Nope.
Not gonna happen.
Don’t even try.
You can tell me that dropping a circle in the middle of a road is better for the environment because cars aren’t idling at red lights.
You can tell me that there are differences between roundabouts, traffic circles and rotaries other than geography — in New York, they’re traffic circles, but rotaries in Massachusetts — and I’m going to tell you it doesn’t matter.
By any name, they’re an abomination that do nothing but make driving harder, particularly the more lines you include to “help” drivers.
And the one behind our hotel in London (pictured at the top of the post) was pathetic, as it was so small that people just drove over it, anyway.
So if you try to convince me that residents like them, and the mayor who supports them has managed to get himself elected seven times … well, I’m going to tell you that Carmel, Indiana, is about as real as Switzerland.
What I wrote
I got away.
“I think I’m particularly excited this time to put life aside for a couple days. There will be another opportunity coming up the weekend after Thanksgiving, and then, of course, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.”
I made myself stop for just a minute.
“So stay outside a little longer. Enjoy this moment.
There’s time to get back at it soon enough.”
I’ve spent more time around 5-year-olds than normal over the past several months, so when Paul asked (among other questions) what I would do if I was 5 again, it was a pretty easy answer.
“Assuming I wasn’t in school, I’d play, and eat, and eat, and play, and play, and eat until I couldn’t stand up, and then I’d complain when my parents wanted to carry me to bed.”
Stuff I read
Austin shares Aaron’s struggle.
“‘Why can’t I be normal like you?’ Aaron whined and hung his head. ‘I’m so sick of being so anxious all the time. It’s exhausting.’”
Renata doesn’t forget.
“When I was very young, I pressed my parents to get me a pet. Recognizing that little Renata wouldn’t actually take care of a pet, they told me I would have to wait until I was 10 years old. Assuming I would forget about this promise, you can imagine my parents’ surprise when I asked them on my 10th birthday when I was getting a pet.”
Becky said yes to something, and she’s glad she did.
“Getting involved with a community theater group isn’t something I’d do on my own, and I’m glad my friend thought highly enough of me to ask if I’d like to volunteer. I’m definitely learning a lot about theater, and it’s nice to see the final product and support the cast and production team. So the moral of the story here is this: it’s perfectly okay to say no to opportunities but it can also be really great if you do.”
Paul wants to know what comes after.
“Things will probably (maybe?) feel brand new, different, familiar, peculiar, questionable, frustrating, daunting, joyous, and predictable. I feel like I just
made a bunch of guessesnarrowed down the possibilities to everything.”
Liz likes sweaters. Liz lives in a place where she does not need sweaters.
“It’s my first autumn in this part of the country, and I’ve welcomed the cooler temperatures but it’s still in the 70s most afternoons. I’ve learned that if I throw on a classic cable knit sweater in the morning, I need to change by lunchtime because I’m too warm.”
Meanwhile, Jeff insists he’s not a winter wuss.
“Then we bought a used car, and to our surprise it had heated seats. And let me tell you, heated car seats are a gateway drug to electric blankets. My shivering wife soon got one for Christmas.
Now, a decade on, I continue to sacrifice each fall and winter. For her, of course.”
Pea Green is preparing for Christmas, including the music.
“It’s just not Christmas without some cheesy music and suspiciously bad dancing. We’ll put on a compilation or ask Alexa to choose a playlist and boogie around the living room like idiots. That’s when I feel like Christmas is really getting going. Large boy loves Last Christmas and knows most of the words, it’s brilliant.”
Things are not going spectacularly for Graham’s youth soccer team.
“There’s a long way to go in the season, but I’m quite worried that we’ll end up finishing in last place in the league. We won’t deserve that. Even this season coaches have gotten in touch after games and praised our passing and movement and I can honestly say that there have only been two games where I’ve been genuinely disappointed as we’ve let ourselves down.”
Vee, with something that should be obvious … feelings and emotions can be complicated.
“Stop letting people lead you to believe you’re only allowed to be one thing. Actually, stop letting people tell you how you’re supposed to feel. Human beings are complex and our emotions are supposed to suit the complexities of our nature.”
Giggles may not have gotten it right away, but she’s doing OK.
