Motorcycle Parade in Town
So I'm trying to go to the Stop & Shop today (by myself, the nerve!) to buy a bag of organic carrots for lunch boxes this week. I get to the end of my street and lo and behold, there's a motorcycle parade of sorts going by. I sat for about 8 minutes, unable to get out of my street, watching cycle after cycle go by. Sidecars, Harleys, police cycles, Japanese speed bikes, BMW's, you name it.
Then I started to notice the riders. Most did not wear helmets - which astounds me as an astonishingly stupid display of hubris. Don't mess with your melon!
So I'm trying to go to the Stop & Shop today (by myself, the nerve!) to buy a bag of organic carrots for lunch boxes this week. I get to the end of my street and lo and behold, there's a motorcycle parade of sorts going by. I sat for about 8 minutes, unable to get out of my street, watching cycle after cycle go by. Sidecars, Harleys, police cycles, Japanese speed bikes, BMW's, you name it.
Then I started to notice the riders. Most did not wear helmets - which astounds me as an astonishingly stupid display of hubris. Don't mess with your melon!
I called Mark to tell him I'd be later than I thought, that I was sitting there watching the parade. And it occured to me as salt and pepper haired riders went by me again and again and again (there were a few riders who appeared under 40, but not many) that the parade looked like an ad for THIS.
I arrived at the Stop & Shop and remembered that I'd taken a different purse to the Bridgeport Bluefish game (lots of fun!) on Friday night. I didn't have my wallet! I started home, only to find the damn parade was BACK - I guess they made some sort of loop? So I sat for another 8 minutes waiting to get onto my street. Sans carrots.
7 comments:
That's the thing about CT.. no helmet laws and on sundays you see alot of bikers going through the state...
I just don't get the no helmet thing. And I see people riding without even wearing shirts. One spill and you're kaput. My neighbor is a police officer in town - HE was wiped off his police bike by a teenager who didn't see him in her mirror. It happens.
When I was in high school my boyfriend broke his ankle badly. While visiting him in the hospital there was an older guy (19) who'd gone under a truck on his motorcycle. I'll never forget him. Or his injuries.
Choice? Sure. But jeez, when is choice dancing with death?
Up here everyone wears helments but you see people in sandals, no shirts, shorts.
When you see stuff like that, you've got to remind yourself that's what normal means. Some people make good decisions in life. Some people make bad decisions. Some stumble through letting the decisions get made for them.
Without people to do dumb things, there would be no smart people.
John - touche. But you have a helmet law in Mass I believe?
I want to blog your book tour and the paperback this week by the way. Enjoy your travels!
How 'bout...without people to do dumb things, there would be no organ donors.
Donor cycles serve a valuable purpose.
Michelle you beat me to it - that's what we call motorcyclists "donors". It's the law here to wear helmets and I think you can be pulled over for not wearing appropriate gear too.
And well said John!
On the subject of organ donors, here in the UK there's a move for the law to change so you have to opt out of organ donation, rather than in and your next of kin can over ride you anyway, as it is now.
Maybe (in line with the post), the question should be, How can we offer carrots to encourage more safety? The "stick" threat of death doesn't seem to work.
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