Observations from the Slow Lane

When you spend most of your life in the slow lane, you sometimes see things others miss. I have a few I'd like to share.

1. Driving past the post office yesterday afternoon, I saw two large FedEx trucks parked right by the front door. So why would FedEx be in the post office parking lot? It's simple really. The post office has allowed FedEx to put a collection box right there by the front door. Isn't that sort of like Shell letting BP install a couple of gasoline pumps at Shell stations?

2. Not only do I live in the slow lane, but I am also height challenged. So why is it that all the grocery stores want to stack things on the top shelf eight feet high? I can't pull that box of cereal off the bottom row, or the whole thing will come crashing down. And there're never any store personnel around when I need them. Sometimes another taller customer will offer to get something for me, but usually I resort to finding a toe hold on the bottom shelf so that I can get a little boost. But what happens if I fall? Could I sue the store for making it difficult for me to shop?

3. Here's one I've been thinking about for a while. My mother-in-law has a walker, and she has put tennis balls on the legs to make it easier to move the walker around without scratching up the floor. I don't know that I've ever seen a walker without tennis balls on the legs. So why don't they just come that way to start with?

4. What's the point of wearing a sweater if you're just going to tie it around your neck? I once heard Wimp Sanderson observe that it must be a really cold day in Birmingham because the Mountain Brook women were wearing two sweaters tied around their necks. If you're from Little Rock, you can probably substitute "Heights" for "Mountain Brook."

Does anyone else ever think about these things?