It's the simple things in life that truly make me happy, not the convoluted and complicated ones. I had almost forgotten the simple joy of riding in a vehicle with the windows rolled down. The situation came about yesterday, because of some funky smell in my SUV. It was evening and I started out by driving down Spadina Crescent, along the river bank. I powered every window down, even opened the sun roof. The sun, wind and humidity were just right and the air was oh, so fresh! I hardly ever do this, but was quite thrilled at how exhilarating it felt. I got to wondering why I don't do it more often.
I vaguely recalled what led to my overlooking and almost discarding this lovely way of driving.
Bugs are one. Getting hit on the cheek or eye or mouth by a wayward insect makes you want to go for the window roller upper pretty quick. I was scraping paint off the outside of my house yesterday and a mammoth dragonfly flew into the garage door and then did the most startling things...it was a form of the "chicken" really. The buzzing noise he made was frightening, and he flew all over the place, in a confused thrashing way, poor thing. I was ducking and getting out of his road at every turn. The fluttering and grinding of his anntennae, legs and big wings is something I never want to come in contact with. In my books, I want to avoid insect fluttering anywhere near me especially that of moths, who tend to shed a grey powder. So, bugs should be avoided when possible, whether on horseback, riding a bike or whatever, you can easily be "taken out" by an insect, and... when you least expect it! I got hit hard on the cheek by a massive bumble bee one afternoon, on a Honda 50 when I was about 16...we were only half way home. Now that hurt!
If you slow down with your windows open, especially on a cloudy, muggy day (but any day really), black flies, mosquitoes, horseflies, no see um's, etc. usually sense the opportunity for fair game and go for it. These creatures dive bomb and bite and leave you itching or bleeding or both. Some you feel in the moment and can swat, but mostly you find out because you start to scratch some time later. You know, it's those pesky females that do it, because apparently, the males are more docile, or just not built that way (at least for the mosquitoes)..
Wasps, hornets, and spiders are others who seem to find their way inside your car by accident and might have to sting you while trying to find their way back out. The result isn't the innocent mosquito bite, it's more like an injection of painful venom that may or may not cause you to have a severe reaction. You will definitely feel it exactly when it happens...no doubt. Most people can count on one hand how many bee stings they've ever had in their life. They can vividly recount exactly what they were doing at the time. When my son was about four, we were in the straweberry patch on our acreage. His little blue jeans had a gap at the waistband at the back. He was down on his hands and knees playing and a monolith bumble bee started to crawl down the gaping area. His dad saw this and whacked our little boy hard on the backside in order to kill the bee. Oh dear, it was a bee sting and a hit all at the same time....Yes, there was loud wailing involved, but there was no loss of limb and he has grown up to be a fine man.... In fact, you may not know you have an allergy to bee stings until it happens and then know that the plan will include a quick trip to the nearest emergency department for a shot of adrenalin!
Not only that, but all the swatting and enticing of the biting insect, (i.e. bee) out of the cab of the vehicle may cause you, the driver, to swerve all over the road. Not pretty...This erratic driving, to the surrounding drivers, could look like drunk driving, and there's a number to report that. You could find yourself up in front of a magistrate, explaining yourself faster than a cat on a hot tin roof (or a dragonfly, temporarily head-injured from hitting the garage door)! Driving with the windows rolled up in the first place might have been smarter in the long run.
Another excuse to keep the windows up on a summer's day is rain. No point in getting wet or God forbid splashed by a semi on the highway or a speeding demon on some city street. The chance of having lightning come in through the car window or sun roof is also not pretty, so better play it safe. On the other hand, especially in cities, sometimes during a downpour, the water can't get away fast enough through the street drains and flooding occurs. In low-lying areas, like underpasses, the water can get too deep within minutes. In the past, as some of you may remember, this has caused serious consequences, including loss of life. Maybe when approaching a situation like this, having even one window down would serve to be an escape route, if worse came to worse. That's only my opinion though, just a thought that crossed my mind. Why I got to always riding with the windows rolled up tightly, even when it's not raining, is mainly habit though, because as you know, it doesn't rain every day.
