Driving on Christmas

It was decided that we needed pizza today. It's unfortunate to want pizza on Christmas; there's nowhere to get it and the grocery store has too many other choices. We ended up at Safeway, looking for pizza when the craving for Chinese food came to us. Safeway Chinese food is good for satisfying the craving but ours had just closed up their deli. Bummer. We then decided that Chinese food was our food to get. We thought for sure that there would be at least one decent Chinese restaurant open. (It happens in the movies.) We were mistaken. We drove around for about an hour trying to find Chinese food or pizza. Jack in the Box ended up messing up our order and we're home now. But that's not the point of this. While we were driving the streets of Salem Oregon - from one end of Lancaster Drive to the other we saw so many weirdo drivers... I made a list.

• Car turns left on red light from Lancaster onto Sunnyview. Granted the oncoming traffic was a bit down the road still, except for the green mini van who had to slow down... Whoa. That was close.
• Another quarter mile slips by, driver puts his head out the driver window to look at me over his shoulder and then proceeds to cut me off. Perhaps he thought eye contact was how drivers ought to signal their intentions. Good thing I have decent reflexes. Another close call.
• During this same incident of lane changing, a white car turns out of a parking lot and takes the car who just cut me off's spot in front of me.
• Driving through downtown there was more of the same mayhem. People were even throwing soda cans out their car windows.
• Another car drove into the oncoming lane for about a block before pulling up next to someone's lawn, whipping back into the street and then settling in on the grass.

 I understand that the holiday means that the police force will be light. But you have to know that the police men and women who are on patrol are probably pretty pissed off and will pull you over for anything and write you a ticket just for making them have to work.
I learned that when we drive on Christmas, we need to be extra mindful of the morons. I can't afford a new car but if I'm not watching for them, I might have to.