There are very few people in this world who embrace change, let alone mind it.
Regardless of what we say, we’re creatures of habit. We like our comfort, and whether that is sitting in front of the TV night after night or bungee jumping over Niagara Falls, being faced with something unexpected is likely to install immediate fear and panic. And then all heck breaks loose.
And I’m not talking about this week’s election.
I’m almost getting used to the highway construction in Cache Creek, since I’ve had to drive through it twice a day for the past two weeks: pilons where there never used to be, dodging manhole covers (I never knew there were so many!) that look like they stick up about six inches above the grooved pavement, watching for flaggers and who are watching other things and trying to decipher their hand signals and correlate them to where the pilons are sitting...
It’s been very exciting, but I’m sure it will be beautiful once they’re finished. The section they’ve finished between the road up to the airport and Cache Creek already is - no more ruts and potholes to avoid.
At least they were expected.
It was somewhat of a relief last Saturday when I drove the daily gamut of highway construction from Cache Creek - trying to figure out where they’d be working that day based on the day before and taking an exit accordingly, only to find them all working “there”! - to Hwy 97C and drove across the bridge into Ashcroft. I’d survived it yet again.
Only to find, as I drove off the bridge, that highway construction had spread to Ashcroft!
Hear me, Ashcroft, when I tell you “I understand and share you pain.” At least it’s mostly confined to Evans Rd., which most people don’t drive regularly. But for those who do, there isn’t much room on it to pull over for that equipment.
It always takes a bit of discomfort, it seems, to produce something that will benefit us and make us happier in the long run. It’s just getting there.
But, as in all things, it will come.
Wendy Coomber is editor of the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal