Patriotism

A place for my head - about how much I love the libraries in the US

Youve Got Mail! - happy about an unexpected tax return, and bitching about high interest rates.

- I'd say only two of them (the first and the last) are bitching and moaning. The rest are serious, and thoughtful. Maybe the problem is I take myself too seriously and need to lighten up a bit?

I don't think I complain too much about life. I like what I have too much to do that. There are life's small irritations though, like really nice blog readers who read and draw conclusions selectively :-)

hirak said...

The hilarious Magliozzi Brothers from Car Talk make fun of SUVs whenever they get a chance.
It's older people and women buying these SUVs with the mistaken premise that it is safer. Tom and Ray said that this is causing a spiralling effect as people buy SUVs to protect themselves from other SUVs.

Ajay said...

Too many people end up buying them, when a station wagon or minivan would do just fine, with not many people using them for real off-road stuff, but for hauling groceries and kids (and their kids' soccer teams - hence the term soccer mom). There are really practical SUVs, which have lower center-of-gravity and real AWD, but they are few. (I believe the Subaru's one of them) Many of them are built on a car chassis, which makes me wonder about their handling.

There wouldn't be any issues, except for the fact that they are
a) fuel-inefficient
b) dangerous - likelier to roll over at high speeds