Eureka!

I took a wrong turn this morning.

[Explanatory side note: In L.A., streets are fairly reasonable in their orientation and curvature. Everyone gives directions in terms of cross streets (i.e. I live near Pico and Olympic) . I am slowly building a map inside my head with da 405 and da 10 as main arteries.]

So I found myself heading east on National, which is not northwest on Manning as I had intended, nor is it west on National, as I normally drive. Nevertheless, I decided to stick it out and make it work. One minute later, just as I was giving up on said resolution and powering up my Garmin Nuvi 350 (don't move to L.A. without one), I saw it - the street that feeds directly into da 10 only one exit east of my usual entrance. I practically raced on! OK, again, in L.A., 'raced' means sat in a30-car line at a 3-way stop in order to join two lanes of traffic entering the interstate at 2-second intervals regulated by a red/green light at the top of the on-ramp. But still! Instead of waiting through (and I'm not kidding) 6 or 7 light cycles/10 minutes at the intersection where I spend too much of my mornings, I entered this morning in about 5. I will try again tomorrow to see if this really is the answer to all my problems!

Right. Driving in L.A. Greg told me that a recent poll of 2000 regular commuters ranks L.A. as the fourth worst city for road rage/rude drivers. I am incredulous that Boston came in fifth, as in my recent experience, Beantown motorists use their horns as frequetly as they blink. Really. It is not like that here. And anyway, I have been driving agressively since driver's ed (my first day behind the wheel, my poor chain-smoking instructor had to tell me that I should probably go less than 45 mph in residential areas; I was 15) so I feel like I'm in my element. In the south, everyone meanders. It's part of the charm. Here, there are NO green turn arrows. It is understood that at the end of every light cycle at a main intersection, two or three cars will make a left on red. If they don't, they never get a clean chance. That's life. So as I sat in the middle of Overland and Venice yesterday, waiting for the three oncoming lanes of traffic to slow as the light turned red, I thought 'I like driving here. I actually have to be alert and having wits is expected.'

My Xterra, by the way, is gorgeous. $10 for a hand wash was totally worth it, especially since I park in a garage at home and at work and it WON'T RAIN UNTIL JANUARY. The inside windshield is cleaner than I can remember it being and the hood shines like a new penny. A red penny. Ahhh, my truck. I do love it.