Monday, May 11, 2009

Beware of Portland

People in Portland, Oregon are nice. They even spare the lives of pedestrians who step in front of their cars, which, of course, are traveling at or just under the speed limit.

This is really disconcerting to those of us who come from places like California or New York and are far more accustomed to viewing nice people through a veil of suspicion as in "What do they want from me?"

Among my recent discoveries in this vein were:

-- A bellman who actually seemed grateful for his tip.
-- A bus that halted when I attempted to cross a street with the right of way.
-- A man who asked if he could help with directions as I stared at a street sign.

Scary.