oh, just a typical Saturday morning

Most days as I scoot along to my daily destination I'm in a general state of oblivion to the changing world around me, in part because I either left the house late or with just enough time to get where I'm headed and partially because careless drivers demand most, if not all, of my attention. Despite this, there are times when the bizarre demands recognition and wins my attention.

When you live in a city, there are bound to be a few rats. It's not a pretty picture to be walking along the sidewalk and have a rat dart out of a food establishment and cross your path. Well this morning, new meaning was given to the term "rat race" as I found myself breaking in traffic to avoid a large rat that ran out of a building to make a dash across a busy roadway.

About 10 minutes later and within blocks of my Saturday class I got my second treat of the morning. As I waited at a red light, another scooterist, a woman in her 60's, entered the turning box beside me. As I glanced her direction to catch the time remaining on the crosswalk timer, I couldn't help but notice she was wearing a pair of 2000 sunglasses similar to the ones in the picture.
Now mind you, this woman was otherwise nicely dressed: skirt, blouse, heels, jewelry, but somehow it was hard to notice any of those things for the giant "2000" extending beyond her helmet on either side. It did happen to be a sunny morning. Did she leave the house, notice the blaring sun, and then find herself at the mercy of the 7 year old specs for inability to find suitable alternative eyewear? Seriously?

Later in the day I shared the story with a friend who happens to live in the same neighborhood the encounter occurred and the outcome was some possible light being shed on the subject. There happened to be an event in a local park with clowns that morning. Despite my wishful thinking, I'm not fully convinced that was this woman's destination. Other than her eyewear, nothing about her hinted at being a clown. Sure, she still could have been, but even so, why wear the glasses while driving around?