keiththesnake

So, you essentially followed these teenaged girls home?

gamecat

I am ashamed to admit that I too drive to the nearby donut shop. Although mine is about 8 blocks away. Donuts don't do well on my back rack. I walk instead about half the time. I've noticed that transporting prepared food (as opposed to groceries/ingredients) is one the things most likely to get me back into the drivers seat. Something about beat up food bothers me, I feel like I've ruined it somehow. And since I live alone, it's kind of a recurring pain in the butt (buying prepared foods at local ethnic markets is often cheaper than cooking for 1.)

Plus, there's something about the whole culture of donuts that makes even the two teenagers driving two blocks to buy them seem weirdly appropriate. I'm vaguely recalling a Dave Barry routine about the societal implications of 24 hour drive through donut stands.

MnHillBilly

Some days it can be a time factor. You yourself were in a car and discussing how you were on your way to a client meeting. Perhaps they had to be where they were going fast as well.

I would love to have a bus schedule available where I didn't have to wait 30 minutes if I missed my particular route. I could take the extra 12 minutes on my bike to get my beloved coffee and then get to the bus stop, but that's not how things work in real life. Some days you're running late and have a clock to punch.

The scenario you're describing would only irk me if the people appeared to be portly, meaning they made this kind of drive-next-door stuff a constant habit. And even then, it's not irksome so much as sad for them that they're in that rut. Doesn't sound like the people you followed were otherwise in poor health - so they have to be un-lazy in some other aspect of life.

Sober up, chill out, and worry about the stuff only you can control - yourself.

I'm sure there are people who see me on those coffee mornings get out of my car and presume things because I'm not stick thin. But they don't see me when I'm on my bike on my commuting and grocery-hauling trips either.

As the French say - mind your own onions.

uke

If it takes you more effort to get in and out of a car than it does to walk 50 yards, you might be driving one of these:

gascostalot

50 yards is like 10 seconds of walking. If you seriously need to drive 50 yards, something is physically wrong with you.

roseskunk

frankly it seems a bit lazy that you can't brew your own coffee. i'm just sayin'...

DataJunkie

Why stop there? Y'all are lazy for not growing your own coffee. So what if you live in the wrong part of the world.

f4rrest

^ no, farming coffee is hard work.

Kevrob

Yesterday I was 2 miles into a 4-mile ride to the public library when I realized that I had forgotten my cell phone. On one hand, if I did a 180 and retrieved my phone, I would have upped my daily miles total by 4 miles, which would normally be a good thing. On the other hand, I wanted to get to McDonalds before they stopped making breakfast. I figured I could go one day without the phone, and I was right.

I'm a good three miles from the nearest donut shop. If I make the round trip on my bike, I feel like I've justified the calories from my Boston Cream fix.

Hot tea in the water bottle beats joe from Dunkin', anyway.

Kevin

AlmostTrick

Witnessed regularly:

Parents driving the kid(s) to the end of the block to wait for the school bus.

Local residents stopping their car at the curb to retrieve the mail before pulling into the driveway. The funniest incident was when the driver couldn't seem to properly line her huge SUV alongside the box without going back and forth several times! It turned out to be quite the project, but at least she didn't have to walk 50 feet!

Witnessed once:

Driver traveling slowly along the curb while junior pedals on the sidewalk! Yes, honestly.

miket.

i've scrambled a few pizzas during transport, but what the heck could possibly happen to some donuts? all the powdered sugar shaken off?
my fav to ride with is chinese food cause you cant really mess it up.

knoregs

Definite pet peeves of mine. I live in a neighborhood of three streets and about 17 total houses. The school bus comes through here for two kids. Both of these kids are shuttled twice a day via SUV/truck to basically the end of the driveway. Both driveways are long, more than 100 yards but less than 200, but still WTF. This past winter I'd be on my dog walk and go right by one of these parents sitting in her SUV idling away, do another mile or so, and on my way back she'd still be there. Funny thing is nearly everybody I've mentioned this to has basically offered up an excuse FOR the parent. The most popular is "they're probably worried their kid will get snatched by some psycho pedophile". In the 20+ years I've been here in Vermont, I can't recall one single occurrence of this happening.

I saw someone doing the mail retrieval thing on my ride today. It certainly wasn't the first time. I've actually seen 'em use the vehicle specifically to get the mail. The first thought that entered my head upon witnessing this today was 'pathetic'.

We could start a whole new thread on this behaviour but it would only succeed in bumming me out.

gascostalot

Knoregs, why are you stalking a child? Waiting for that time when the dutiful parent isnt doing their duty in preventing every and all harm coming upon the child? Knoregs, I think you may have to sit down and talk with this man

uke

Throughout my senior year of high school, my mom drove me. In retrospect, it was a distance I could have covered (and occasionally did) on foot in ten minutes, and on a bicycle in a third of the time. There were even a couple of bikes in the garage. However, back then, neither she nor I thought of things that way. It's very easy to fall into patterns without realizing alternative ways of doing things.

Matt1972

Maybe she got her daddy's car and she cruises to the coffeeshop now
Seems like forgot all about the library like she told her old man now...And she'll be having fun fun fun til her daddy takes away her SUV...

aMull

Uhm you said did walk it occasionally, so you did break the pattern, but i guess the car was too comfy. I walked 20 minutes to elementary school (even during snow storms with snow up to my knees), took two buses into downtown when i was in middle school and walked 20 minutes to my high school every day. Can't believe some parents babysit their children so much.

uke

Nope; I walked home occasionally, e.g., when we got out of school early. I think that happened once. It never occurred to me to walk to school.

2manybikes

One of us must be old.


It must be you.

mechanicalron

I think I'm going to drive 2 blocks for some soda and a bag of chips and wonder why i'm such a fat a$&. Be back soon.

DataJunkie

I drive my son 3/4 of a mile to elementary school. Someone please flog me.

dynodonn 

Fixed if for you. Say what!? I'm not old, I'm just chronologically gifted.

gamecat

You forgot the :
you shouldn't just drive, no. You shouldn't just drive!



You don't have to be any particular age or generation to appreciate good music. Probably half of the music I own and (more than half that I listen to regularly) is older than I am.

dynodonn 

True, but I've come to the realization that the vast majority of the songs I listen to aren't older than me.

dynodonn 

OT, I have three co-workers who drive regularly 4 to 7 blocks between work and home, which also includes the 1/2 hour lunch time.

Hot Potato

Definitely not a spurious concern. The odds may be low, but the outcome is horrific. My kids go nowhere alone, even if that means I go with them. Paranoid? Not in the least. I also go inside during a lighting storm to prevent being struck. Both highly unlikely events, yet one has happened to me. Statistics don't matter much to the ONE (as in 1 in a million).