Welcome to “Spot the Looney” where once again we invite you to come with us all over the world to meet all kinds of people in all kinds of places, and ask you to…”Spot the Looney”!
In today’s game, we’ve got several challenging candidates to choose from between Enloe High School and my house so let’s get right into it and play “Spot the Looney”!
Possible Looney #1 – Milburnie Road
This scenario requires a bit of a visual aid where we will be making the right turn onto the Milburnie Road from New Bern Avenue to take a narrow two lane road to the back of Enloe High School:
Literally right at the right turn from New Bern Avenue (a very busy road this time of morning), two cars had come together in a celebration of physics and the concept of an inelastic collision.
Ordinarily people meeting each other in such a way would pull off the road to the right as far as possible so that other cars could get round them.
Instead, they were actually parked side-by-side and to make the situation even more exciting, the driver’s side door of the car closer to the centre line of Milburnie was wide open requiring anyone trying to get past to actually ride over the concrete island.
On the way back home passing by on New Bern Avenue in the other direction (having made a left turn off Shanta which is the last chance to make a left onto New Bern Avenue or else you’d end up at that right turn off Milburnie near the centre of the illustration), they’d finally gotten the clue and moved nose-to-tail.
I suspect the Raleigh PD unit that had arrived on scene to attend to the crash report helped them find a clue that apparently didn’t come naturally to them.
Possible Looney #2 – Bertie Road
Bertie roughly parallels the back side of the Enloe High School campus and in the morning can be a harrowing journey at the best of times with student drivers trying to park on the school side of the road, people stopping randomly to dump their passengers, and the usual tailback to make the left turn into the rear of the school where you’re dodging oncoming traffic, impatient people leaving the school premises inexplicably turning left onto Bertie instead of right which is *MUCH* easier, and students crossing the roads in random places.
Today’s second candidate decided to park up on the right side of Bertie facing the massive conga line coming their way toward the left turn for the one entrance to the school grounds on Bertie.
That was bad enough.
But what really earns him consideration as a prize looney was the decision to open the passenger side door and step perilously close to the middle of the street with zero warning in relative darkness literally as a vehicle was about to pass by.
That vehicle was my Traverse and I was forced to take evasive action into the oncoming lane which was fortunately empty of cars as we were a bit earlier than when the madness is at it’s peak.
Possible Looney #3 – A Looney!
Possible Looney #4 – Coming Up The Hill To Drop Off Alex Near Cafeteria
Just because you’ve survived the enthusiastic opportunity to participate in a demolition derby on Bertie doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily home free heading up the hill to the back of the cafeteria to the drop-off point.
Not only are cars coming down the hill from two different directions often piloted by people who haven’t the faintest clue about the rules of the road when it concerns right-of-way, you’re also often dodging students who’ll occasionally cross the tarmac at random and unexpected points.
In fairness, most of them do keep to the unpaved bits on either side and probably half are conversant with the concept of looking left and right before crossing.
But then there are the ones who are a special kind of oblivious who will be walking in the centre of the pavement pretty much from the two car parks this little street bisects all the way up to the footpaths to take you into the school.
They’ve either got these massive headphones completely covering their ears that would warn them of engine noises approaching them from the rear or they’re staring at the phone in their hand without a concern about what’s round them that could injure or kill them.
And just because they’re past the usual crossing points doesn’t mean they’re not going to cross the street anyway all the while being mesmerised by their phones.
It’s a miracle that no one has run into these students who apparently haven’t been taught basic situational awareness and survival techniques.
But as we were idling our way up the hill at 1 mph behind such an oblivious student who was far more interested in his phone than not being run over, we were treated to the bonus sight of the top of the sweatpants he was rocking not reaching the bottom of his buttocks.
I understand that it’s a fashion trend amongst the young but I’d argue that it’s a *BREATHTAKINGLY STUPID TREND* that should have been instantly obvious from the off.
These walking offences against underwear etiquette are doing quite well at showing the world that they are ready to take their place as an easily manipulated sheep or should he go in for criminal activity, an easily apprehended one when his trousers decide to betray him into the hands of the coppers at the worst possible instant by succumbing to gravity!
I seem to remember a dress code when I was at school that was actively enforceable when I was that age that would never have tolerated half the stuff I see kids wearing these days and certainly the trousers at half mast would have been strictly verboten and swiftly corrected. It wouldn’t be the worst idea to see the old ways of doing things make a long overdue return… 🙁
Possible Looney #5 – Bonus Visual Challenge!
This one is another photo challenge that will require some intense concentration…look really hard and see if you can “Spot the Looney”… 😉
(To those who might be easily offended…it’s called a *JOKE* people…we desperately need a sense of humour in these trying times! It’s the only way we’re going to survive the next three years without going stark staring mad ourselves!)
The Verdict
The correct answer of course is that they’re all loonies!
Thanks for playing and be well until next time when we’ll invite you back round to “Spot the Looney”!
