What's wrong with leaving some wilder, brushy or forested areas for kids to play their own games by their own selves?

Well where I live the homeless, the mentally ill and the druggies take over those sorts of places. We have a horrid problem in our parks and along our roadways. They would also take the box away from the kids for themselves. Vagrancy laws are not enforced and they are treated like tenants of the land. Yes. the same rights. Visited by paid SJWs to ascertain their needs, given weeks to pack up, given vouchers for services and a blind eye is turned to all the stolen goods and drug paraphernalia in their camps. Welcome to what California has become.

People that drive for miles with their turn signal on. You never know when or if they're actually going to turn!

Peeps walking down the street slowly, eyes glued to the phone. Sometimes I feel like saying, Get out of the bloody way.

Watchmelol: I understand your point. What a bummer for any local kids.

Neighbors who play their music outside blaring.

In our 'hood everyone has about 1.5 to 3 acres. We have about 2. The neighbor has about 2 as well. Their house is on the corner and their back patio faces the side of our lot.
Neighbor, who is drunk most of the time, will sit out on his patio in the afternoon playing his radio loudly. SO loud, I can hear it plainly and I have hearing loss!!

Those horrid chimineas. I don't know what it is that people burn in them, but it stinks!

People talking loud and continuously at a restaurant or on a train. Last night we went into the city. Two young girls talked the whole trip down. Please, talk lower, I don't want to hear your conversation.

My husband has one. He takes a Bikram Yoga class. There is one young woman who seems to want to squeeze in next to him, wherever he stands. The protocol is to stagger your mats so that everyone can see themselves in the mirror.

I sometimes also have people set up directly in front of me in my exercise class. The funny thing is, there is a wide expanse of space. My last class I actually told a woman as she was setting up to just move over a bit. Realize that if you are taking a space in front of someone, to be considerate.

It has become common to be greeted by, employees. Hello how are you? All one sentence. No expectation of a real response. I believe a simple hello is adequate. Then wait for a response and continue. I think it annoys me the most at the drive thru at the bank. I also know it is not a phone call I will continue if that is the first statement.

People who drive 10 mph UNDER the speed limit through curves and hills, then speed up to 10 mph OVER the speed limit on the straightaways, the only time I'm able to pass them!!! Arg!

Anybody who calls me Miss myfirstname. It is so patronizing. I'm not a Miss and haven't been for 43 years. Why would anybody call me that? Worse than calling me Honey or Dear or Young Lady. I don't care if you think it's cute because you're from the south. I'm not from the south.

Instantly turns me into a surly b!tch, as the checkout lady at Charming Charlies found out.

Nickel, parks have soccer and ball fields for kids and adults to play sports.

Didn't you ever take advantage of them, or have kids who did?

Lucille, Irma, and Chi - Thank you for speaking up for me. I said what I meant...nothing more, or less and stand by my comment.

Having said that, I am aware that people with “invisible disabilities” are being harassed for parking in handicap spots due to a general ignorance of these
conditions. Making such a judgment is not only hurtful, but counterproductive; therefore, I prefer to assume one has a right to park there....unless I know otherwise for a fact.

Chi – You gave a perfect example of a “shouldn't.”

Most of my pet peeves are drivers.

1. On a multi-lane highway, a driver speeds up to pass you only to immediately slow down to exit within 1/8 mile.

2. You have been traveling down the expressway for a couple of miles and another driver has been shadowing you in the lane left of you staying back 6 to 10 car lengths. You signal a lane change to go left the the shadowing driver speeds up tying to prevent the lane change or making it difficult.

3. I have been following a driver on a 2 lane road for 10 miles and I wish to travel faster. When an opportunity arises, I pull out to pass and the other driver adds 10 mph to his speed. That's illegal, but it happens anyway.

4. In my state where there are 2 turn lanes, it is illegal to change lanes while in the turn. It happens often.

To those discussing "invisible handicaps".

