my drive

my journey to and from work every day takes me up and down washington street. the fact that it is one lane in each direction and full of potholes should probably give me reason to avoid it, but i love the view of the mountain and the city spread before me on clear days. on mornings after it rains it literally takes my breath away. and i like how it makes me briefly feel like i'm out in the country. oh, and i love the orange groves.
i digress.
the brand of driver that seem to join me on my morning commute give me the impression that they are all communally on the way to a fire or some other sort of life-threatening situation. it is the only explanation i can come up with for going in excess of 60 mph in a 40 mph zone. i am tailgated almost every day by some sort of urban assault vehicle or luxury sedan. (i will also admit here that i usually exceed the speed limit, but never by much. maybe 5 mph. i can drive like a grandma.) there are a few points along the drive where the lane becomes inexplicably extra-wide, but is not technically another lane. many mornings these apparently stressed-out drivers take this opportunity to gun their vehicles into light speed and pass me by. (which always makes me roll my eyes and laugh, because i make a left turn within the next 200 yards.)
this scenario played itself out this morning as usual, but this time i mumbled to myself "why is there never a cop around to see this?" (this is not something that i would normally say, but i was pulled over in almost the same place for doing almost the same thing on valentine's day, but at 10:30 at night, to pass the only other car on the road, who was going literally 10 mph. my sense of justice was bruised.) but no sooner had the words left my mouth than a motorcycle cop whizzed past me with his lights on.
i admit that i spent the rest of my drive feeling enormously smug.