Driving from WFP (outside of Rome in a "industrial park") to home today, I ran into what I have learned is the typical Roman traffic issue....or so I thought.
Most highways and large busy streets have very short merge lanes (when I say short, think two car lengths), which combined with Italians' inability to slow down, makes merging challenging and scary. Every time I am merging I think of my good college friend, Sarah Montgomery (I hope you are reading this!) who would yell at merges in LA, "its like a zipper....one car in front of the other..." She's right...how hard is it to let one car in front, ensuring traffic moves forward? Instead, these poor merge lanes (which end in walls, fences, sidewalks, buildings) end up being horrid traffic nightmares during rush hour. There is a particularly poor one on the highway from WFP to our house, which combines a major turn in the road with a merge, where traffic inevitably backs up for at least a mile or so regardless of the time of day. Near misses, scrapes with death and other such horrid moments are common at this particular merge and this morning was no exception, with the highlight being the man behind me (yes, I am the only person besides my husband who uses my mirrors in Rome) crossing himself as he changed lanes. Luckily, we are in the center of Christianity, and crossing oneself seems to be a common way of avoiding crashes, and it worked for him (no, don't look or slow down while driving!).
So, after making it through this merge, I happily picked up speed with the rest of the traffic, thinking about what exciting thing I would do today. As I drove along and got closer to our exit, traffic again got bad....hmm....I don't remember there being a bad merge here, must be another deadly accident (tragically another problem with Roman traffic). As I slowly moved forward with the other traffic, I was shocked to see a little bird limping around the road, with everyone making room for it...hence slowing down the traffic! Everyday a new thing to learn.....
Well, you're protected by the metal box, while the poor little bird isn't. Maybe if you had a few toy cars to spare, you could have put him/it in one and made him/it a contender! Just a thought.
ReplyDeletepoor bird!! we have wild turkeys around here and had a similar experience once when there was WICKED slow traffic on a street that should not have been that slow at that time - we were getting wicked annoyed and then we get to the front and see a 'gaggle' (are they a gaggle - is that a wild turkey family?) of wild turkeys crossing the street! too funny.
ReplyDeletesince then we've had a wild turkey on our street, nigel was very interested in making friends but we were mean and wouldn't let him. the neighborhood semi-stray cat, hilter cat (it's all white with a black 'moustache' - too funny!) stalked it off our block so i hope it found it's gaggle/family!!