As you may have guessed, I am nothing if not practical and safety-conscious. My kids as they got older used to tease me when I reminded them about taking their raincoats, etc. They used to say things to the effect that I wanted them to wear their space outfits and boots wherever they went, just as a cautionary measure....We would laugh together....To my mind, that was a perfectly normal request! I think most mothers and fathers would agree. :-)
In my defense though there are other valid reasons. Obviously, the freezing cold of winter is a deterrant to rolled down windows. Who wants to freeze their noses, ears or digits off just to get some fresh air...enough to last you all day at work in an office where there are no windows? I guess not me. But....there are days, even in winter when the temperature soars and the sun shines brightly....so why not roll down the windows and open the sun roof? My excuse? It never crossed my mind. Don't get me wrong, I have been known to open the windows a crack in the dead of winter.
So now, it's been summer officially for a couple months, but in reality only for the last couple of weeks. Why not roll the windows down and ride like the wind or even while parked? Well.....what about vandals? What about thieves? What about blowing dirt and big dogs running loose? I recently listened to directives for work that say you need to keep everything of any value out of sight in your vehicle. Even loose change! They said your garage door opener is an appealing target, because thieves steal it along with your car registration (from the glove box) and then go break into your house. But let's be realistic. There is NOT a boogey man under every bed! In reality, 80% of people are wonderful and 20% are something else. The odds of you getting affected by crime or randomness is pretty minimal, don't you think?....But then again, Karma can be fairly nasty. Oh joy! On the occasions when I have had the opportunity (basically out of necessity) to eat lunch in my car in an unsavoury neighbourhood, I have tended to throw caution to the wind and roll down the windows anyway...especially if there's no one around. Oh, and by the way....keep your heads up. I'ts important to keep track of what's happening around you at all times. Just a little more fodder :-)
What of these 20%? Well....What about when you get to a stop sign or red light? The other day I sat at a red light beside a carload (I mean, six or eight people in an old model, run down something). They were enjoying their music blaring with all the windows rolled down :-)... They were obviously "on" something and some had the typical facial features of fetal alcohol syndrome (poor souls). They were happy as anything, and waving at me and giving me the thumbs up. They obviously thought everyone would love their music as much as they did. I smiled back and returned the thumbs up, all the while quaking in my boots with my foot itching to jump off the brake and floor the gas pedal! I thought about it later....maybe I would benefit from being "on" something, but at the time, I was happy as anything to have my automatic door locks on, my windows rolled up and sun roof firmly secured. There.
I vaguely recalled what led to my overlooking and almost discarding this lovely way of driving.
Bugs are one. Getting hit on the cheek or eye or mouth by a wayward insect makes you want to go for the window roller upper pretty quick. I was scraping paint off the outside of my house yesterday and a mammoth dragonfly flew into the garage door and then did the most startling things...it was a form of the "chicken" really. The buzzing noise he made was frightening, and he flew all over the place, in a confused thrashing way, poor thing. I was ducking and getting out of his road at every turn. The fluttering and grinding of his anntennae, legs and big wings is something I never want to come in contact with. In my books, I want to avoid insect fluttering anywhere near me especially that of moths, who tend to shed a grey powder. So, bugs should be avoided when possible, whether on horseback, riding a bike or whatever, you can easily be "taken out" by an insect, and... when you least expect it! I got hit hard on the cheek by a massive bumble bee one afternoon, on a Honda 50 when I was about 16...we were only half way home. Now that hurt!
If you slow down with your windows open, especially on a cloudy, muggy day (but any day really), black flies, mosquitoes, horseflies, no see um's, etc. usually sense the opportunity for fair game and go for it. These creatures dive bomb and bite and leave you itching or bleeding or both. Some you feel in the moment and can swat, but mostly you find out because you start to scratch some time later. You know, it's those pesky females that do it, because apparently, the males are more docile, or just not built that way (at least for the mosquitoes)..