In my state, having an "invisible handicap" does not automatically give one the right to park in a handicap space. To do so, he must hang display a handicap tag or have a special license plate. If you have a malady that prevents comfortable walking, you must be evaluated by a doctor and then get your handicap tag (or license plate) from the DMV. So far as I know, all states honor out-of-state tags.

Everyone with any kind of a disability has to go through the proper procedure to get their tag.

Elmer, didn't you ever play a ball game with whatever kids lived nearby? Did you only play on teams organized by adults? Were adults always there to step in to resolve every rules dispute? Did you ever walk over unpaved ground, picking up interesting rocks, turning over stones to see what was underneath? Did you ever chase a jack rabbit (ha ha, we soon found out we didn't stand a chance! but we did once catch a field mouse!) Did you have a bird, tree, or wildflower i.d. book to take into the field? (Why would you ever need such a book at a soccer field).

I could go on, but hope you see my point is that kids benefit from unstructured, active outdoor time as well as highly regimented, adult-organized team sports. So I like my "parks and rec" dollars to support a variety of playing area, not just soccer/ball fields.

I’d like to follow up on the handicapped tag. In my state, a person MUST have a fully completed DMV form signed/dated by their physician turned in to their local DMV office IN PERSON for issuance of a temporary handicapped tag. And you must sign for the tag at the DMV office. I know because I had to do it this past spring.

Nickel, My kids born in the 70s were the last generation in California suburbia to have a bit of freedom to roam at will. Precious moments. DS once came home from a bike ride with a friend and pulled a flattened frog out of his pocket. He was so proud that he he got to keep it first (shared custody) since he spotted it first. LOL But even they had less freedom than my generation did. But we had kids outside and they played at each others homes and went freely in and out of each others yards. For the most part kids today don't get to have the life you describe and, I agree, they should have. Working parents and schedules to rival a college students.

My grands are being raised where they can't be unsupervised but their parents and family do try to encourage them to have a lot of free play and use their creativity as much as possible without adults butting in. This does not play out well with some other parents who can't abide things without rules or that roam outside their expectations. LOL

DD said she is getting strange looks from some of the other mothers of when she drops off/picks up DGD at kindergarten. It seems DGD is a "bro". She and a small band of children have formed a loosely knit play group of 5 or 6 classmates and they call themselves the "The Bros". DGD is the only girl bro and she is the only one allowed to be the "dinosaur". I'm chuckling as I type. So in the morning the little group of boys and she high five each other and she roars at each one in greeting. Then they chase each other around in a loosely knit game of tag. Then the scene repeats at recess and at pick up time. After a few minutes they often part ways to play with other friends.

"Have you lost a lot of weight?
Ummm no, as I didn't HAVE a lot of weight to begin with.
And from another woman no less... Incredibly rude!

1. In my state where there are 2 turn lanes, it is illegal to change lanes while in the turn. It happens often.

I think the law is actually even more strict than that, and that it is illegal to change lanes in an intersection. Period. Ever. If you are turning left from a road with a single left turn lane, onto a road with multiple lanes, you are required by law to turn to the left-most ordinary lane. If you are coming to an intersection with two lanes, and the right one is right-turn only, and you proceed straight through the intersection from the left lane and there are two lanes on the far side of the intersection, you do not get to pick whichever of the two lanes you feel like. You are required by law to stay in the same lane you started in, ( in this case the left one) until you are completely through the intersection.

