Most weekends, around 5 p.m., I get in my car and head eastward to the big city.
I prefer to take the expressway.
I could take local roads, but that takes at least twice as long.
On local roads I have to wait at stop lights and for people to pull in and out of the various restaurants and shops that hug the streets I am trying to fly down.
The 2050 yen (about 20 USD) is worth the fast ride on the expressway.
A few weeks ago I got out of work early, so I decided to use the local roads.
As the sunset I watched red brake lights flicker on and off.
The closer I got to the city the quicker I had to switch songs on my Ipod. One hand on the steering wheel, the other on my music, listening to about 15 seconds of every song that came on shuffle.
I sat in traffic, pulling slightly to the right in attempts to see what was slowing me down.
I finally reached over, one hand rummaging through my glove box, hoping I could find a single cigarette or anything that would keep me from screaming.
The moment I get on the expressway it is like I leave Japan, the only place I am is in my car. And I am not saying I want to leave Japan, but on a Friday at 5 p.m. the expressway makes it is easy to take a deep breath and feel comfortably alone while adjusting the volume on the car stereo.
I drive as fast as I want because when I am paying that amount of money to drive down a road I think it is only fair to take liberties in regards to speed.
I pick an album to listen to. I can enjoy every song in the order in which it was meant to be heard.
I know how much closer I will be to my destination when I get out of a certain tunnel or when I reach the top of a hill to go down another.
When the weekend ends I never question which road I will take home.
No comments:
Post a Comment