Braving downtown Bar Harbor during the day

One of the best ways to enjoy living in Bar Harbor is to live within walking distance of town. Not all can be so fortunate but I put up with other inconveniences for the privilege. This also means that you can mostly dodge the traffic that clogs our streets which were never meant for RV's that resemble Greyhounds ( buses, not the dogs), Hummers ( towed behind said RV's), real buses and the lost tourist who creeps along at 5 miles an hour which is really not moving at all.

We tend to classify the people by their license plates, like all people from a certain state we pigeon hole them into all exhibiting the same characteristics though in truth we know it is usually just those from their large populated areas. If someone decides to pull a U-turn in the middle of town, you can usually win the prize by shouting Massachusetts ( though we affectionately call them Massholes). Those turtles slowly making their way up Main St are usually from Pennsylvania and so on. People from Vermont are usually pretty savvy- I think they put up with their share of leaf peepers during fall foliage and know how not to look like a tourist.

So today, I had to go downtown to the PO during the mid-afternoon and as I was working this meant driving in and out. Now I kept telling myself- don't do this- but I had to get an important letter out in the only mail pick-up of the day ( and no, there are not mailboxes scattered throughout town)

So as bad as it is trying to maneuver the streets, what is next to impossible is trying to find a parking space which are at a premium. Now being a townie, I do know where I can usually find a spot or two even it means walking a bit as I will get there faster than trying to find a spot close by the PO.

So I started down a one way street to park my car when I suddenly found my passage blocked by a car coming at me- obviously going the wrong way and totally oblivious to this fact as they looked out their windows at the B&B's on the street. Now these streets are one way for a reason- they are just too narrow to fit 2 cars, esp. when parking is allowed on one side of the street (which I was attempting to do!) They finally realized their passage was blocked and looked around to see how they could proceed. I gestured madly at the One Way sign pointing in my direction and pointed at a nearby driveway- thinking maybe they would be smart enough to pull in so I could pass. But they shook there heads at me and it was obvious that they did not think they were the transgressors here and looked quite peeved that I was blocking their route. I knew at that point it was useless to try and make them see that I was on the side of the law here and looked around for a way to squeeze my car past them but no such luck. I had to back up a few feet and back into an open driveway to let them go by. As they did, they looked at me and raised their fists in anger at my disturbing their trip down the street.

So like the person who suddenly decided to walk backwards on the street and bowl over others, these people were detemined to make their way down this street in their own fashion regardless of the signs posted otherwise.

Do people really leave their common sense back home on vacation or do they think that the normal conventions cease to exist if you are in a small tourist town at the tip of an island? This pattern will repeat itself as I muse about living in a tourist town, esp where people seem to do things that put themselves or others at risk.

Wap wap wap- the sound of the Lifeflight helicopter landing- because another tourist left their good sense back home- more on that later.