Last Day

Our last day! Vacations are wonderful, but ending them is hard. It will be good to go home, though--we both miss Bob. And I guess work beckons. As I write this it's only 7:30am, and the ducks are looking at me through the screen door, quacking at me to come outside. The front page of today's paper says it may hit 110 degrees today, so I'm not sure how we'll spend the day.


Some observations about California vs Massachusetts:


- Traffic and driving
People here do not cut off other drivers. Everyone adheres to the rules of the road (in Massachusetts most people are unaware that there are rules of the road). We have yet to be tailgated; drivers do not do that here. Directional signals are used for both turns and lane changes, and when a lane is marked "right turn only," no one tries to cut off other drivers by going straight instead of turning. In two weeks we have not seen a single incident of aggressive or rude driving. Nobody honks--I don't think we heard a single car horn the whole two weeks. Everyone knows how to negotiate a four-way stop and knows who has the right of way when one car is turning left. Drivers do not pass on the right when the car ahead is trying to turn left. The culture here is courteous. On both highways and city streets merging is seamless, and people let other drivers merge or change lanes without trying to prevent them from doing so or cutting them off. Another interesting thing is that we haven't seen a single car accident since we got here; we see several a week at home. Accidents here are unusual enough that they're published in the paper when they do occur (I read the Desert Sun at home, and I can recall a very few accidents reported). We've been spending a lot of time in the car (this is California, after all, and not an urban area where walking is an option) and we don't have to be on the lookout every minute for someone to do something rude, aggressive or stupid. It just doesn't happen.


- Respect for surroundings
There is no litter here. People do not spit on the street. There are no old plastic bags, bottles, papers, etc. along the sides of highways or major streets. Even during Village Fest in Palm Springs the streets are kept clean because people here seem to want to keep their communities looking nice. I have not seen anyone throw anything on the street, not even a cigarette. When a street needs repair it's done immediately and quickly; the job isn't dragged out for a year or more. Granted, we're in Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells and Palm Springs. California is a big place and every place is different. But here in the desert, at least, people care about where they live. You just don't see that in Massachusetts, not even in the wealthiest suburbs.


- People
People here are friendly, courteous, and helpful. We walked into a drug store and were looking around trying to find the right aisle for the item we were looking for. A store employee spotted us, walked up to us and asked if she could help us find something. Enough said. That has never happened to me in Massachusetts in the 30 years I've been living there.