“I also made a realization this week: I need to stop being in such an emotional funk. Last week I went to church and because my brother’s girlfriend was going to be in the same service, I spent so much energy being UGH about that, that when I got home I legit needed a nap because I was EXHAUSTED!
So my realization was this: this is the first time in my adult life where I have a great job and a safe/enjoyable living space. I don’t think I have ever had both. My body is relaxing into that feeling and now those negative emotions are going elsewhere.”
Christina’s therapist is leaving, and it’s tough.
“He has listened to me share my personal struggles, feelings, things that I have gone through in life . Whether it was good or bad, I shared it with him. There were times I couldn’t wait for our session to start because I had so much I wanted to share with him. Like I mentioned, it wasn’t just the bad things, I shared a lot of good things as well.
So where does this leave me now? It leaves me feeling alone. For the first time in a while I feel like I’m alone and have nobody to talk to.”
Pepper’s daughter isn’t doing well, and she’s not optimistic about Thanksgiving.
“For example, I just placed my order for our holiday Thanksgiving meal with a restaurant that offers this and it is DELICIOUS. All I have to do is pick it up Wednesday and reheat it all in the oven on Thursday. You’d think that sounds simple enough right?
Except my mother-in-law HATES me for it. Like, if HATE had a physical manifestation, she would have so much of it that it would literally ooze out of her by the gallons.”
Michelle is learning some Australian oddities.
“Bunnings is a hardware store chain, and the people here love it. The stores are open until late at night and open at 7AM on the weekends.
I hate hardware stores and I’ve been there three times in the last week—how are they doing this? Are they pumping pheromones or something into the air? (yes, I realise that doesn’t make sense)
The times that I’ve been there, I’ve seen families walking around the store. It’s probably some people’s idea of a family outing.”
BosssyBabe has trouble saying goodbye.
“My issue was more closely related to the idea of lacking control and the preoccupation of that perfect goodbye. This didn’t necessarily always involve death; it could have been a mere break-up. I was always fixated on having that tidy, resolved closure. If I was never going to see you again, I wanted those last moments to be the thing that lived on forever in our memories.”
Hurrah!
Tweets I liked
When you think about that … it’s true, isn’t it?
Back when the team we rooted for wasn’t the best, but we knew we had the best player on our team. Sadly, it didn’t last.
This is my idea of a review.
Here comes the flight …
I remember when this was a huge deal … heck, when it was a big deal that a total contract was more than $1 million.
It’s not just tea. Millions and millions in marketing, and a literal challenge between the two that was a massive undertaking during my childhood, I bet 95 percent of people to this day can’t tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi.
Or any success, really. (I am terrible at this.)
I enjoyed this take, anyway, but especially after I later read this piece from Anne Helen Petersen about whether there’s just … too much out there.
“An adaptable conversationalist who needs to listen for once.” I’m not much for astrology, but that last one may not be too far off.
Working on it.
A Silly Place 
Thanks for sharing, Bill! Also, my astrological personality is “a musical thrill seeker who needs to try consistency.” Never.
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Bah! Wuss! Roundabouts are perfectly fine. Go Google the Swindon magic roundabout if you really want a challenge. And a little roundabout with a white circular lump is specifically a mini-roundabout. They’re great for when three roads of equal or similar importance meet so that there’s no argument about who goes when and no waiting for lights to change when there’s no traffic.
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I must respectfully disagree. 🙂
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😆😆
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That circle in the middle of the road has to be some type of joke. Surely, a TV crew has been filming cars try and navigate it all this type and will come out with a condensed documentary on it. If not, I don’t see how else it could’ve been approved.
Thanks for the mention!
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Thanks for the mention 🙂
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Our regional government decided a few years ago that roundabouts were the way to go and now they are EVERYWHERE. I do agree that if (and it’s a really big IF) people know how to drive them, they can keep traffic moving and reduce the number of high speed collisions. But people just fly through them at high speed and God help the poor unsuspecting pedestrian who’s trying to cross the road. In my mind there are two problems with roundabouts—people who won’t stop, and people who won’t go! Oh…and then there are the people who think turn signals are purely decorative.
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Thanks for mention, Bill! I now need to look up my sun, moon and rising signs!
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A fiery mom friend who needs stability 😏🤣🤔
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