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Two Cents Worth

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Is confusion just part of growing old?

Is it like hearing loss, forgetfulness, weight gain, facial hair? Or is it just me?

When I was a kid we carried a set of chains in the trunk along with ashes and a shovel even though we had special, highly treaded snow tires. There was also some kind of studded tires you could get for winter but I think they did so much damage to the road, that idea was short-lived. Everyone had snow tires. It was the norm.

Then someone had a brilliant idea to invent the all season radial. They were made to be used all year and they replaced snow tires. They were expensive but you only needed one set so it made it a bit more affordable.

I don’t know what happened to tires or winter or who is behind this but in the past few years the snow tire has made a comeback. We are told it isn’t safe to drive the all-season tires in the winter. Everyone is being urged to buy expensive snow tires. The promotions are endless.

Tires are not cheap and it is a hardship on many of us to buy two sets of tires. In the middle of all the snow tire promotions, it was recently announced there is a company who has designed a new brand of tire you can drive on in all seasons. Haven’t we already done that whole thing?

I am confused.

I remember the first cell phones. They were big and cumbersome and didn’t easily fit into a pocket. So the smart folks started engineering smaller and smaller cell phones until it was the size of a credit card with the idea being portability and convenience. You couldn’t find the thing in a purse and it was almost impossible to dial without a stylus but boy was it small.

Just making calls was not good enough so a screen had to be created along with a keyboard so you could text, take pictures, watch movies. The regular cell phone was too small to accommodate all that so it grew until now it’s as big as a hard cover novel. Can’t put it in your pocket or even your purse anymore, it needs a special case to slug it around.

I am confused.

Was going by our fire hall the other day and the sign out front said, “Harvest season. Share the road.” I wondered what that meant and then realized they must be talking about watching out for the big machinery.

Long before it was harvest season these big contraptions were on the roads. I was going home one late afternoon this summer and saw a big outfit coming towards me. It took up way more than half the road venturing over the yellow line by half. I slowed and moved over. I moved over even more onto the shoulder and braked. As he passed me, not slowing one iota, I was in the ditch completely stopped so as not to get hit by this thing. Don’t know what colour it was or what kind of equipment it was because I was too busy trying to get out of its way.

I am confused.

It doesn’t matter what you drive you are dwarfed by most of these things and they don’t seem the least bit worried about sharing the road with us. I know they need to get to where they are going, too, but they are dangerous for everyone else on the road and something needs to be done.

twocentsworth40@hotmail.com

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