The Cure for Road Rage

Thought of the Day-

Air fresheners have really come a long way. I mean, do you remember the days of bathroom air fresheners when they were loud and obnoxious…or just plain noxious. Where instead of eliminating an odour they would just mix with it to create some new perfume, repugnant to the nose. I swear, I can take my late morning….cr*cough* and then spray the new fabrese air effects afterwards and it is completely silent. No “SHHHHHPPPPSSSHHHHH” sound to give the bowel movement away and no harsh after-smell that tells everyone where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing. And most importantly, when your boss walks into the bathroom immediately after you, there is no worry about whether or not he’ll know.

Yesterday was the first snow of winter ’09 and I didn’t welcome it wistfully. It froze my windshield wipers to my windshield and made any black water on the road look ominous. Really, not a fan.

Stuart however is a whole other animal. All he can think and talk about is Christmas and skiing. He loves Christmas. I expect to walk through the door one day (and I am talking November here) and our apartment will be a winter wonderland, complete with Christmas tree(s), tacky Santas, Christmas lights on every surface and wreaths and holly everywhere. Not to mention the overplayed jingles playing in every room.

I will do what I can to reign him in and at least keep it tasteful. No plastic Santas on the door and no stuffed reindeer. As for the Christmas tree- an expense that is NOT in the budget- I need to limit it to between 4-5 feet. If Stuart had his way it would be curved along the ceiling with every branch encumbered with a sparkly bobble.

I have figured out the cure for road rage. Believe it or not, it is as simple as a wave. I have found (being involved in crazy Toronto Traffic for over 6 months now) that being cut off and butted in front of by vehicles (mostly BMW’s but that is a whole other rant), that when I am entirely enraged and want to get even, all of these negative emotions are negated by a simple hand wave to the rear view mirror. It’s true, when someone merges into your lane and purposely speeds up just to get in front of you and your first instinct is to honk, you are immediately quieted by a simple black outline of a raised hand. I have adopted this technique and I find I get honked at less and am let into a lane more often simply by waving my thanks and my acknowledgement of the fact that I am being a dick.

After all this time, I am surprised by how many drivers do NOT do this. Seriously! If you have to cut me off, at least acknowledge to me that you did it, so I don’t plan your demise for the next 100 meters.