Christmas craziness- it is not OK to go slow

My day job is in the freight industry and the period leading up to Christmas is the busiest time of the year, this year we had record volumes flowing through our facilities. For the last 25 years I have had operational roles and have more or less worked up to the twenty fourth and then been knackered over Christmas itself.

This year it is a little different and I had the week before Christmas off and arrived at Christmas Day refreshed and relaxed.

I am also enjoying my longest break in my entire adult working career and still have a week to go before I get back to the grindstone and what is likely to be another busy year and have been on the road a lot one way or another.

This is the time of the year when many of us are on the roads. The roads are full of local and overseas travelers. And this is also the time of the year that there is the most tension and frustration on the road driven by volume and congestion and the driving antics of people that clearly couldn't give a rat's arse about everyone else they are sharing the road.

Given improvements in the main roads, vehicles, and also cultural changes to our acceptance of drunk driving and speed, the biggest danger on our roads are the people that constantly travel well below the speed limit and impede the flow of traffic behind them. These are the kind of people that cautiously negotiate corners at ten kilometres and hour below the signed speed suggestions and then once they hit a straight piece of road or a passing lane speed up so that it makes it more difficult for people to pass them.

Speed is still an issue but I don't know what value there is in pulling someone over for speeding on a good two lane highway and ignoring the mobile road block that has a tail of traffic behind it getting more and more frustrated at the lack of courtesy shown by that driver.

Over the years campaigns focusing on speed and drunk driving have been very successful in changing our attitudes to speeding and drink driving. It is about time the same focus was put on changing the habits of those of us that think it is ok to drive on the main roads at speeds that impede traffic. Maybe we can have a new motto- it is not ok to go slow.

The week before Christmas

I have been on leave from my day job all week and have found it quite liberating. Not only have I managed to complete most of my self appointed tasks, as well as the little extra's that popped up after a weekend's riding; new rear tyre, new barkbusters, and home made tail tidy after the OEM rego plate holder came loose. I have also managed to complete at least a few of the tasks set by the command authority, and get her Christmas presents as well. The ones instructed me to get and the ones I bought when I had clear instructions not to use my initiative.

I have found the week liberating in other ways, no mad rush to do any shopping, getting out and about when everyone else is working is a great feeling. More importantly I am pretty rested, which is pretty unusual for me at the this time of the year and I am going to have a good long break.

I was going to write about some interesting things I had seen this week or done. I did get caught behind a woman in convertible the other day who decided to stop in an admittedly slow stream of traffic and put the soft top up. Probably so she could start texting without anyone being the wiser. Texting being the number one cause of accidents on our roads so I am led to believe.

I also manged to get out and road test the new rear tyre and do a few more km's on my bike.

As I navigated to the blog from my Facebook page it struck me again how my blog and books seem popular in what I would consider unusual parts of the world considering I am a white middle aged, middle class male, of centre right political views, writing science fiction with a distinctly kiwi flavour. Though, any of the current crop of American Republican Presidential campaigners and their media cheer leaders would consider my views somewhere to the left of of Lenin.

For reasons that are beyond me my blog gets more hits from Brasil, Italy, and Spain and the Skid Chronicles Facebook page is popular in India. If I could work out how this happened I would no doubt be wealthier than I am today and my novels would be selling in the tens of thousands and not just the tens.......