Slice of Life Story Day 20 -A Driver On The Road To Nowhere

I am driving along the Monash Freeway in Melbourne’s early morning gloom. The traffic is moving steadily, despite the volume of traffic that is a constant feature of the early morning rush.  I am bound for a school in Melbourne's west.

 A small dark coloured Mazda is on my tail. I sense urgency from the driver. She drives behind me with a closeness that is both dangerous and disturbing. I am driving at the speed limit and the cars in front of me are doing the same. Still the driver pushes- impatient and so close I can almost see her eyes. She sticks close, always close.

Suddenly she veers left across three lanes of traffic and accelerates sharply before cutting back into the lane beside me. Her snaking manoeuvres across lanes of traffic have placed her two car lengths ahead of me. She repeats this lane change dance, however this time her efforts place her in the lane directly alongside me.

The lane I am in moves ahead and eventually she slides across the lane to take up a position directly behind me again. She had undertaken a mad dash to nowhere. Unable to defy the inner screams that demand haste and impatience she felt compelled to test the truism that the other lane always moves faster. There was no space in her head to hear the quiet, yet truly powerful voice of reason. As the Beatles sang, ‘Switch off, relax and float down stream.’


Comments

  1. Donna Smith20 March 2012 at 12:50

    When I am in a grocery checkout lane and see one beside me that is shorter, I have to fight the urge to slide on over to it. I've done it before. It never works. The line I WAS in always speed up and I'm behind where I would have been if I'd stayed put.

    ReplyDelete
  2. elsie20 March 2012 at 22:34

    I wonder what she was late for. You caught her erratic driving so well I could see her crossing the lanes and getting nowhere fast. It just makes me shake my head.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lisa21 March 2012 at 01:43

    I too can 'see' her driving. Great description! Imagine how her day must be to start in that kind of a hurry. I wonder if she will ever hear the Beatles...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Robin21 March 2012 at 05:37

    Your description was great! I felt like I was there watching this scene unfold before me. And haven't we all seen this sort of driving before? I have to agree with Elsie, it just makes me shake my head! What else is there to do?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Maureen22 March 2012 at 11:25

    How many times have we experienced this? Thank you for the vivid picture! I often wonder if the hurried driver is too preoccupied to miss the fact that she is stuck behind the same car again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Paul22 March 2012 at 11:51

    This can easily be seen as a metaphor -- we all get in a rush and, as a result of our bustle and bluster, get no further ahead than we were before. We need to all work on building a slower world! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. GirlGriot22 March 2012 at 15:03

    Wonderfully told! I can feel her frustration and feel myself observing her as you did.

    ReplyDelete

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