Tuesday, July 01, 2008

LIFE: Bridges Freak Me Out

I have one ongoing nightmare, one that I've experienced off and on for maybe 40 years. I'm in a car. I'm driving now, but it started as a back seat passenger. We are going up a steep embankment leading up to a bridge over some vast expanse of water. The incline is steep. At one point, we stall and start sliding backwards. Later, the dream got more detailed. In fact, the car falls off the face of the cliff that was the bridge embankment, flipping muffler over hood.

Then I wake up.

I hate bridges. I've been known to take the long way to Buffalo, just to avoid the Hamilton bridge. Even if I survive the embankment travel (never done without holding my breath), just the clattering over the water itself sets my nerves a-jangling. All kinds of irrational fears of sudden bridge bucklings dance through my head until I'm safely on level land again.

What brought about this need to fess up over the sensible fear of bridges? Today's Dvork Uncensored site had a picture of a vast bridge in Jiangsu, China. Now, my odds of driving in China range in the infinitesimal range. The odds of me ever being on the Sutong Bridge? Zero. Not going to happen. A mathematical certainty. Literal definition of impossible.

But it's a pretty picture.

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