So what's with brightly dyed hair coming back? It's starting to look like 1995 in a big way.

The idiots with the walkie-talkie toy phones are starting to drive me nuts. Every trip has got some clown who thinks she's got an inalienable right have one of these things blasting away at full volume. Another thing that's getting to me: Nicollet Mall. I'm looking forward two weeks when I'll only have one day on the mall instead of five. Plus, it's Saturday, when hardly anybody is there, because after all, Nicollet Mall is a complete failure as both a transit mall and a pedestrian mall [nobody bothered to tell them you can't make it both] and the only reason they haven't moved buses off permanently is because nobody would be there if it wasn't for thousands of commuters and teenagers waiting for their bus -- my proposal: put the buses and taxis back on Marquette and make it truly pedestrian-only. ]. During the week people are in such a rush. It's not a New York or Chicago style rush where people are focused. The Minneapolis rush seems to be based on a fear that there's going to be a sudden blizzard at any time and people don't want to be stuck downtown so they careen about while their mind wanders. The other day a hippopotamus-shaped woman walked right in front of me while I was driving down the mall [she didn't look, oblivious to the fact that there are actually large vehicles on the mall during rush hour -- blame the 10 mph speed limit. 15 mph would actually be safer for this reason], giving me about four feet which i used all of to slam on the brakes and honk. If i steered away, I'd hit an oncoming bus. She couldn't get through, so she yelled at me. "I hope this gives you a reason to get up." Yeah, exactly -- narrowly not killing people just brightens my day. She was forced to use a crosswalk, and walked into the Walgreen's across the street where she presumably bought a box of Hot Pockets and two liter bottle of Diet Coke. Later, somebody said I looked like Moby.

I'm enclosing a picture of Minneapolis transit circa 1950. Have a look at how many of the streetcars used Nicollet Mall.