So we're supposed be, like, all alert and stuff. You know, always watching for things that seem out of place or sudden changes in the pattern. OK, first of all, I'm in Pakistan. Everything seems totally out of place, for example, me. This vigilance is of particular concern while we're driving.
Hold on. You want me to watch for changing traffic patterns? Is random chaos a pattern from which there can be recognizable deviation? Furthermore, the only way I can avoid constant and utter panic while riding in the embassy vehicles is to pay as little attention as possible to traffic. We are always and ever on the verge of plowing or being plowed.
Pedestrians have a particular cavalier approach to streets, which they treat as side walks. And the kids, six-year-olds, weaving through traffic (not at the stop lights, mind you) trying to sell coloring books to motorists. Hey, kid. I admire the spunk. But even if they weren't going 60 mph, they're not going to buy a coloring book. The Pakistanis have a lot going for them, but the business acumen of the six-year-old crowd leaves room for improvement.
Anyway, I simply have no stomach for the sequenced games of "chicken" they call driving. Lanes? How quaint. So, watch for things that are out of the ordinary? Sorry, I'll just read thank you. If a bomber can find his way through all this traffic, more power to him.
My gratitude and admiration is to the well-trained, under-paid drivers who drive 6-foot wide vehicles through 7-foot moving targets at speed while I pray into my Kindle.
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