Last night I reported the following events through my Facebook status. If you're my friend on Facebook, then there's a good chance you saw the ensuing exchange of comments that was sparked by my initial posting. For the rest of you, the story is as follows...
I was driving along, minding my own business, la-de-da... As is typical for an early December evening, it got dark pretty quick. It was dark long before I began my shift last night. With the lunar cycle being in the position it currently holds, there was no moon to light up the night sky. This left me to drive around in the dark, seeking desperately for street names and house numbers.
As I made my way through a darkened neighborhood, searching for a particular house on a particular street, I narrowly avoided a disaster. Walking in my direction on the right side of the street was an elderly couple with their dog.
There was no sidewalk, so they were walking right in the road. They were wearing black overcoats, making them difficult to see in the lack of light. Their dog had no leash, making his movements unpredictable at best. Also, as an added bonus to the difficulty of the situation, a rather large SUV was driving toward me on the narrow residential street, unwavering in its path and unchanging in its speed.
Driving between 20 and 25 miles per hour, as I often do when searching house numbers, I swerved out and back in to avoid all of these obstacles.
As I did with my Facebook status last night, I would like to send out my tips for people who enjoy walking their dogs at night and want to live to tell the tale. First, wear reflective clothing. At the very least, wear something light, so it can be seen on the streets that don't have street lights to illuminate your path. Second, get a leash for your dumb dog! It's obvious that dogs are easily distracted. It's often joked about how dogs like to chase cars. Really, they'll chase and play with just about anything that's moving. Sadly, chasing cars can often lead to badness that I don't even like to think about.
And to those who questioned my driving skills in those Facebook comments, shame on you. I'm an excellent driver. Dad used to let me drive slow on the driveway.
No comments:
Post a Comment