A big pet peeve of mine concerns an intersection close to where I live. The road has a single lane and as you approach the intersection it widens out to be two lanes. The left lane, which is directly in line with the lane that approaches the intersection, is left-turn only. The right lane allows left, or straight or right. Inevitably as I approach the intersection intending to turn right, every single vehicle in front of me will change lanes into the right lane, which requires a conscious effort, and then sit at the intersection with their left blinker on. Even if there are no cars in the left lane, they still always move to the right lane to make their left turn, thereby blocking me from making a right-turn on red. Its maddening.

nycefarm, I get that, too. I walk with my much older male friend, who is forever battling his weight. A woman we saw every day at the park, one day said "wow, you look great! You've lost weight!" He beamed, until we realized she was talking to me. Uh, thanks, but I've been this size since high school. :?

to: bob_cville

" Inevitably as I approach the intersection intending to turn right,
every single vehicle in front of me will change lanes into the right
lane, which requires a conscious effort, and then sit at the
intersection with their left blinker on. Even if there are no
cars in the left lane, they still always move to the right lane to make
their left turn, thereby blocking me from making a right-turn on red.
Its maddening."

Yeah, that's maddening, because in that situation, it is illegal to make a left turn from the straight-through lane when a left-turn-only lane is provided. If they do it after you turn on your right turn signal, I'd be inclined to accuse that person of doing it purposely to agitate.

That must be a regional thing. I rarely see that happening at my location and we have our share of rotten drivers.

I agree with almost everything said here.

Bob said right lane allows left turns, my suspicion is they are making a right soon after their left turn and need to be in the farthest lane.... I've seen that where there are multiple turn lanes.

The worst one in traffic is when I'm in the right-hand lane of multiple lanes, traffic is heavy and slow, and someone decides to spurt up from behind me, go around and cut in front of me and immediately make a right-hand turn. What's up with that?? They couldn't wait 3 seconds? Duh - If it had been possible for me to drive faster I would have. In restaurants when I see two people on their phones the entire time not talking to each other. Why did they bother to go out together? And I also hate when guests constantly use their phones at dinner. I think the next time that happens I'm going to just leave the table and go into my sewing room or something, if they ask why I'll inform them that to me what they do is just as rude. And one of the worst in the grocery store is anyone that hogs the whole aisle with their cart in the middle. But here's one that some are going to think is rude on my part but I've got to say it. I know that there are people who really need to use those mechanized carts but it seems like so many of these people seem to think that just because they are disabled they can completely commandeer all the aisle space and the rest of us can be damned. They also are dangerous, they suddenly push the backward button and almost run over you. Once there was a man wanting to drive through the aisle in the produce department and someone had left their empty cart and he couldn't drive thru. So I noticed it and moved the cart over so he could go and he didn't even say thank you - the old coot. I have a lot more but these really get me, oh, and I HATE to be served on square or rectangle plates in a restaurant, yes I know this is weird but it really torques me off.

Mine is just one major peeve. People who refuse to learn how to negotiate a roundabout. Failing to yield, excessive speed, and the most dangerous habit "changing lanes within the roundabout".

"It does seem like people seem to have a little confusion," said driver
Marshall Deese, who works in Dublin. "I see a lot of people that are
inside the roundabout that will stop to let people come, and it’s, like,
no, always go."

Did you folks notice that the majority of the pet peeves involve driving? I guess that we can all agree that driving in traffic with unpredictable and uncontrollable drivers is stressful and frustrating.

Here's hoping that traffic and other drivers give you all a break and allow a calmer, less stressful journey.

One more: cars parked with the bass beat of music blasting. Warning to those who do so: I call police, not that it is a major priority with them.

Distracted drivers who blow through the pedestrian crossings in my neighborhood. When I point to the sign they look at me like, "what?" I'm going to start taking videos and post to HOA FB.

My pet peeve at the moment is my cat who won't let me pet him. This pet is peeving me...

(Woman in white SUV) backing ..so ..slowly out of parking space at the bank. S-L-O-W-L-Y, there are two other cars in the lot. Creeps carefully through the shopping center parking lot to the exit, right turn signal on. Entire lane to the left for all visible distance must be empty of all life forms before executing turn. OMG!!!! ORANGE BARRELS WE'RE GONNA DIE SLOW DOWN!!!! Oh, lookie, light is green, ZOOOM!!

She squeaked through the light on yellow, I got to sit and wait for an entire cycle.

