The existential angst of the Belt Parkway

Posted by: Scott    Tags:      Posted date:  October 20, 2014  |  1 Comment


While on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn yesterday heading for a visit with Mirthful Marie Severin (about which more later), traffic came to a standstill. Not really a surprise on the Belt Parkway, but in this case, the reason was.

Up ahead, we could see a police car’s flashing lights, and on the other side of the vehicle, motorcyclists circling, with nothing but clear road beyond them. After 5-10 minutes of blockage, the motorcycles moved on, the police car shut its lights, and we were free to continue.

Then, one exit down the road, it happened all over again!

What was this about? I had no idea, but since since my wife was driving, I was free to search Twitter to see whether anyone had tweeted what was going on. I never did find out whether it was some strange police exercise, a biker protest, or perhaps even (yes, my mind went there) the scattering of a dead friend’s ashes.

After another 5-10 minutes, they took off, and we weren’t stopped again. (At least, not by that. After all, it is the Belt Parkway.) I never did find out had happened, but I did discover that the collected tweets about Belt Parkway paint a pretty noirish picture … one Irene classified as existential angst.

If you’ve never driven the Belt, this will give you some idea what it’s like. And if you have … well … these ought to bring back some pretty crappy memories.

Abandon hope all ye who drive there!





Comment for The existential angst of the Belt Parkway


Sean

Strange. I drive the Belt almost daily, at all different times of day from pre-dawn through morning rush, late morning through late afternoon, evening rush through the wee hours, and rarely get stuck in traffic. The only exceptions are when they raise the draw-bridge near Jamaica Bay, or as they’ve been doing the replacement of the bridges along the south shore.

The Gowanus/BQE is an entirely different parking lot. That’s one road where it pays to know the side streets.