Transit Diary #2 :: Atlanta :: WHACK!

This has less to do with the train system in Atlanta and more with my neighborhood, but nonetheless, it has to do with my trip to the train station for the morning commute this morning. It was a pretty grey day, foggy and cloudy, but looking to be fairly nice later in the day, and the humidity, although unnaturally high, was lower than the past couple of days. I decided to walk it rather than bike it today, and I had just passed the Sword of the Lord church when I saw a couple of houses down a man walking down his driveway with a shovel. I looked to the left and saw that his trash can seemed to be pretty full (trash day), but there wasn’t anything coming out of it onto the ground — only some dirt and branches were next to the can from the crazy rain we’ve been having. I was prepared, although fairly tired from staying up too late, to say “hello” or “good morning” which I do to most of the neighbors, despite my inclinations to not really talk to most people. However, he didn’t look at me but proceeded to finish walking down his drive and around the trash can to my left. He seemed a bit on edge, but what I didn’t expect was to see him quickly raise the shovel over his head and just as quickly smack the pavement next to the trash can with a loud “whack.” It actually made my ear ring a bit, and when I looked down I half expected to see a snake or roach or *something* on the ground dead, and by the time I scanned up to his face he was exclaimed in a gruff voice “goddam son of a bitch.” I was already formulating something kind of smartass but light-hearted to say to him such as “hey, you’re gonna break that shovel” but decided that I really didn’t feel like tempting fate. As I walked on, he continued to mutter and had started scraping up the leaves and dirt along the side of the street.