Those who learn in the city make better drivers than country boys
On Tuesday, Oct. 10, the Old Men of the Mountain met at Gibby’s Diner in Quaker Street.
Unfortunately, this scribe was unable to attend due to unalterable foreseen circumstances; however, the names were taken as usual to protect the innocent. The report is using unused notes from previous meetings, as nothing new was reported.
Interesting notes are noted in a little notebook brought to the breakfast so this scribe is able to jog his memory when putting this report together. Sometimes the notes are noted but the content is not for a family paper so the scribe often wonders why they were even noted.
This first noted subject comes up quite often and that is driving, and comments the OFs make about how they drive and what the OFs do in certain situations. Some of the comments are information on road conditions, and this is helpful to the rest of the group.
Some are just how one OF style of driving is compared to another’s — the other OFs could care less because with their ages the habits of driving are well cast. The warnings and driving conditions are a different story.
At times, who makes the better driver has been brought up. Is it those who learn in the country, or those who learn in the city?
The basic conclusion is that those who learn in the city make better drivers than the good old country boys on their country roads where the only things they have to dodge are the deer, turkeys, and other animals that wander onto the road
In the city, the hazards, the OFs feel, are much greater; the alertness picks up, watching red lights, dodging drunks, cats, dogs, and with their faces in the phone, people doing their wandering onto the streets.
Who knows what might be jumping out onto the streets from between parked cars, maneuvering down the street with sirens wailing from all directions trying to make room for them?
As one OF said, there is no comparison. The OF added: Now, if you need a young driver to handle a car going into a turn at 100 miles an hour, let your country boy do that.
Leaf peekers and blinding lights
The note in the book says leaf peekers. This relates in a way to drivers, but this pastime seems to belong to us — the OFs.
The older generation is out there with the color and the nostalgia of fall, the aroma, the fresh air with lower humidity and taking it all in by poking along at a snail’s pace, while people with things to do and places to go are piling up behind us and (as the OFs chug along in their vintage cars that look brand new) are going nuts.
The OFs have discussed this many times and it is the new white lights on cars coming toward you at night. The OMOTM are beginning to find out these lights are preventing a lot of people from driving at night, and the age of the populace is not confined to OFs.
These lights, in many instances, are way too bright and flood the oncoming cars inside them with light that is blinding. The driver cannot see until that vehicle has passed.
As one OF put it, it is not all white lights that do this, but enough to make it very uncomfortable to drive at night. This was mentioned again and again. Enough of that.
Winter prep
Around this time of year, there is the talk of what kind of winter is ahead of the OFs. There are those OFs who have stored their wood now for the winter and hope it is enough, while some think the winter is going to be mild.
The OFs hate to think what the price of wood and fuel oil will be this winter with how prices for everything seem to be going up and up. If it is a hard winter, one OF said, and they need wood in early spring, it is going to be nothing but junk wood and cost an arm and leg, plus your firstborn.
One OF commented on pricing by saying you think prices are high now? Wait until all these strikes are settled, and if inflation is not in check – wow! Companies are not philanthropists; they are just going to pass the extra costs on to the rest of us.
This OF thinks it is just one great big spiraling cycle, not only here but world-wide. Again, enough of that; it is what it is and unfortunately the poor are in a hole they can’t get out of and it will be getting deeper.
Suburban deer
There is a recent note and this scribe can’t remember if the saved information was used or not; it is not checked off. (Use the note, draw a line through it and shout done!)
This note was on deer. One OF mentioned that, if the deer hunters are going to hunt deer, they don’t need to go into the hills and out in the country; the deer are in the suburbs.
One OF mentioned, and a few more joined in, in agreement, the deer gather in the suburbs in herds. The problem now is the houses are so close, and there are so many developments it is against the law to shoot.
A week or so ago, one OF said deer can read and, when hunting season starts with a roar of the shotgun, the deer head for posted land. However, these animals are smarter than that — they head for the burbs and stay there.
Those Old Men of the Mountain who made it to Gibby’s Diner in Quaker Street and were glad the early morning light is still around so they don’t have to battle the white lights, were: Bill Lichliter, George Washburn, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Joe Rack, Jake Herzog, Marty Herzog, Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Jack Norray, Lou Schenck, Dick Dexter, Herb Bahrmann, Jake Lederman, Wayne Gaul, Warren Willsey, Russ Pokorny, Paul Whitbeck, Pete Whitbeck, Roland Tozer, Frank Dees, Doug Marshall, Paul Guiton, Ed Goff, Rick LaGrange, John Dab, Dave Hodgetts, Bob Donnelly, Elwood Vanderbilt, and not me.