Sunday 8-12-18

Sometime earlier this year I discovered that going grocery shopping very early Saturday morning is the way to go. Why? Not many people up that early are at the store. The store I go to is maybe a mile away if that. Well this Saturday was different. There was a runners marathon through my neighborhood. It was just getting set up as I went shopping. Getting home was an adventure. When I tried to go the way I had come I along with several other cars were told we couldn't go down the street we wanted. We were made to turn around. The cop said to me when I asked just where are we to go when we needed to use the street to get home. He says well you'll have to wait a few hours until the marathon is over. He then says why don't you go grocery shopping. I said I just did. Anyhoo I turned around and went to the other end of the street which was blocked too but I could turn one way since that was to be the return lane for the runners and at that moment the race was just starting. So needless to say when I got to the intersection of the next main street it was blocked and I had to turn around again. If that cop would have let me cross, I would have been able to go two blocks and get to my street. So now it's a dilemma, where were we to go? So I flipped down a side street knowing there were no real alternatives and came back to the street that was two blocks from home. The cars in front of me were being turned around. So me being last I stopped. The woman who I found out shortly was a city employee. She had crossed the street to where her car was blocking the one of the lanes and cones in the other. I called her over and I tell her I need to get across this street to get home. I'm just two blocks away. I told her what street and guess what? She's not familiar with my neighborhood. Either was the cop. Just how are these people supposed to get you going in the right direction if they don't know where they are? And my city isn't New York, so how easy is it to know the entire city? Long story short this woman wasn't about to let me cross. So I asked her, what do you want me to do, wait here for a couple hours while my groceries melt? Well there weren't a lot of runners going by yet so she decided the right thing and picked up the cones by her car so I could get across the street that I needed to so I could get home. I was home in one minute. On a normal Saturday after shopping I wait for the bank to open then go get some cash. Yes I still use cash. But guess what, now I had to wait because the bank is in that marathon zone. So in essence my neighborhood was held hostage for around 3 hours Saturday August 11, 2018. Yes and next year it will be too. So later when I got to the bank they tell me everyone was late. I imagine the customers that are in walking distance weren't too happy about that. I wonder what all those people in the other cars that got blocked from where they were going ended up?