Reality does not have an adjustment button.
 

Yesterday I was headed out to an early in the week Publix outing and noticed a golf cart up on the lawn across from the Pimlico Recreation Center. A woman was walking towards the golf cart and I then noticed a man following her about twenty feet back. He was carrying something in front of him that looked very wet. As I got closer I saw that it was a black cowboy hat. A wet black cowboy hat.

It must have blown off his head and welcomed the lake.

My attention was on the man with the hat and not on the road but I was very startled to see an old man trying to peddle a bicycle towards me while in the golf cart lane and going in the wrong direction.

I slammed on the golf cart breaks and the man seemed to get discombobulated but finally stopped his bike ride and pulled the bike onto the sidewalk.


There was a golf cart coming from behind me but it looked like it had slowed down. I also noticed that the golf course sprinklers were doing their job and that is why the man who had been riding the bike was dryer than the one with the black hat.

I did get to Publix that trip but someone was looking out for me as that sequence of events could have easily come out very differently.

The law of random malevolence.

Whenever two or more unrelated events occur at the same time and in the same place, they will do so in the most inconvenient way possible for all concerned.

Sounds about right. No accidents occurred though. Everyone slowed down or got out of the street or off of it when needed. I assume the guy's cowboy hat blew off from the wind and then found the lake. They did pull off the road and parked by the hill which goes down to the lake.

I can see this kind of thing happening. Sometimes the world is out to distract us from our primary assignment, and circumstances conspire to create a perfect opportunity for an accident.
I'm glad you didn't stay distracted for that extra split second that would have been disastrous. I don't know if this happened when it was extremely windy the other day, but I have found that I need an extra-alert presence when the wind is really blowing. There is something about a heavy wind that puts me off my game, and I think many others as well.

I try to be extra careful. Particularly in parking lots. Right where people should be extra patient, many drive their automobiles and golf carts aggressively and it just seems to me this happens even more when it's really windy.

Be careful out there, everybody. And remember, "they really are out to get you".