Today In A Parking Lot ...

My lunch hour is sacred time to me. For those sixty minutes, I can remove myself from the pressures of the workplace. I often just drive through for a sandwich and sit in my car by myself ... no music, no phone ... just me and my thoughts. This time is especially important when deadlines are looming or multiple projects are reaching completion. It's a chance to hide from responsibilities, if only for a quick breather.

Today, I nabbed a spicy BBQ chicken on Texas toast with a side of chili cheese fries and parked in a shopping plaza ... two anchor stores with a strip of 15 small businesses between ... frame shop, card shop, health food store, insurance agency, Greek diner, etc. Usually there isn't much to see ... just other nooners grabbing food or running quick errands ... but I lucked into dinner AND a show. Part of the parking lot was marked off and three guys with a bucket truck ... like the utility companies use ... were replacing bulbs in those towering light poles that dot most metropolitan parking areas. I always wondered how those bulbs were changed and how often they had to be switched out.

So I watched and ate ... ate and watched. One guy, in particular, caught my attention. He was older ... like Betty White's older brother old. Like before we had electricity old. Seriously, the dude looked to be in his early to mid 70s. And he wasn't the crew leader or foreman or whatever. He was operating some control interface on the side of the vehicle and inspecting the bulb to be installed.

It was interesting to watch, but my sandwich was damn interesting ... and tasty ... as well. So imagine my surprise when, while looking at an unusually-colored care taking a parking space two down from my position, the air was filled with a thunderclap. I think I wrenched my neck as I swung my head around to see the Ancient One huddled under the bucket truck while glass and debris settled around him. The guy in the bucket must have loosened something prematurely or dropped something from up high because it was a serious mess. He had ducked down into the "bucket" for a moment ... I briefly thought he had tumbled out with the replacement materials until he popped up like a guilty Wack-A-Mole. Thank goodness these guys know to cordon off the area so no vehicles or pedestrians are anywhere near their working vicinity.

But there was one casualty ... as the excitement and drama of the accident unfolded, I lost control of my plastic spork and two chili cheese fries fell to their deaths, leaving a trail of gore down my dress shirt.

POINT OF RANT: You can dress me up but I'll eventually embarrass myself and everyone around me.