Bumper To Bumper

There were dark clouds covering the sky when I left work.
I didn't think much of it. Storms have been pretty frequent in the area recently.
Though I end up being home usually when the storms roll by.
I did note that there was lightning flashing on the horizon.

However, I had errands to run. I needed more groceries.
And I rereached my car, just as the first droplets began to fall.
I wasn't really focused on the wetness though.

No the clouds held my attention.
Low, dark grey.
I literally thought the clouds would overtake the storm.
It felt a lot like God's might coming to smite the world.
The clouds overtook the area soo quickly, heading towards their date with the mountains.

They were so intense that there were people all over the place taking video and snapping photos of the cloud bank.

I didn't.
I got into my car.
I wanted to get home.
And I finally did.

...an hour later.

I hadn't gone far when the storm hit full force.
Strong winds. Blowing like a mini hurricane. Breaking branches off of trees and sending them to hit cars passing by. Something hit my car, but idk if it was a branch, but something made a thunk.
The rain too, hit with such force that I expected all the paint to be turboed away to the silver beneath.
It was like getting hit by a powerwash in an automatic car wash. Intense!
My wipers were going a mile a minute!
But my tires weren't.
It's a ten minute drive on a good day between home and work. (or the grocery store that's nearby.)
It took me seven minutes to rereach work. In a place where it usually takes two.
The traffic was bumper to bumper. Stop and go.
Initially I thought it was due to the rain. I mean, I was glad to just be crawling along, I barely see as it was going 10mph.
But I remembered, traffic had already been backed up as I headed to the store.
So rush hour traffic?
No...it's Saturday, there shouldn't be rush hour.
Then I remembered Fluffy mentioning that there was a football game this evening.
But surely...that couldn't be it. The game didn't start for another three or four hours.
That left the thought that maybe there had been an accident.
And at one of the intersections, I found a stalled out car.
Only, traffic was still backed up.
It took me like 20 minutes to finally reach State Street.
When that stretch of road would take...like 5 minutes if I hit every light along the way.
Wow. That street was literally a river due to all the rain.
Cars would send up plums of water like twice their height when they drove through the intersection.
The water was definitely up to the top of the tires if you picked the wrong lane to drive in.
(I picked one with low water levels. Yay. :) )
Was it this river of water slowing down traffic?
Nope.
Still bumper to bumper.
It took me seven minutes to pass by the mall. Which is usually a thirty second drive by.
And that's when I found the problem.
A light was out.
Sending the traffic into a four way stop mode. Hence backing up the traffic all the way from the freeway for a couple of miles.
But I finally crossed that barrier and
Freedom!!
Or not.
I reached the bottom of the hill...
and encountered more bumper to bumper traffic.
Why?
Yet another light was out. :S
It took me yet another 15 minutes to get through that light and pass by my favorite food place -Zupas.
Freedom again?
Why yes.
Because I took Freedom Blvd.
Why?
Because the traffic was still backed up!
Why?
Dun dun. The local college football game.
Cars were parked blocks away on the side streets, and even more cars were trying to find parking spots.
Hence...stopping traffic in its tracks.
However, I remembered an alternate route. Via freedom.
And I took it!
And resumed my usual getting home from work pace.
But. In the end. It took me an hour to get home!
AN HOUR.
When usually it takes me 10-15 minutes to get home depending on lights.
Wowza.
I must say I'm totally grateful I finally managed to have my own assigned parking spot in the underground parking of my complex. Because I wouldn't want to have walked through the rain...even if I had found a parking spot on the street nearby (silly cars, blocking up all the places for the game.)

I definitely need to keep tabs on when there are local football games. So I can remember to take an alternate route that avoids taking me close by the college. lol

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Dream.

I dream that I looked at my banking account, and saw that I only had $28 dollars left in my account! NOT GOOD. Not when I'd just barely checked the day before and I had hundreds of dollars in that account. Ah! How had I gone so wrong in my calculations?
Well I hadn't. When I was buying something at the store, someone had gotten a hold of my debit number and they were spending my money!
But it wasn't in big purchases.
No they were using it on a ton of 99 cent or a couple dollar purchases. Inexpensive things.
Desperately I tried to remember how to cancel my card so that they couldn't spend my money and I would be able to get what had already been taken from my account back....

when the unholy tones of daylight pulled me away....
and I became myself again. :)

-S.N.D