Beginnings and I ponder good driving

Starting a brand new blog is almost as much fun as starting a new diary, there is that same crispness, albeit of the imaginary variety, and that lovely newness is still there, even if it only exists in my mind.  The screen is unsullied by my thoughts as yet, and the binding is tight.

Or something.

I want to write but I need to be more disciplined.  I've tried (and failed) before this, and who knows how long I can sustain writing every day, it is my very good intention to do that, but I have a history of enjoying beginnings a little too much, and neglecting the follow through.

My thought, as I was driving to school on this cold winter morning in June, was that I would find something, some piece of news, or trivia that I came across in my day, and write a response to it.  Now, this is not a new thought, it isn't even an original thought, but as I am not publishing the fiction I write on a blog (yet), this could be the exercise that keeps me going, and makes me exercise my writing muscle.

Today's response is to yesterdays morning radio show.  I listen to WSFM on my way to school in the morning, I like the morning team of Jones-y and Amanda (Keller), and the music suits me.  I don't listen beyond 9am when those two finish, that's when I turn to my ipod.  But I enjoy the programme (I do confess to turning off Delta Goodrems interview this morning, I don't know why she bothers me, but she does).

So yesterday they were talking about driving, and asking people to ring in about their pet peeves, re driving.  I am as impatient as the next person on the road, and have been known to quietly curse the stupidity of the masses.  People are generally irritating, and never more so than when behind the wheel.  Callers listed the usual suspects, not using the indicator, tail gating, driving in the right hand lane, overtaking on the left.  All very annoying, and all things that I am reasonably sure most of us do, perhaps not deliberately, or consistently, but certainly occasionally, when our concentration lapses for whatever reason.

I started thinking about driving, and all the drivers on the road, and there are many many many of them.  All those people driving, every day.  And every day, I might see 1 or 2, or on a bad day, 4 or 5 examples of bad manners and recklessness and thoughtlessness in my 30 - 40 minute journey.  But.  I see hundreds of cars in that time.  Hundreds.  All scooting along between 50 and 120 kilometres an hour, depending on the road.  All multi - lane roads, with traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, varying speed limits and other unexpected hazards.  And if all those drivers are driving 30 - 40 minutes too, that is a lot of driving that I am exposed too.  Really, it's a wonder I don't see more instances of lapsed judgement.  Driving is a complex skill, and lots of us can do it, and do it with a reasonable degree of competence.

So despite my irritation with bad driving, I've decided, that in the grand scheme of things, we are probably not as bad as most of us think.  In fact, by and large, I think, we are pretty good.