Weird Wednesday, week 2
Last week was weird. This week...was more hectic than weird, but it wasn't weird-free.
The update from yesterday: Joliet Street was open for business, but the parcel where the body was found had all sorts of police tape on it--red going up Wycliffe, yellow for the rest of it. I could see it better on the way home. The tape doesn't go as far south as I'd have figured the parcel went, so there's a fair portion of field that is still open, in a sense. I'd seen a vehicle of sorts off in the distance, in some growth, and I saw that again on the way home, like an SUV or something. There was a tall portable lighting stand back by some of the buildings--these are the house, garage, and large outbuilding to the south; and there was what looked like an emergency management system trailer/motorhome-type vehicle in that area. Definitely still working there. Very curious about what happened.
I also warned my coworkers that now two bodies have turned up near where I live and drive, so if a third body turns up within a mile radius of work, it might be me. (They hadn't heard the stories and were surprised at what had happened. Hey, the West Chicago story was the lead story last night on Channel 5 at 10 PM.)
Meanwhile, I'd had a weird encounter during my drive to work last Wednesday. The whole day was weird, given that I started with the bulldog who wanted a ride and ended with an invitation to Europe. I'm southbound on Route 59 heading to the intersection with Batavia Road, where I turn left. This intersection has been under construction for a number of weeks, and at times traffic has backed up. (It's been REALLY terrible during the afternoon commute--Friday, it was backed up almost to Joliet Street.) I'm in the left lane as we're approaching Batavia. There's this semi and then another car in front of me. We're crawling close enough to the intersection that I'm not going to cut around either of them to get to the left turn lane, hoping we'll crawl appropriately close so that I can fully legally get there...but we stop. And then the car in front of me puts on her left turn signal. Sigh. Okay, I won't necessarily go around you, but you have room, and clearly the semi's not going anywhere. I put on my signal. The woman then moves her car slightly, angles it, to show she's going to be making a left. Okay, well, JUST GO. You have the room. The semi clearly isn't turning here, so just go around it. And she sits there. I think I was close enough to her car that I didn't really have the clearance to go around her, especially once she angled it, so I was stuck sitting there. Do you drive this route on a regular basis? Do you know how other drivers react on Route 59 under normal situations, much less a construction zone that further clogs things? GO. I start gesturing for her to make the left, because one, it's a turn regulated by a light; if we both miss the light, we'll have to wait for the next turn arrow, so if we can make it we might as well try; and two, knowing how the other drivers are, *they're* going to start going around us because *they* know what the intersection is like and *they* don't want to miss the light. I'm making waving motions with my hands, and she sees me...and makes a face, sticking her tongue out at me. Mature. And then immediately after that, we're passed on the left by a car who doesn't want to miss the turn arrow. I pointed at that car as if to go, see?
She got into the turn lane. We both made the next light. But barely.
The update from yesterday: Joliet Street was open for business, but the parcel where the body was found had all sorts of police tape on it--red going up Wycliffe, yellow for the rest of it. I could see it better on the way home. The tape doesn't go as far south as I'd have figured the parcel went, so there's a fair portion of field that is still open, in a sense. I'd seen a vehicle of sorts off in the distance, in some growth, and I saw that again on the way home, like an SUV or something. There was a tall portable lighting stand back by some of the buildings--these are the house, garage, and large outbuilding to the south; and there was what looked like an emergency management system trailer/motorhome-type vehicle in that area. Definitely still working there. Very curious about what happened.
I also warned my coworkers that now two bodies have turned up near where I live and drive, so if a third body turns up within a mile radius of work, it might be me. (They hadn't heard the stories and were surprised at what had happened. Hey, the West Chicago story was the lead story last night on Channel 5 at 10 PM.)
Meanwhile, I'd had a weird encounter during my drive to work last Wednesday. The whole day was weird, given that I started with the bulldog who wanted a ride and ended with an invitation to Europe. I'm southbound on Route 59 heading to the intersection with Batavia Road, where I turn left. This intersection has been under construction for a number of weeks, and at times traffic has backed up. (It's been REALLY terrible during the afternoon commute--Friday, it was backed up almost to Joliet Street.) I'm in the left lane as we're approaching Batavia. There's this semi and then another car in front of me. We're crawling close enough to the intersection that I'm not going to cut around either of them to get to the left turn lane, hoping we'll crawl appropriately close so that I can fully legally get there...but we stop. And then the car in front of me puts on her left turn signal. Sigh. Okay, I won't necessarily go around you, but you have room, and clearly the semi's not going anywhere. I put on my signal. The woman then moves her car slightly, angles it, to show she's going to be making a left. Okay, well, JUST GO. You have the room. The semi clearly isn't turning here, so just go around it. And she sits there. I think I was close enough to her car that I didn't really have the clearance to go around her, especially once she angled it, so I was stuck sitting there. Do you drive this route on a regular basis? Do you know how other drivers react on Route 59 under normal situations, much less a construction zone that further clogs things? GO. I start gesturing for her to make the left, because one, it's a turn regulated by a light; if we both miss the light, we'll have to wait for the next turn arrow, so if we can make it we might as well try; and two, knowing how the other drivers are, *they're* going to start going around us because *they* know what the intersection is like and *they* don't want to miss the light. I'm making waving motions with my hands, and she sees me...and makes a face, sticking her tongue out at me. Mature. And then immediately after that, we're passed on the left by a car who doesn't want to miss the turn arrow. I pointed at that car as if to go, see?
She got into the turn lane. We both made the next light. But barely.