The coming Cash Crash

We are told that some people are seriously considering making The United States of America the first cash-less society. Should this happen, and I'm not the one who is saying that it will, would it have any impact at all on drivers.

I think the only thing that we regularly pay for in cash are toll charges, but that is because we choose to do so. We can obtain reader buttons where a computer reads our data as we keep moving, or we can pay by ordinary debit card. We presently consider that too much trouble, but if we had to we could do so.

Every thing else we consume along the way can be paid for by card, so the driving community seems to already be cash-less, and it happened almost by stealth.

On this subject it has been predicted that something major might happen on March 15th, 2016 that may lead to the U.S. doing away with cash.

We will just have to wait and see.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael

Where a driver's life is very difficult

In my other principal blog, http://formenseyesonly.blogspot.com, I have written this week of global warming, but because that is a reality is still doesn't mean that in the upper regions there is no snow. There is plenty of snow, while down at sea level, in some places we see people on the beaches and actually swimming in normal bathing attire. What a wonderful winter this is indeed. It's great to have such delightful warm days, even if the nights turn very cold. If you live in those areas where heavy snowfall is common I think that life must be very hard for you in the winter.

The news media are all too happy to broadcast pictures from such regions of snow that rises up to the roof, thereby blocking doors. You have to shovel your way out the door and down the pathway to your car. Now you have to try and remember where exactly  you left your car, because if you get it wrong you dig out someone's else' car instead.

My worst problem might be the clearing away from the car of frost on the windscreen. I will be inconvenienced the few minutes it takes for that to be completed. By comparison, after digging your way out of the house and finding the car, there is also the problem of just walking around without falling and breaking a part of your body.

I have lived in Canada, both in Toronto and Montreal, and I have visited Halifax in the middle of winter. I found I was so cold there that it was impossible to simply walk along main street without going in one shop to take a little heat before stopping next door to do the same thing. Some cities are built of a downstairs and an upstairs part to accommodate the seasons.

This is to say that I have the greatest respect for the hardiness of people who can adapt themselves to living in very harsh climates. I know that with central heating life indoors can be very comfortable, but you have to come outside sometimes, and that's when the men get seperated from the tourists.

I hope you all appreciate what global warming is doing to make life a little easier for you.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael   

Driving with Love

This is St. Valentine's Day weekend, a time for lovers to renew their love for one another, but also a time for us all to soften our hearts to find love towards one another. We can do it whenever we want to. Usually it takes some kind of crisis to galvanise us into action, but we all have a reservoir of love within us and when it comes flowing out it is a wonderous thing to see.

We didn't have to wait for St. Valentine's Day for an excuse to treat one another with respect and love from behind the driver's wheel. It's really an easy thing to do. We usually call it road courtesy. The British are masters at the practise of courtesy. Some countries, that shall remain nameless, have never heard of the concept. Here's how it works: let's say that we are pulling into a parking bay and we need to square up the car. Another car is coming along but is far enough away to allow us to start the process. All we need is one more second to finish. If the passing car would just stop and let us finish, that would be an act of kindness and affection that will be returned when it is other car's turn to park.

Sometimes two cars are trying to complete the same manoeuvre at the same time. If one driver would simply indicate to the other:  "after you, old boy," that would be a very good  thing to do to add to the day's  pleasent outcome.

There are countless ways in which we can add to other people's experiences. For instance, For years another man and I would pass one another at the same place on our way to work. We evidently left home at the same time, and after a while I tried to time it so that I was in the place at the precise point in time, and there he would be, going in the opposite direction. We would wave a greeting that absolutely made my day. I think it made his as well.

The ultimate in giving love along the road comes from Johnnie Barnes. He is a man in my native Bermuda, who for more than seventy years has been greeting passersby on their way to work. He waves and he reassures us all that he loves us. For this he has become known around the world and a visit to Bermuda without going to see Johnnie to tell him that we love him too, means that your visit is not complete.

You don't need a script, just follow your heart and do an act of random kindness. Your day will be  much brighter, and you will certainly brighten my day.

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael  

An accidental misunderstanding

This past week I observed one of the saddest, slow motion accidents narrowly avoided. It is time I remind us to be vigilent for these circumstances.

The setup goes like this: you are waiting at the exit of your estate road to enter into the main road. A car is coming from your left, if you drive in a country that has driving on the right-hand side; or from your right if you drive in the United Kingdom. The car is signalling that he will turn right, which you assume he means that he will turn into the same road you are exiting. There is no other traffic on the road so you move out across his path which you think he will abandon by turning off. No! He means that he will turn right into the next entrance, so by moving out he will most likely smash into the driver's side of your car.

A genuine case of a simple misunderstanding. No one was reckless in this case, but still we now have two cars ready to be written off. All you can do is say, but I thought, etc, and you would be wrong.

What can be done to avoid this happening to you?

We can make it a golden rule that when faced with this set of circumstances we should stand firm and not move untill we are absolutely certain where he is going. We can also stop if there is a car on the roundabout. If we think he is going to go off on the exit before he gets to us, we will be wrong more times than not. That's called Murphy's Law.  

Keep this in mind and you won't go too far wrong.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael