Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Missing Time!

So, the Causeway bridge is marked every 1/10 of a mile with a sign and is 24 miles across. For me coming across in the morning, the distance counts down from 24 to 0. At around 16 miles the bridge rises dramatically and there is a drawbridge that allows big boats to pass through from one side of the lake to the other. Normally, the drawbridge is down of course, as it was this morning.

The drawbridge itself is a metal grid that can be raised. It’s very different from the concrete that makes up the rest of the bridge and is very noticeable in both appearance and in the sound and sensation you get crossing it. Somehow, this morning, I missed it. In fact, I experienced about a 7 minute time-gap. I remember noticing that I was at 19.4 miles on the bridge countdown. Then suddenly I was at 12.3 miles. I’d passed 7 miles and roughly 7 minutes in the blink of the eye.

One possible answer to the missing time is that I was abducted by aliens. They obviously released me very quickly and I can understand why given all the spicy food I ate yesterday. They must also have released me before any actual probing because I don’t seem to have any residual effects from such an experience.

Another possible answer, far more prosaic, is that I was so focused on my thoughts that I simply blanked out the outside world. I was going over my lecture notes for classes this morning so I would have something of an excuse for such deep cogitation. The thing that is a bit scary about this, though, is that I seem to have been essentially “unconscious” for 7 minutes while operating a very large and potentially dangerous piece of vehicular equipment. What’s more scary to me, is that there were probably other folks on the road with me who were doing the same thing.

I’d say be careful out there but from my experience this morning it looks like being mindless didn’t hurt anything. There were no wrecked cars or blue lights in my wake when I “woke” up at 12.3 miles. Perhaps the mind is not such a terrible thing to waste after all.



13 comments:

sage said...

I can't imagine having such a long drive over a bridge every morning, but I have realized such "time gaps" in my own drives. Stay safe

www.thepulpitandthepen.com

Unknown said...

Sage, thanks, man

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I've missed a few minutes of a drive before because I was lost in thought and on autopilot. Little scary, isn't it?

Unknown said...

Alex, definitely. I've tuned out for a minute or two but this seemed particularly salient this morning

Angie said...

Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm finding this incredibly disturbing, and the fact that you didn't get into a wreck during the seven minutes or so that you were paying absolutely zero attention to your driving doesn't make me feel any better. Be careful, hon! I don't want to come here some time to find a devastated post from Lana. :(

Angie

Cloudia said...

You have such wonderful explanations for just driving hypnosis! No wonder you are a creative writer

Unknown said...

Angie, it was just a longer and more intense version of something that has happened to me before. And to many, I suspect. Just more intense. I'll keep an eye on it now, though


Cloudia, definitely fit the criteria of that kind of hypnosis

Liane Spicer said...

That causeway is 24 MILES???? OMG. That just boggles my small-island mind.

I've had these blanked out interludes as well and they are very unnerving. I comfort myself with the thought that I was essentially on autopilot and if anything untoward was in the offing I'd have snapped back. Reflexes and such.

Unknown said...

Liane, yes, it seems like it takes forever when you first start driving the Causeway, but after a while it goes faster. Maybe partly due to road hypnosis

Snowbrush said...

Gee, Charles, I can but hope that you were more attune with the road than you seem. I had no idea you commuted. Are we talking about the Pontchartrain Causeway? I remember it when it was new, and boy was I impressed.

Snowbrush said...

Another thought that comes to mind is to wonder how a causeway differs from a bridge.

Unknown said...

Snowbrush. The Causeway is also called The 24 mile bridge so I don't think there's really any difference. Maybe something technical but I'm not sure

Charles Gramlich said...

Testing