Cuddling with Traffic
Today I desperately needed to see something other than harvested tobacco, peanut, soy, and cotton fields. And, if you've been reading any of the recent posts you know that I REALLY needed to breathe some dirty air. Well, I am in Dixie and the air just doesn't get that dirty down here. I know . . . I know . . . someone out there is sayin' sure it does, just come on over to this here manure pile. While that smell is nasty, it is not dirty. What I am talking about is the dirty of traffic. The dirty of congestion. The dirty of jerk offs who drive one person to a car, when car pooling, bike riding, or subway hoping would be so much cheaper, efficient, and eco-friendly. I know, that was my green moment of the day.
So, I drove up to Richmond to pic up some shot blocks for when I run. Really, they do help prevent cramping. I jumped in my trusty little Ford and cruised I-95 to Whole Foods. The thing you have to remember is that Richmond is a city on the bridge of modernity with antebellum sensibilities (as a southerner would say). Glass and concrete skyscrapers produce a tiny skyline amidst cathedrals and buildings dating back to the colonies. Parts of the city still reek of the Old South, historical markers litter the landscape like greeting cards from the past, and the statues on Monument Ave stand amongst buildings of Georgian columns and sleepy trees (see here for a reminder).
And here is the familiar sight, I was so accustomed to seeing on my travels to and fro for the past decade or so.
I bet you have a hunch as to what I did. I rolled the window down, stuck my head out, and breathed in deeply. Now, as just about anyone should know, nothing can compare to the odors of NYC (which aren't always so good). Yet, my trained nose that can smell the sweet scent of salt water over the Norfolk yards can also detect that slightly nauseating aroma of car exhaust and tanker fumes. It was BEAUTIFUL. So much so that this displaced academic smiled all the way into Whole Foods. Such a sweet release.
Here's where I should tell you that members of my old Kentucky High School crew can tell you that when we moved to the d'ville I was a displaced city girl in a small tobacco town. I won't tell you the things my evil teenage friends told me, but I will tell you that when the band made its annual trip to Cincinnati for our performance at a Reds Game I pushed down the yellow bus window and stuck my head out for that sweet smell of city life. My friends roared with laughter, and more than most of them remember my absolute love of smelling the smog. They were all covering their noses and shaking their heads at me. I . . .I was in complete joy. Today was almost like that, except Dixie smog is just too clean after you embraced the armoas of NYC and elsewhere.
On the way home, traffic got backed up for awhile and I felt like I was cuddling with an old friend while I waited in traffic. Sadly, the Verizon network was down today or I would have posted on Facebook and sent a text message around the world to tell everyone of my cuddling with traffic. Ahhhh . . . my cuddling today and nasal embrace worked as a momentary fix. Not a cure, but a fix indeed.
Sigh . . .
So, I drove up to Richmond to pic up some shot blocks for when I run. Really, they do help prevent cramping. I jumped in my trusty little Ford and cruised I-95 to Whole Foods. The thing you have to remember is that Richmond is a city on the bridge of modernity with antebellum sensibilities (as a southerner would say). Glass and concrete skyscrapers produce a tiny skyline amidst cathedrals and buildings dating back to the colonies. Parts of the city still reek of the Old South, historical markers litter the landscape like greeting cards from the past, and the statues on Monument Ave stand amongst buildings of Georgian columns and sleepy trees (see here for a reminder).
And here is the familiar sight, I was so accustomed to seeing on my travels to and fro for the past decade or so.
I bet you have a hunch as to what I did. I rolled the window down, stuck my head out, and breathed in deeply. Now, as just about anyone should know, nothing can compare to the odors of NYC (which aren't always so good). Yet, my trained nose that can smell the sweet scent of salt water over the Norfolk yards can also detect that slightly nauseating aroma of car exhaust and tanker fumes. It was BEAUTIFUL. So much so that this displaced academic smiled all the way into Whole Foods. Such a sweet release.
Here's where I should tell you that members of my old Kentucky High School crew can tell you that when we moved to the d'ville I was a displaced city girl in a small tobacco town. I won't tell you the things my evil teenage friends told me, but I will tell you that when the band made its annual trip to Cincinnati for our performance at a Reds Game I pushed down the yellow bus window and stuck my head out for that sweet smell of city life. My friends roared with laughter, and more than most of them remember my absolute love of smelling the smog. They were all covering their noses and shaking their heads at me. I . . .I was in complete joy. Today was almost like that, except Dixie smog is just too clean after you embraced the armoas of NYC and elsewhere.
On the way home, traffic got backed up for awhile and I felt like I was cuddling with an old friend while I waited in traffic. Sadly, the Verizon network was down today or I would have posted on Facebook and sent a text message around the world to tell everyone of my cuddling with traffic. Ahhhh . . . my cuddling today and nasal embrace worked as a momentary fix. Not a cure, but a fix indeed.
Sigh . . .
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