Stoned: The Morning After

So the Stones came to town last night. I wasn't actually there but it was still a sight to see. I got most of the experience without even having to buy a ticket.

I am always amazed at how much big events turn this little town upside down. Since I live about a mile from the Stadium, during big footbal games I usually have to find a clever way home, avoiding the main arteries to grounds. Last night was the worst it's ever been. I thought I was being clever by driving past my exit and trying to come in from the South, bad idea. I will spare you the details but I ended up 4 miles outside of town driving down a windy narrow country road, in the wrong direction, in a rainstorm and my gas light came on. That's all I am going to say be cause I have already begun to forget the experience. I think it's part of that natural human reaction where bad memories get sort of dulled. Kind of like with childbirth or a camping trip where you get caught in the rain.

The impact of the immigration didn't end when the concert was over. As I was driving to work this morning, I noticed the streets were dead. Maybe the rain had something to do with it, but there was an earie silence within 2 miles of the Stadium. Almost as if everyone was still recovering. No die-hard joggers, no one waiting at bus stops to go to work or wherever, no students walking to class. Even if you didn't know the Stones were in town, you knew something happened.

And then I found out where everyone was...

You see Bodos is the Charlottesville institution, nay empire, that has a very specific format. When there is a rush, this particular system requires that almost everyone knows how it works. It's not really that complicated. When it gets busy, there are two lines, one to order and one to wait for your food. The order line is usually very very fast and very short...but the waiting line sometimes gets backed up near the door...maybe you can see what is going to happen here.

So, someone that has never been to Bodos notices that there are a lot of cars in the parking lot, they also notice when they walk in that there are a lot of people. Not knowing what to do they sort of gaze at the menu and latch on to what looks like a line (pretty normal behavior). What they don't realize is that they are really more in a linear crowd, than an actual line. Usually one of the regulars spots this newbie behavior and directs them to the amazingly short order line (where they stand there for several minutes dumbfounded by the menu) and eventually everything is ok.

So, even if you didn't have to drive 15 miles to complete your 4 mile commute last night, an astute Charlottesvillian would know that something happened last night. The big toungues on the T-shirts might have been a giveaway as to what it was, but even without that...there was a disturbance.