You've Got to Be Kidding

In the city where we live, as in most large cities, traffic is a real problem. Anytime we make a trip across town, especially during peak travel times, we expect to do some sitting and waiting. It's just a part of driving here.

What we've found in all this sitting and waiting is that there are thousands of people around town who, in true entrepreneurial spirit, have decided to take advantage of all those people sitting in their cars wishing they were moving by turning it into a business opportunity. On most major roads and at many big intersections, there are people standing and waiting for traffic to stop so that they can walk through the lanes offering whatever they happen to have.

Sort of like the incredible variety of items for sale on the beach here, you will find anything and everything for sale from these street vendors. The list of things we've seen them selling includes steering wheel covers, dusters, boxes of kleenex, reflective emergency traffic triangles, large stuffed ducks and every other silly kid's toy you can imagine. They like to stop and stand at our windows with the kids' toys because they're hoping that our kids will start crying that they want it and then we'll buy it just to stop the chaos. It doesn't usually happen.

Tonight, however, they got us. Apparently a really, really, really large shipment of these silly little masks just came in, because we counted at least 10 guys selling them, all within a mile of each other. The entertaining thing was that most of them were wearing the masks to demonstrate how fun and attractive they are. I really wanted to take a picture of one of them, but if any of them had seen me taking a picture, he would not have left our car alone until we bought more masks. So...you'll have to just enjoy the pictures of us! I'd say it was a dollar well spent!