Tag: long line

Posted in Life

Justice

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I saw the small black car coming in my rear view mirror. He had to be traveling twice as fast as I was. He didn’t slow until he was right up on my tail.

I don’t know why, but I could tell he was looking for an opening, an opportunity just big enough to slip through and pass me. He found one. He vanished, only to reappear two lanes to my left on the tail of another car.

I knew he wouldn’t stay there for long. Sure enough, as soon as a few inches appeared, he came across both lanes again and cut right in front of me. I hardly had time to touch the brakes before he was gone again, accelerating ahead of the truck next to me.

I lost sight of him for a moment. Then I caught a glimpse of him weaving back and forth across all three lanes before suddenly turning into Dunkin.

Much to my delight, he pulled in behind an unusually long line of drive through cars that wound around the building, through the parking lot, and out into the street.

A little justice always brings a smile to my face.

Posted in Life, questions, waiting

A long, long line

Posted on by William Douthwaite

img_7631.jpg“Hey honey, what do you want to do this afternoon?”

“I don’t know. The house is clean, lawn’s cut, dog bathed, laundry’s done, bills paid, supper’s in the crock pot. Not much going on around here. Let’s go wait in the car rider line at school for a couple of hours.”

Said no one ever. Except, apparently, in our community. Elementary school dismisses at 3:30 pm. The first cars arrive to get in line to pick up their kids at about 2:15 pm. By 2:45, there are fifty cars in line, on the south side, on the north side and on the east side of the school. I can’t even imagine how long the line is at 3, never mind 3:30 when the fist child walks out the door. No matter what you do, you’re in for a long wait, on a hot afternoon, with the car and AC running all that time.

My math brain wonders what the optimal arrival time is. It’s probably not the first to arrive, nor the last. There must be a sweet spot where you aren’t too far back and don’t have to arrive absurdly early. If I had to do that, I would hack that system to find the arrival time that actually made for the shortest wait time.

However, I would last about one day in that line before I started screaming and tearing my hair out. Our sweet spot was to let our kids ride the bus and for us it worked out well. That plus a little bit of extended day made mornings and afternoons easier. Those might not be the best choices for some, but I’m amazed how many have the free time and the patience to sit that long in the car rider line!

I won’t even talk about walking to school, because then I’ll start to sound really old…

But I will wonder out loud, “What’s the longest line I’ve ever waited in?” Interesting question. Airport? It felt longer but probably wasn’t more than an hour to check in or go through security. Disney? Probably 90 minutes for a ride. International immigration? I think I did a few 2 hour waits for a visa and passport stamp. 

But those were isolated incidents. It would be tough to do that every day.