As hard as it is to believe, we are already in June! Today is Sunday, June 2.  There are only 206 days until Christmas.  By now the fruit cakes should be done and ready to be sent to relatives.  It is the birthday of Marquis de Sade, Sally Kellerman and Dana Carvey.  Today, in 1835, P.T. Barnum and his circus began its first tour of the US; in 1924 U.S. citizenship was granted to all American Indians and in 1977 NJ allowed casino gambling in Atlantic City.  It is Seaman's Day in Iceland, Youth Day in Tunisia and Teacher's Day in Massachusetts.

Last weekend we went "down the shore" to visit our friend Pat for a couple days.  We left on a Friday afternoon, not something we would normally do.  It was the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, a Friday and it was raining.  A trio guaranteed to make it a long trip. And it was, but it was worth it.  We know that when we get to Pat's there will be wine, food, laughter and M & M's waiting, so we don't mind the trip too much.

What makes the trip interesting is the ride on the parkway.  I am constantly amazed by the number of people on the road who should not be driving. Some of them drive like they should not even be out without a handler.  It is obvious that they do not or cannot read the signs that are posted.  There is a section, shortly after we get on the road that has two exits that come very close together.  So close that they share the exit lane.  All the way along there are signs that say Exit Only.  I would think that is fairly clear - Exit Only. In other words, if you are not exiting, get out of this lane.  A great many people cut into this lane so that they can get ahead of as many as three or four cars and then get backinto the  traffic going five miles an hour.  I estimate that they took a full 10 seconds off their trip.  Wow!

I think the State  Police should have officers just after the exit pulling people over who do not get off and giving them tickets for not exiting.  Or they should have them at the exit making them get off, since they were in the exit only lane.  They could give them a choice - exit here and find your way back to the road or pull up onto the shoulder where you can be issued a ticket.  Either way, there should be some consequence for their actions.

Another thing I noticed was the need to slow down and look at things that are not really that unusual.  At one point wewere crawling along at two mph.  Just ahead, there was a car pulled over and a state trooper was issuing a ticket.  As we passed the police car traffic opened up and we began doing the speed limit, or in many cases, way above the limit.  The only reason for slowing down was to look at the trooper issuing a ticket. If the officer was a gorgeous, topless woman, I could see slowing down, otherwise what was the big deal?  Keep moving and keep your eyes on the road.

I am constantly puzzled by things on the parkway. For example, we are moving along at four or five mph and then suddenly the road opens and we are going the speed limit.  We drive along that way for a few minutes and then suddenly everything slows down to four or five again.  Nowhere along the road do you see a reason for why things had slowed down and you have to wonder why we were able to speed up for several miles and then go back to crawling again.  Another thing that gets me is you are driving along and people are whizzing by you. All of a sudden, they spot a patrol car partially hidden on the side of the road.  They slow down, but they slow down to below the posted speed limit. Why go slower?  Do they think going slower will average out with the speeding to the speed limit?  And why slow down at all? By the time you see the car, he has seen you and clocked your speed.

I am convinced that when people are driving they do not look beyond the hood of their car.  They come along behind a car that is going slower than they are so they quickly change lanes to go around.  Now they are behind another car going slower so they have to go back to the lane they were in and try the other side of the car.  If they had looked before changing, they might have seen the car that would be in their way.  I guess looking ahead would take the challenge out of driving.

What I wish is that I could be in a helicopter above a traffic jam and fly to the beginning of it to see what caused it.  Nothing makes me crazier than to spend an hour sitting in traffic and then have the road open up and everything get back to normal. I always feel that if I am sitting in traffic that long, there should be the wreckage of a plane crash or six-car pileup or something.  There should be evidence of whatever caused the slowdown.  It should not just suddenly open up with nothing to show why it was slow in the first place.  At the very least one of those signs that says "Click it or ticket" should explain why we were going slowly.  I guess some things just have to be accepted because there is no explanation.  I guess.

This week's fact  - For every "normal" webpage, there are five porn pages.  I have nothing to say about that except, "Where are all these pages and why haven't I heard about them before this??"