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old habits
Nov. 6th, 2006 10:02 pmAbout twelve to fourteen years ago, I drove a forklift. It was a sit-down type. It's controls were: gas pedal, brake pedal, steering wheel, two levers for the forks, and a lever on the steering column for forward and reverse. I'd be crusing around pretty good, gas/brake, forward/reverse, pick up a palette, spin around drop it, pick up another, stack it, drive into a trailer. Always in a hurry.
After work, I'd back my car out of my parking spot, put the car in "D", step on the gas, and find myself still moving backwards. It took me a few days to realize that I wasn't putting it in drive, but flipping the lever on the steering column, like on the forklift, expecting to change direction, when I'd really only flipped the turn signal on.
Sometimes, I did this out on the street, too. I'd pull up to a stop sign and flip the lever. I'd take off through the intersection wondering why my turn signal was on, when I was going straight. The strange thing was, I usually only did this at one particular intersection. Even stranger, I still do this there sometimes. I did it last week. I'm wondering how I got into this habit. I didn't drive through that intersection much until after the forklift job ended. And when I did it last week, I was going east through that intersection, and I don't recall doing that before. It's always when I'm going west.
What a strange thing.
After work, I'd back my car out of my parking spot, put the car in "D", step on the gas, and find myself still moving backwards. It took me a few days to realize that I wasn't putting it in drive, but flipping the lever on the steering column, like on the forklift, expecting to change direction, when I'd really only flipped the turn signal on.
Sometimes, I did this out on the street, too. I'd pull up to a stop sign and flip the lever. I'd take off through the intersection wondering why my turn signal was on, when I was going straight. The strange thing was, I usually only did this at one particular intersection. Even stranger, I still do this there sometimes. I did it last week. I'm wondering how I got into this habit. I didn't drive through that intersection much until after the forklift job ended. And when I did it last week, I was going east through that intersection, and I don't recall doing that before. It's always when I'm going west.
What a strange thing.
