Curiouser and Curiouser. It’s really the only way to sum up what’s happening to us as humanity splinters and surges toward bombast or mediocrity and their own reinforced truths.
Keeping ourselves safely out of the mosh pit of opinion baiting, race hating, and tail-gating going on out there at the moment we can only say that we are starting to feel as the pilot aboard a jet aircraft powering straight for the mountaintop must feel – onboard warnings flashing and Ground Proximity system advising: “Pull UP, Pull UP…” – hoping someone will notice and take the recommended course of action.
Despite our usual, ill-advised sense of optimism we are starting to feel as if a miraculous re-connection with common sense is a forlorn hope, the pilot eyeing the yoke, pushing it forward and saying: “I wonder what happens if I do this.”
Lately, we’ve been seeing the automotive equivalent of the Last Flight around the 24/680, with vehicles of various descriptions leaving their approved flight plans and scattering blocks-long debris fields over wide swaths of local real estate. Crashes in East County and San Ramon last night smashed light poles like matchsticks, left cars on their sides or roofs, and set fire to fences and vegetation unfortunate enough to get in their way.
We believe there were arrests. Apparently, alcohol may have been involved. Imagine that,
All the automotive mayhem comes after a previously remarked-upon Car Cease Fire of sorts as we sheltered in place and many of us stayed off the roads, leading to some interesting moments as local critters and even some midnight walkers enjoyed crossing over the double yellow line with impunity.
But that time has passed. Drivers and cars are back and reclaiming the roads and we are left to say “good luck with that.”
The Great Mask/No Mask Debate also continues to rage, with folks frequently almost coming to blows or, if things get really heated, exchanging Full Saliva Broadsides in public places and that ain’t pretty, let us tell you.
Our pitiful prediction of a lethal confrontation between pilferer and merchant played out, sadly, after a violent encounter behind the meat counter of a Lucky store in Antioch turned deadly for the alleged thief. We were sorry to see that but, given all the gradually escalating incidents between would-be thieves and store personnel we’ve seen lately, we’d come to believe it was only a matter of time.
There’s some car caravanning going on (Walnut Creek) so far this morning, other folks plowing into immovable objects or leaping into bodies of water as the usual tales of human fallibility start to stream in. Some of it is kind of funny, a lot – not so much.
But our radar and solar arrays are deployed and up, Shirley Manson lighting up The News Bunker and the griddle spitting hot and ready for grilled cheese sandwiches with a tomato soup chaser. You have to keep yourself fortified in this line of work.
Note: Got a story for us? Use the Tip Line! And stay cool out there…
A chair is still a chair, even when there’s no one sitting there
But a chair is not a mask, and a mask is not PPE
When there’s no one there who puts it on
And no one there, who cares when you are gone
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
(With apologies to Mr. Bacharach who is 92 and his muse)