B E B E R E

People doing stuff in cars.

Boy, oh boy. Hal certainly was right when he said that people don't so much drive here as "do stuff in cars."

I'm used to the folks on the cellphones looking left only while pulling into intersections; nothing I can do about them except wait until they pass by. Idem for the people who don't bother with niceties like signalling what direction they're going to turn, if that's indeed what they're intending to do (you can never tell). Forget about pedestrian lights or the painted lines in the streets: 90% of the drivers ignore them.

I'm okay with all that; have made my peace with these little peculiarities. What really gets to me are the gosh-darned three (or four or five) point and U-turns on busy streets with no warning whatsoever. Absolutely cannot fathom them. People who come to a dead stop in the road and try to wave me across floor me as well. What are you thinking - is this some way to assuage the guilt feelings for having cut someone else off before? This is worse than that, as not only is it illegal, it's dangerous. What's stopping the person behind you from rear ending you? Or a driver coming from the opposite direction from plowing into me because I did decide to take you up on your ill-conceived generosity?

There's a reason why, after 1/2 a life in Boston, I've never bothered getting a MA license: am pretty convinced that it's little more than a Cracker Jack prize. I actually had to pass tests and prove competencies to get my NYS one.