Call It What You Want...

I saw this last week, and I've been so angry about it I thought I'd better wait a few days before I rant about it, but here it is a few days later and I'm still hot about it so here I go (and I'm going to take a breath now, too).

I'm sitting on the porch, enjoying a beautiful afternoon with two little boys in their naps. It was a gorgeous day in my neighborhood -- people walking their dogs, riding bikes, jogging. And then I saw it.

A golf cart.

Not just a golf cart, though its presence in the neighborhood is stupid enough. We do not border a golf course. We are not a resort town. People are not on vacation here. But no. It wasn't just that some schmoe has a golf cart to get him around the neighborhood that got me all in a huff.

It was the three overweight kids -- one of whom, no more than 12 years old, was driving the thing, on city streets no less -- who were clearly riding the golf cart back home from the community pool.

When I was a kid (yes, it's going to be one of those) and we wanted to go to the pool -- in our day it was the Seashore -- we got our swim stuff and got on our bikes and rode the 3.592 miles (I checked on Google map pedometer) and locked our bikes and had our great time and then got back on our bikes and rode the same 3.592 miles home.

Granted, nowadays it's not quite as safe as it used to be. There are scary people out there, and between our old house and the Seashore might not be the safest place in the whole world. But. This is not that 3.5 miles. This is a mile, maybe a mile and a half, and it's in a neighborhood with sidewalks and stopsigns and no stoplights and no (or very little) through traffic.

Let's start with the fact that the golf cart is not "street legal" -- it has no license plates.
Add to it the fact that the kid driving (who I saw driving yesterday with a FREAKIN' CAT IN HER LAP!!!!) is most certainly not of age to be driving anything.
Then we get to the laziness factor that these kids aren't even using self-propelled scooters on which they're at least standing up.
AND I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED IN ON THE FACT THAT THEY WERE FAT KIDS!

I mean, I am all about taking the easy way. Yes, I too have weight issues. But if we're so up in arms about our obese kids... TAKE AWAY THE STUPID GOLF CART! MAKE THEM RIDE BIKES OR WALK TO THE DARN POOL!

The worst thing about it is, I will keep seeing those lazy kids and keep getting mad about it.

Hmm, what are those things the police throw in front of cars they're trying to stop? The ones that pop the tires?