Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la, screw you!

Something like that, right?

Or maybe more appropriately, ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…’

Yesterday i commented on the Book of Faces how amazing it was to be reading through my newsfeed and just reading positive, grateful-sounding stuff. Heck, even a death message to mourn Joe Cocker was made to sound appreciative.

But then i also happened to be two-day-before Christmas shopping…

Pulled into a four-car-park full waterfront to go and pick up something that was only in the one store there [having been at another one all across town] and drove into this enclosed parking lot and decided to just wait in one spot until someone came. Managed to find a parking spot after not too long a wait, although also saw a big guy standing in another parking lot “booking” it for someone else? Rough translation – “I am better than you and deserve special treatment and to jump the line of people wanting to park.” i probably shouldn’t have shouted “Just drive him over” to the guy who got to the parking before his person did…

Then as i was leaving the parking lot i was behind another car who i assumed was also leaving as we were heading straight for the boom – a parking space opened up on the right of us and there was a car clearly waiting to go in and suddenly without warning or indication, as the car moved out of the space, this car in front of me just did a smooth little “Voop” [there is not other way to explain it, it was a Voop!] and the car that had been indicating was all like “WHAAT?” i left before i saw the conclusion of the girl from that car’s, ‘Uh excuse me but that was our space.”

But that’s it, right? All friendly and cheery and Christmassy until that moment we’re both reaching for the last bottle of [insert product sold in bottles] or you have three parents bearing down on that last Mauritius Barbie or Guardians of the Galaxy figurine, then it’s every WWE wrestler for themselves.

Maybe it’s just the leave-it-til-the-last-minute late people. Maybe the really nice ones shop early and are hiding out in their homes somewhere sipping on egg nog [i have no real idea what egg nog is, except that it likely contains some amount of egg, but the name has always scared me enough to largely keep my distance] being glad they are not a part of Christmas Max: Thunderdome or something.

But it’s not too late.

We have today, we have tomorrow. Presents still need to be bought. Last minute menu items to be acquired. Someone will have forgotten the [insert forgotten product] and someone else will be heading out for a few more bottles of [you know how this works – bottly thing].

You WILL find a parking space. You will get the thing you need. Or you won’t, but you’ll be fine.

Take a breath. Remember this is a great time to demonstrate loving your fellow man, woman, child and really slow old person driver. [As is every other day of the year to the exact same amount, funnily enough]

For a minute, imagine that other person is another version of you.

A slower, ruder, idiotic driver, pushy in, more aggressive version perhaps, but still…

And at least be kind.