Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.

So Earl and I were on our way home from the airport. This involved a ride down “the Kennedy”, known to visitors as Interstate 90 though here in Chicago we call the expressways by their names, not their numbers. Unless they don’t have a name then we use their number. We have to say something.

Traffic was heavy and was slowing down. I always start slowing down a little early, a Kia Soul passed on the right and apparently didn’t realize traffic was slowing down, and tried veering rapidly at the last second but didn’t make it, he smacked a stopping VW Jetta and he smacked it hard.

The VW Jetta won.

The Kia Soul came to an immediate stop, the VW Jetta was pushed to the left and came to a stop. Earl and I stopped in the Jeep and got out to make sure everyone was OK. Earl called 911. Another motorist stopped as well and we agreed the Kia Soul couldn’t be moved (airbags had been deployed and the front end was a mess) but there didn’t seem to be a risk of fire. The Jetta was able to be moved and we moved it to the left side of the road to free up a lane or two on the expressway.

Both drivers were pretty shaken; a third motorist stopped and helped the guy in the Kia out and over to the right shoulder; we stayed with the young lady in the Jetta on the left shoulder. She was a little frantic as she had never been in an accident before and didn’t know what to do. We talked her through the basics: take photos of the vehicles, tell the police everything, get a police report, get insurance and driver information, etc. We stayed on the scene until the police and fire trucks arrived. One or two passerbys screamed at us for being there I guess but for the most part traffic moved pretty well. It was slow moving but it was moving.

Once the officials were there they asked us a couple of questions, thanked us for stopping at the scene and we were on our way. They even blocked traffic so we could get the Jeep off the shoulder and back on the roadway.

I don’t think I feel the need to walk on the Kennedy again. It must more suited for safe driving.

“Hey Siri, how late is Starbucks open?”

“Starbucks is open until 21:00”.

I walk the 1 1/4 miles to this particular Starbucks and it turns out it closes at 20:00 instead of 21:00. Yelp says it closes at 21:00 but Google says it closes at 20:00.

Apparently Google knows what it’s talking about.

Looking around at the various Starbucks within reasonable walking distance from our home, there’s no standardization of operating hours. The location closest to home closes at 20:00 (8:00 PM). Down the street closes at 23:00 (11:00 PM). The one to the east closes at 20:30 (8:30 PM). The maddening thing about this is the hours often change. What closes at 20:00 this week might close at 19:00 next week because “yeah”.

There’s an independent coffee shop within steps of our building but I’m not a coffee drinker. I drink tea. The independent shop has a weak choice of teas on a great day and they’re usually out of tea by this time in the evening. Their hours are consistent though; they’re reliably open until 23:00 every night.

Perhaps I need to start drinking coffee.