Score One for the "Irony" Team

Some of you may have missed that October is "International Walk to School Day" in the USA. (I know! How could you have missed that?!? Never mind the fact that it's supposedly an "international" movement, but only in the US this month. Whatever.)

At any rate, some of our local schools held a big push to get people to walk to school this past week. It's promoting healthier alternatives for school kids, and truth be told, a little more exercise is most likely a good thing. Imagine the field day the press in our lovely little burg had when a child was struck by a car *ON* International Walk to School Day. It's like it was a tailor-made headline.

The scene went something like this -- the crossing guard in the middle of the street had her stop sign out, signalling to a waiting first grader that it was safe to cross. How wrong she was! (Our drivers routinely ignore such mundanities as stop signs. They tend to view them more as simple suggestions that they're unlikely to heed or obey. As in,"A stop sign? Hm. No, I don't think I feel like stopping today. Maybe I'll think about slowing down to less than a blur.") A red Camaro ran the guard's stop sign, and struck the child. It's unclear whether the sun obscured the driver's vision, or the driver is just a total bonehead. I tend to lean towards the latter.

Driving here isn't so much of a necessity or a pleasant pasttime -- it's more like a blood sport.