'driving miss daisy'

Today's post was going to be about random confessions but somehow did not know where to start. The confessional escaped me somehow. So. I. Decided. To. Write. About. My. Pet topic. Driving.

It has been raining sporadically for the past few weeks. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't. Like now it is pouring buckets outside. Now the kind of rain in which you can wear a raincoat or you can shield yourself from with an umbrella. No. The kind where if you are herding cattle you have no hope of escaping. Not even hiding under a tree will save you.

Anyway, driving now is an absolute nightmare. The roads are bad. Super bad. And the drivers, freaking awesomely horrendous. Like I said before; something happens to the psyche of the Harare driver the moment it looks like rain. Add to that, passenger drivers. And it just about makes my day.

I have a friend Nyarie who loves driving from the back. Oh she is precious! Directs me if I am backing out of the parking lot (she must have had a nasty experience because that girl is AFRAID of crashing! she is even afraid of crossing busy roads). She does her backseat driving with charm and in an endearing way. So I do not get annoyed.

Then there are others who say, "can't you go any faster?" like I freaking can in downtown traffic! Others who tell you to change the lane because "it will be easier to turn into such and such road". Or that you are not shifting fast enough. Or grinding the gears. Or you are not stepping on the clutch hard enough. Then they tell you to watch out for that blue truck with the crazy looking driver. Like I have no eyes! Like they even have driver's licences!


Driving my mom is never easy. She will be tense the whole trip looking suspiciously at me until I feel I am growing a second head. It ruins my concentration and I become a bad driver once I notice that I am being watched. I had problems concentrating and focusing on anything for a long time as a child (probably what they now call ADHD) so mom is justified in her fear of me behind the wheel.

There are several people who terrify me if I am driving and if they (the frighteners) start any backseat driving, I simply unravel. Which is NOT a good thing in downtown traffic. We will be lucky to get where ever we are going in one piece!

So if you are going to do any backseat driving and I am the driver, have mercy and love your life. Tell me nicely that there is a kombi which is about to ram into me. I am a basket of nerves before you shout. What do you think I will be after you have shouted at me?

Be nice like Nyarie.

peace,

fadz

our merry faces on, ok lets get into it

Expectations and reality never meet. they are not good friends at all. reality spends half his time bursting expectations' bubble. heck reality spends so much time in our faces that I sometimes wonder that we have expectations at all.

relationships are hard work without adding the stress of whether the other people in your sphere are behaving the way you expect them to, saying what is expected of them.

familial relationship are not hard; you grew up with your sloppy cousins, your terrifying aunt, and your pervert of a cousin. you know what to expect and there are no surprises there. you can choose to ignore the annoying cousin with the 'sticky' fingers and keep your purse close to your person. there might be someone who will take offence but hey who cares, we are all one big family.


relationships with people at work are harder than the family stuff. you get the in your face colleagues who do not let up if you do let them have their own way. the feds who spy on others and tell tales to the big bosses (I really hate these; I really freaking do! cant get anywhere stepping on other people - becomes messy when you fall from grace), the goody two shoes who think the sun shines out of their **** they being the righteous ones and all.

intimate relationships are rather difficult and are the sole cause of poor performance at work. you swear to love one another until death does you part. these are the people we have chosen to spend the rest of our lives with. we did not grow up with these people and it is going to take us years to know them enough so you are not totally mystified when they act out of character. we feel fated to be in these relationships. there is no such thing as fate. there are no miracles. no great cosmic plan that is going to be revealed to you.

so with the holidays knocking insistently on our doors, the time has come for the panic attacks, the summoning of fountains of patience and the bottomless supply of smiles because with Christmas parties at work (or not), family gatherings if you do not psyche yourself into having fun, you are going to have a miserable time of it.

peace,

fadz