Wasps, hornets, and spiders are others who seem to find their way inside your car by accident and might have to sting you while trying to find their way back out. The result isn't the innocent mosquito bite, it's more like an injection of painful venom that may or may not cause you to have a severe reaction. You will definitely feel it exactly when it happens...no doubt. Most people can count on one hand how many bee stings they've ever had in their life. They can vividly recount exactly what they were doing at the time. When my son was about four, we were in the straweberry patch on our acreage. His little blue jeans had a gap at the waistband at the back. He was down on his hands and knees playing and a monolith bumble bee started to crawl down the gaping area. His dad saw this and whacked our little boy hard on the backside in order to kill the bee. Oh dear, it was a bee sting and a hit all at the same time....Yes, there was loud wailing involved, but there was no loss of limb and he has grown up to be a fine man.... In fact, you may not know you have an allergy to bee stings until it happens and then know that the plan will include a quick trip to the nearest emergency department for a shot of adrenalin!
Not only that, but all the swatting and enticing of the biting insect, (i.e. bee) out of the cab of the vehicle may cause you, the driver, to swerve all over the road. Not pretty...This erratic driving, to the surrounding drivers, could look like drunk driving, and there's a number to report that. You could find yourself up in front of a magistrate, explaining yourself faster than a cat on a hot tin roof (or a dragonfly, temporarily head-injured from hitting the garage door)! Driving with the windows rolled up in the first place might have been smarter in the long run.
Another excuse to keep the windows up on a summer's day is rain. No point in getting wet or God forbid splashed by a semi on the highway or a speeding demon on some city street. The chance of having lightning come in through the car window or sun roof is also not pretty, so better play it safe. On the other hand, especially in cities, sometimes during a downpour, the water can't get away fast enough through the street drains and flooding occurs. In low-lying areas, like underpasses, the water can get too deep within minutes. In the past, as some of you may remember, this has caused serious consequences, including loss of life. Maybe when approaching a situation like this, having even one window down would serve to be an escape route, if worse came to worse. That's only my opinion though, just a thought that crossed my mind. Why I got to always riding with the windows rolled up tightly, even when it's not raining, is mainly habit though, because as you know, it doesn't rain every day.
As you may have guessed, I am nothing if not practical and safety-conscious. My kids as they got older used to tease me when I reminded them about taking their raincoats, etc. They used to say things to the effect that I wanted them to wear their space outfits and boots wherever they went, just as a cautionary measure....We would laugh together....To my mind, that was a perfectly normal request! I think most mothers and fathers would agree. :-)
In my defense though there are other valid reasons. Obviously, the freezing cold of winter is a deterrant to rolled down windows. Who wants to freeze their noses, ears or digits off just to get some fresh air...enough to last you all day at work in an office where there are no windows? I guess not me. But....there are days, even in winter when the temperature soars and the sun shines brightly....so why not roll down the windows and open the sun roof? My excuse? It never crossed my mind. Don't get me wrong, I have been known to open the windows a crack in the dead of winter.
So now, it's been summer officially for a couple months, but in reality only for the last couple of weeks. Why not roll the windows down and ride like the wind or even while parked? Well.....what about vandals? What about thieves? What about blowing dirt and big dogs running loose? I recently listened to directives for work that say you need to keep everything of any value out of sight in your vehicle. Even loose change! They said your garage door opener is an appealing target, because thieves steal it along with your car registration (from the glove box) and then go break into your house. But let's be realistic. There is NOT a boogey man under every bed! In reality, 80% of people are wonderful and 20% are something else. The odds of you getting affected by crime or randomness is pretty minimal, don't you think?....But then again, Karma can be fairly nasty. Oh joy! On the occasions when I have had the opportunity (basically out of necessity) to eat lunch in my car in an unsavoury neighbourhood, I have tended to throw caution to the wind and roll down the windows anyway...especially if there's no one around. Oh, and by the way....keep your heads up. I'ts important to keep track of what's happening around you at all times. Just a little more fodder :-)
What of these 20%? Well....What about when you get to a stop sign or red light? The other day I sat at a red light beside a carload (I mean, six or eight people in an old model, run down something). They were enjoying their music blaring with all the windows rolled down :-)... They were obviously "on" something and some had the typical facial features of fetal alcohol syndrome (poor souls). They were happy as anything, and waving at me and giving me the thumbs up. They obviously thought everyone would love their music as much as they did. I smiled back and returned the thumbs up, all the while quaking in my boots with my foot itching to jump off the brake and floor the gas pedal! I thought about it later....maybe I would benefit from being "on" something, but at the time, I was happy as anything to have my automatic door locks on, my windows rolled up and sun roof firmly secured. There.
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