It is Sunday, January 13.  There are only 274 days until my birthday so you might want to start shopping.  I like watches, Starbucks coffee, Barnes and Noble or I-Tunes gift cards or cash.  By the way, Christmas is only 44 days later.  Today is the birthday of Salmon P. Chase, Sophie Tucker and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  On this day in 1794 Congress changed the flag to 15 stars and 15 stripes, in 1898 Emile Zola published his open letter (J’accuse) in defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus in Paris and in 1967 the Rolling Stones appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.  It is Redemption Day in Ghana, Liberation Day in Togo and Stephen Foster Memorial Day here in the US.

So, the lovely Elaine and I were out and about this weekend and we were on Route 80, going to PA.  I noticed two things that made me curious.  One of those was the signs that warned me that the bridge may freeze before the roadway.  What I want to know is, how soon before the roadway?  Do I have an hour, a day, a week, or how long?  The other thing is how do I know if the bridge has frozen?  Does it change color or do something that would indicate that it is frozen?  Aside from that, what am I supposed to do about it?  If I slow down each time I come to a bridge, on the off chance that it has already frozen, it will take me far too long to get anywhere.  It will also incur a fair amount of road rage from my fellow travelers.  I am not fond of having everyone show me the “social” (middle) finger.  I knew someone who said it must be the social finger, because we are always giving it to people.  Besides then I feel it would be impolite to not salute them back, thus causing even more trouble.

The other thing I wonder about is the signs telling me about a lane shift.  Are there people who actually need to be told about a lane shift?  They can’t tell by seeing the lines in the road?  If the driver is even mildly alert, they should notice which way the lane is going and not need to be told that there is a shift.  If they do not notice the shift, perhaps they should not be driving, or perhaps they should hang up the phone and watch the road.

Another thing I noticed were the protest signs that say, “End Road Work.”  While I agree with that because it makes a mess of traffic, it is needed to keep the roads … Never mind.  I have been told that the signs are there to let you know you have left the work zone so you can now increase your speed to 20 miles over the limit to make up the time you lost.

Here is one other thing I am curious about.  Why is it that work is done on more than one section at a time, thereby jamming up the road repeatedly.  For example, the Parkway, where sections are being worked on for the whole length of the road.  This manages to screw up traffic repeatedly as you drive along.  What makes it worse is that it seems to take forever for the job to be finished.  I think it would make much more sense to get everybody together, with all their equipment, complete one section and then move along to the next area.  This would allow the job to be completed more quickly and would only mess up traffic in one area at a time.

Of course, that is just my opinion and you know what I always say about opinions – they are like butts.  Everybody has one and they are all different.

Well, in memory of Stephen Foster, belt out a chorus of “Swanee River” or “De Camptown Races”, get your Easter shopping list set and have a good week.