Science tells us that one of the most destructive things is a black hole. Once you pass the event horizon, you can never escape. If you are a fan of Science Fiction, and have read Frederik Pohl’s “Gateway” novel, you are well aware of the hazards of proximity to a black hole.
A close second is the parking lot at Almaden Plaza in San José. In this parking lot there are two dynamics that feed off each other.
The first is the notorious nature of a Trader Joe’s grocer. This is a corporation who seems to pride themselves on driving a lot of traffic to their stores, yet never have adequate parking. This leads to the parking lot fostering a full-contact conflict zone that is a competitive sport.
Add to that the second dynamic: A Costco. The membership warehouse store offers great value for large families and small to medium businesses that shop there. Of course, this brings in insane amount of shoppers, anxious to get in the door to obtain the great bargains on offer. I will add that when we lived in Arizona, it was chaotic, but here in California, it is chaos on steroids. Oh, how I miss the relative normalcy of Arizona’s Costco.
Both these dynamics are hazardous on their own. However, when they are in close proximity, it is a recipe for disaster.
Today, I made a Costco run, arriving at about 10:30 AM, a pretty benign time. It was chaos in the parking lot. I had to dodge and weave to avoid being taken out by several manic parkers.
Oh, and I highly recommend reading Gateway, a cracking good classic SciFi novel.
