What is Normal?

Motorcyclists were to blame for 70 per cent of all Auckland City crashes in which they were involved over the past five years....

I still don't understand why people don't understand the fact the Traffic Rules are not for your "convenience", they are to save your lives! I see everyday a total disregard for their own lives and others too. Its as if their motto in life is "I DON'T CARE". I don't care about my life or yours or my family's.  How else can one explain a bicyclist or a rickshaw puller jumping traffic lights, when all other cars, trucks, bikes are waiting for the lights to turn green! Almost everyone overtakes from the left! I have experimented this many times by leaving the right lane empty, people (cars, bikes, SUV's) still blare their horns and overtake from my left!!!!!!! My God! Will my surprise ever end? At this point I remember two quotes which may explain this paradox! "9 out of 10 people, and 99 out of 100 soldiers are fools" " The desire to die was my one and only concern; to it I have sacrificed everything, even death." -  Emile M...

No hard feelings, just some sun-burnt skin... from a visit to a hill station! This is not a joke; the last time I was sun-burnt, I was on the beaches of Goa, spending the entire day, half-naked, in the hot winters (New Year!) of Dec-Jan. Firstly, this is not a complaint, just a bit of information for the people who are used to calling Mussorie, Nainital, Shimla, etc as hill stations; they are usually cold or colder, but never HOT. yep, Mahabaleshwar is hot! really hot! ... and the best season to visit it is not summers! but monsoons and winters!!!! You will definitely enjoy the place, as we did, if you just remember that "Mahabaleshwar is not a hill station", its a nice tourist spot! We were a motley crowd, my wife, my sister, her friend, my wife's brother, and me. ... to be continued