Just Like All Yankee Women

Happy Mardi Gras! I didn't even realize that is was today until I received J's e-Card! (Thank you darling! It was lovely, and hysterical, by the way).

And here's where I point out another difference between Philly and Charleston. I knew when Mardi Gras was every year. Because it was another big party day in the city. There were a few years where we had bad riots in the city because people would leave the bars on South Street and get rowdy. And it made the news the last couple of years when the Mardi Gras celebrations actually went over rather quietly. That was partly because of restrictions the police placed on the partying.

Regardless, Mardi Gras was a fairly big deal in the city. People would hit the bars early in the morning and drink all day. Even in the suburbs, where I lived, people made plans for celebrating. Of course, it was no where near the degree of New Orleans, but it was a big deal.

Here in Charleston, it passed quietly. Maybe it's just because we haven't made really good friends yet here. Or maybe it's because this isn't a city that uses any holiday to celebrate and drink.

We know Mardi Gras to be a drinking holiday. In all reality, it's an over elaborate day that developed from minor celebratory feasts and the need to use up perishable goods before the Lent season and fasting started. And perhaps that's another reason why it's so much more prominent in Philly than here.

Because tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. And if I knew when Mardi Gras was, I definitely knew when Ash Wednesday was. Half of my entire workplace up North would have the ash on their forehead by the end of the day at work. Almost the entire town walked around with these. Catholicism always seemed to be the major religion in the area I lived in. And it doesn't seem like it's as predominant down here. So I wonder if I will see as many people tomorrow with the ash on their head.

On a different note, but still discussing North versus South. I'd like to admit that the one thing distinctly Northern about me is my driving. And I'd like to apologize to any of my local readers if you been in an encounter with me and shook your head muttering or swearing. I'm sorry! I can't help it. I learned to drive in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. There is no being nice or considerate. You try that, and you're going to get killed. I drive fast because I spent almost everyday going at a normal speed limit of about 60 or 70, due to the fact that every place I went meant I got there by a major interstate (mostly I-95). I tailgate, well, partly because I have no patience and partly because you should not be doing less than 60 on a major highway nor should you be doing it in the left lane of the highway. I also tailgate because if I leave enough space in between me and the car ahead of me, some jerk is going to try and cut in to that tiny spot and almost kill me. I can swerve like a champ because of crappy potholes and have had so many mess up my car that the slightest hole in the road will send me into another lane to avoid it. I can change lanes like a pro and parallel park like it was nothing. And I can't be nice. Like I said, being nice up North is guranteed to get you killed or severely taken advantage of. I won't let you in, I won't wave you through a stop sign where I have the right of way, I won't let you go before me if I'm turning left with no stop sign and the right of way and you're going straight.

I'm working on it. Honest! And I'll make a deal with you. I'll promise to be nice about my driving if all of you damn people who are making a right at a stop sign when I'm trying to turn left or go straight STOP PULLING UP SO FAR I CAN'T SEE THE ROAD THROUGH YOUR CAR! There is a line on the road for a reason and I am stopped at that line for a reason. When you pull up next to me, halfway into traffic in a nonexistent lane (because you are trying to go around me and make a right turn from a one lane road) and I miss three or four opportunities to go because your damn vehicle is blocking my view, I am going to shoot you the nastiest Northern driver look I have. I don't pull up - I stay at my line and give myself enough leeway to where I can see through the windows or over the hood of your car without completely blocking you view. You should do the same.

And until those damn people learn that, I'm going to keep cutting them off! We're nasty, us Northern drivers, but we're vindictive as hell too!