Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category

If you’re one of those people who believe things happen in threes you’re not alone. I personally don’t believe in it, but things tend to happen to me in threes anyway.

It started last Thursday in Calgary when I got a speeding ticket. In the first place, I never speed. I’m not saying I never exceed the speed limit. When one averages a thousand kilometers a day, speeds tend to fluctuate due to conditions. It can be over or under the posted speed limit by 5 or 10 kms. at any given time.

What I mean is, I never knowingly or purposely exceed the limit by any great amount for any length of time. Usually I just set the cruise at or about the limit and leave it there.

What happened Thursday was, I was late for an appointment, I was on a road I’d never been on before, I hadn’t seen a speed limit sign, and I was matching the speed of the vehicles around me. Some of the 4-wheelers were actually passing me.

Of course the nice policeman targeted the biggest vehicle in the herd and awarded me the prize. Aren’t I lucky?

Number two incident happened in Manitoba on Saturday. On Highway 5 a few kilometers north of Neepawa, a car going the other way threw a rock at me and took a divot out of my windshield. To put it another way, I’ve got a hole in one.

Number three happened after midnight, my time, Sunday night in Alberta, on Highway 1 west of Medicine Hat. I blew a drive tire with a bang loud enough to wake the dead. Well it sure woke me up anyway, right in the middle of a Green Hornet episode on Oldies Radio.

I proceeded to make a couple of life long friends by waking, first the duty night dispatcher, and then the duty maintenance manager. Aren’t cell phones wonderful? They make it so much easier to tick people off. Sorry Barb and Gordie.

I then got to meet another nice young fellow, Rylee from Kirk’s Midway Tire in Redcliff. We had a lovely little tire changing party on the side of Highway 1, and I was soon on my way again looking for another great adventure. Of course I get the dubious honor of footing the bill for the party.

I don’t know if things happen in three’s.  Maybe we just stop counting there and start on a new batch, because it would be much too depressing to think that they happen in tens.

I was crossing back into Canada this morning from Detroit, Michigan to Windsor, Ontario via the Ambassador Bridge. This bridge, as usual is undergoing repairs, with the accompanying lane restrictions. I was struck by the thought that life is a series of bridges.

Birth is a bridge between wherever we were waiting, to the beginning of our life on planet earth. Education is a bridge from our childhood into the responsibilities of adulthood.

Marriage is a bridge between the selfishness of ourselves, to building a cohesive family unit. Employment is the bridge which carries us from depending on others to self sufficiency and the pride of accomplishment.

Retirement is the bridge that takes us from a life of productivity and experience, through a period of reflection and self evaluation into a time for reaping the rewards of our efforts. Boy am I ever looking forward to that one.

And the final bridge carries us into the great unknown. Possibly the next great adventure in the ongoing saga that is our souls existence. Some folks agonize over this one or try to avoid thinking about it. I view it as just another great bridge I haven’t had a chance to drive on yet. I’m just hoping its not under construction when I get to it.

Another Transportation Route