Slow downs
Thursday, 1 January 2026
Getting clean…a fine idea for beginning the new year.
Traditional Southern New Year’s meal, also a fine idea.
As to the title, we were driving back to ATL from our tasty luncheon in the late afternoon. It turned out that we were driving into the sun, which on several stretches was directly in our eyes. This was additionally tricky because we were on a two-lane relatively rural road with no extra space between the pavement and the ditch. Tricky. The technical term is a sunshine slow-down.
A bit further along, we happened on lines of cars pulled off the road (just barely: narrow road, remember) and parked almost in the ditch, with people standing next to road or walking in the lanes to join clusters of loiterers. Very strange. We eased our way along, passing dozens more vehicles. Increasingly strange. Then, coming at us, driving slowly, we encountered a police car with flashing lights. And around another curve, we found a line of walking Buddhist monks, maybe a dozen, with a dog on a leash, following the police car.
I’m taking all this as good omens for our 2026.