Tuesday, December 22, 2009  The Madness of Saint Nick  What is
it about the Christmas season that turns the drivers on my
streets into looney tunes?  I had to go out today and it was as
though somebody had opened the doors to the insane asylum, gave
the departing inmates random sets of car keys as they left, and
told them to go crazy.  And they did: Hey, Mabel -- What does
this pedal do? Huh! Look at that! How about this here lever ...
?  I have a small and nimble automobile. I elect defensive
paranoia as my operating mode when I am on the road -- I believe
they are all out to get me, and I win if I get home alive and
not too dinged up.  Today, they almost got me. People turned
into a shopping center driveway and then stopped when there was
no reason I could see, blocking traffic into the street.  I got
behind somebody who apparently thought it was okay to read War
and Peace on his iPhone at a traffic light. Who, after sitting
through the green, looked up pissed off when I honked at him.
People pulled out in