I decided it's time for something a little different -- an actual written post instead of just a photo.
Oh, and as for the title... That's "flagging" as in, "becoming tired or less dynamic; declining in strength" (Apple Dictionary app, v2.3.0)
So there I am, driving in my car on my way to pick up my niece from school. (She's recovering from a broken ankle so she can't walk to/from the bus stop.) As usual, I'm running just a tad late... but most of the time I'm able to make it up so... no sweat, right?
Wrong.
One of the main roads leading out of my neighborhood has been in pretty sorry shape for the past couple of years (thank you, highway construction trucks & equipment using my neighborhood as a shortcut), and the county finally decided it was time to do something about it. A big electronic sign went up warning everyone that road work would begin on May 2nd.
That date came & went without any obvious work being done, but in the past couple of weeks they've more than made up for the delay... so there I am, driving in my car, and I reach the road they're working on to discover that the entire surface has been ground away in preparation for a completely new layer of asphalt. (That's "blacktop" for all you kids out there.) Work is still ongoing, so there's only one lane open with a flagman at either end to direct traffic.
Except they aren't doing a terribly stellar job of it, as I was about to discover.
A flagman came into view as I turned the corner, and I approached cautiously -- but he looked directly at me the entire time and held his sign to say "SLOW" (the other side is "STOP"). I could swear he even nodded at me as I passed, but in any case there was zero indication that I could not proceed forward. The guy (who was nearly spherical in shape) did seem to be fumbling with one of the two walkie-talkies he had hanging from various straps, but -- again -- he made no indication whatsoever that I needed to stop.
Now, this portion of the road looks flat, but it's actually on a rounded slope; when coming down from the opposite end you can see almost all the way to the end, but coming up from my direction any oncoming cars are at least partially hidden until they're almost reached the halfway point. I don't see anyone coming, so I begin to maneuver into the single lane marked by orange traffic cones...
...and suddenly there is a long line of assorted cars, pickups, vans, and trucks headed directly at me.
I stomp the brakes, blink a couple of times, and realize I'm definitely not hallucinating but that all the oncoming traffic is definitely coming straight at me head-on. I back up a couple of car lengths but, since I don't know exactly what's happening with the flagman I just passed, I don't go the full distance before stopping when I've left enough space for the oncoming traffic to get past me easily. As vehicle after vehicle rumbles past on the roughened concrete, I look in my rear-view mirror and see the flagman standing in front of a steadily growing line of cars waiting to follow me. He has indeed (finally) turned his sign to read "STOP" for anyone coming in that direction, but is also still fumbling with his walkie-talkies.
As I watch, he lifts one to his face, nearly drops his sign, drops the walkie-talkie (it's on a lanyard so it doesn't hit the ground), straightens the sign that he's now balancing in the crook of his elbow and uses the hand that's supposed to be holding the sign to pick up the other walkie-talkie and speaks into that one for a moment. This cycle repeats several times as traffic continues to flow past me, with the all-important "SLOW/STOP" sign almost falling several times and frequently twisting around so that no one could possible be able to read it.
By this time, all the oncoming traffic has passed me and I'm staring at an apparently empty road ahead -- but knowing how well the traffic is being handled, I decide to stay put until I see fatty get his act together enough to send traffic through coming from my direction. The result is that I sit and wait... and sit and wait... and sit and wait... all while I have an apparently empty road in front of me and a growing line of cars waiting to move behind me. Finally, after nearly dropping the sign again, the flagman turns it around and the cars behind me begin to move in my direction.
With a sigh of relief (and the knowledge that I'm gonna be really late getting to the school now), I start down the road.
And all of a sudden there's a big, grey Ford Crew Cab pickup truck coming straight at me.
We both stomp our brakes and carefully make our way past each other, each shaking our heads. (To his credit, the pickup driver didn't seem to blame me, and found a safe place to pull over & wait for the long line of vehicles behind me to pass him safely.) I finally reach the other end of the road and see the second flagman -- a tall guy who's as thin as the other guy was fat.
Of course, will all that's going on, you'd think ol' Slim would be standing out where he could be seen, trying to prevent any head-on collisions.... but no, he's over on the side, leaning into one of the work trucks and talking to the driver, his "SLOW/STOP" sign leaning sideways against the truck. I don't know how, but I managed to ignore the urge to scream at the idiot and simply made my way past him with extra care. Just as I reach the corner, more traffic starts turning into the work zone from the cross road so I gave my horn a little "blip".
The flagman looks up, realizes he's screwed up, and runs to get to where oncoming drivers can actually see him while waving one arm and frantically trying to turn his sign to "STOP" for all the vehicles now entering the single lane work zone.
As I turned the corner and drove away, I was glad to see that he'd managed to stop all the cars that were turning before anyone ran head-on into all those that were following behind me... but now there was a backup on the cross road that was quickly stretching out of sight around a nearby curve. I was just happy to get the heck outta there with no new dents (or worse) on my car...
...but damn, that was annoying!
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