Pollution on the Road

Salt Lake

Hello,

Nora was losing her voice last night and it was even softer this morning. It was clear she should not practice singing in the afternoon for the Sunday School Christmas program. She wanted her mom to stay home so I was the driver for Olivia who, in spite of a cough, was still in good health.

Olivia and I set out with enough time to get to the church a bit ahead of the scheduled start. As we advanced up State Street to the Interstate ramp I remembered Miriam talking about it taking 45 minutes, during Christmas shopping season on a Saturday, to get to a mall that is just past the ramp. Even Olivia was trying to help me out by telling me to get in the other lane because people were going faster over there. I did change lanes once because I would need to be there later to get on the ramp. Just as in the grocery store I have a talent for frequently picking the lane that is sure to slow to a stop. It did not take us 45 minutes, but we only had about three minutes to go when we got on the ramp. I suspected it takes about ten minutes from that point, so I, the person who likes to be early, resigned myself to being late. When Olivia looked at the cars on the Interstate she declared, “There is no traffic here.” I could almost agree.

On the drive home I again took State Street, because I had previously noticed that the oncoming lanes were not so full. I had learned which of the two turn lanes I should be in to get on the popular street with only one light cycle. So that was not so hard. As soon as we got past the exit for a big store we were mostly in the clear. The road construction causes people not to know which lanes to use so I mostly sailed along in the left lane with little company making our homeward trip quite simple.

One of the reasons that the roads are so crowded is that Mormons do not believe in shopping on Sunday, consequently they must get most of it done on Saturday and the roads are full of people striving to reach that shopping Mecca called the Mall.

Paula