#4: Along the way Annoyances
The story of our trip would be incomplete without noting a few things that caused us to seethe (and then laugh) along the way. J laughed at my pet peeves, and I laughed at his. Here were mine:
1) People who don't obey the rules.... like:
a) in a desert, where there are signs saying 'please conserve water!', to find people in the bathroom who left the tap running while brushing their teeth and having a conversation.
b) still on the water theme - people who washed their hair in the restroom basins, RIGHT UNDER a sign which said 'No washing of hair or dishes in the restroom'.
c) in parks where there are multiple signs and warning about the cryptobiotic soil (the soil is ALIVE with organisms and walking on it kills thousands of years of development)... to find people regularly walking off the path.
It turns out there is a really bossy first-grade teacher in me who kept on wanting to yell at strangers for such offences...
2) My second annoyance: people who didn't really go on holiday - they just took their cameras on holiday. Seriously: what is the point of going to some of the most breath taking places on earth if all you do is just jump out the car at a viewing spot, snap a shot, and then drive to the next spot to take another picture? In my (stuffy) opinion, photos should record experiences, they shouldn't be the experience...
Jeremy laughed at me for these things. But then one day he got really annoyed and I had my chance to laugh. Here were the things that annoyed him:
1) Not one, but TWO instances on the same day of bad road repairing protocol. Utah's Department of Transport got an earful from him along a couple of stretches of road where he just couldn't believe what he was seeing in their asphalt-laying strategies...
2) A Chinese Torture shower. Showers are in short supply in the National Parks, so when you've saved your 8 quarters for 2 days to finally stand under a shower - it wasn't much fun when the stream of water came out as a straight jet aimed immovably at the center of his forehead :-)
Granted, that would make even the most patient person a little irked - but I laughed about the kamikaze shower for several days afterwards...
1) People who don't obey the rules.... like:
a) in a desert, where there are signs saying 'please conserve water!', to find people in the bathroom who left the tap running while brushing their teeth and having a conversation.
b) still on the water theme - people who washed their hair in the restroom basins, RIGHT UNDER a sign which said 'No washing of hair or dishes in the restroom'.
c) in parks where there are multiple signs and warning about the cryptobiotic soil (the soil is ALIVE with organisms and walking on it kills thousands of years of development)... to find people regularly walking off the path.
It turns out there is a really bossy first-grade teacher in me who kept on wanting to yell at strangers for such offences...
2) My second annoyance: people who didn't really go on holiday - they just took their cameras on holiday. Seriously: what is the point of going to some of the most breath taking places on earth if all you do is just jump out the car at a viewing spot, snap a shot, and then drive to the next spot to take another picture? In my (stuffy) opinion, photos should record experiences, they shouldn't be the experience...
Jeremy laughed at me for these things. But then one day he got really annoyed and I had my chance to laugh. Here were the things that annoyed him:
1) Not one, but TWO instances on the same day of bad road repairing protocol. Utah's Department of Transport got an earful from him along a couple of stretches of road where he just couldn't believe what he was seeing in their asphalt-laying strategies...
2) A Chinese Torture shower. Showers are in short supply in the National Parks, so when you've saved your 8 quarters for 2 days to finally stand under a shower - it wasn't much fun when the stream of water came out as a straight jet aimed immovably at the center of his forehead :-)
Granted, that would make even the most patient person a little irked - but I laughed about the kamikaze shower for several days afterwards...
posted by Bronwyn at 7:39 am
1 Comments:
I'm remembering my family's wanderings (mostly with fond recollections) through Utah on various road trips, and I know what you mean! (I remember National Park showers with the same lack of fondness as Jeremy.)
Thanks for sharing your adventures Bronwyn! I'm enjoying catching up on your blog. :-)
Post a Comment
<< Home