Grrrrrrrr.

My pet peeve right now is people over reacting and assuming a lot of negative things before they know the facts.

Roundabouts - for some unknown reason we have roundabouts in the community in which I live so the kids all have to learn to navigate them when learning to drive. The daughter of a friend of mine was doing her driving test and when she came to the roundabout she was told to turn left. Well, instead of going right and then leaving the roundabout at the left turn intersection, she turned left immediately into oncoming traffic. That, it turned out, was an automatic fail.

I only wish we had proper roundabouts and that people were required to know how to use them. We only have fake roundabouts that have stop signs!!! SMH Properly placed roundabouts are an excellent way to keep traffic flowing and avoiding unnecessary stopping.

As for failing a test for going against traffic, good. Ignorance of the rules of the road should never be excused. Driving is a privilege that comes with the responsibility of not endangering others. It appalls me how so many people are licensed who have minimal skills to navigate the areas they live in. Our freeways are a mess because people aren't road tested on them. Clueless. That is another one of my pet peeves.

EVERYTHING is described as Farmhouse. None of it is in my farm home.

Oh big GRRRRR on the roundabouts...It seems to me that where I live, the people that design the roads (whatever that's called...road designer people) live in a completely different state, or town at least, to the ones they're designing in . On paper, and according to driving statistics, I guess it works. However, irl, nope nope nope.

Road signs/rules seem to be interpreted like this:

Yield : "If I go fast enough, I can get in front of you".

Roundabout: See above.

Merge: See above.

Stop: "I kinda slowed down".

Double Yellow Line: Means the same as any line or lines or combination of center/broken line. Which is, it seems, nothing.

Left lane/passing lane: "Huh???"

When the lights turn from green to amber, it is seen as more of a challenge....

On the plus side, nobody honks their horn here or flips you the bird. They just smile and wave when they cut you off. Probably because they have a license to carry and they are.

Interestingly enough, pedestrians in shopping centers seem mindbogglingly ignorant that cars exist. Nobody looks to see if the way is clear to walk. Neither do they teach their children to look. They totally wouldn't last a day where I'm from.

Grrrrrrrr.....

And speaking of roads and fixing roads and building roads...I have become immune to orange cones. They're everywhere and that has made them lose some (well, all) of their impact.

Disclaimer....It's a regional thing, I guess. It's just that I live in Texas now and this is how it looks to me

Thanks for listening, Y'all!!

The use of endearments to condescend. Though as I live in the south now, I realize many use it as a term of true endearment - imagine my shock to hear an older man call all other women and men 'sweetheart', though that doesn't happen often.

Lack of common sense. Not saying people need to be geniuses, but common sense of everyday life. It just irks me.

I suppose at this stage in life I've gotten very used to poor grammar, having lived in the South (and I've heard poor grammar from my Northern friends as well). I no longer find it off-putting - I've spoken with too many highly intelligent and clever people who just speak a certain way. I sometimes catch myself speaking poor grammar now, and it used to be a real peeve of mine!

People who don't use their turn signals.

DH's constant complaining about other drivers. I used to find it somewhat amusing, now it just tires me and I wish he'd say something nice on occasion.

Truthfully, even the above doesn't really bother me much. Perhaps I'm getting too old to waste my time on feeling peeved!

I guess you have to grow up in the south to understand calling (even people you don't know) endearments such as honey, sweetie, dear.... still sounds normal to me & I don't even notice I'm doing it, sweetie.

center isle grocery shoppers...then stop and block everyone...grrr. In regards to texting at the grocery store, I don't care if you text and shop, just stay out of the way. NOW talking on your cell all the way through the store while you shop, that's annoying.

When I'm the one always dropping and picking up (kids) and there are 2-3 cars in the other kids driveway. It just burns me up!!!

I was at the mall a few weeks back a lady was crossing but at an angle...to the point where I'm literally driving behind her but still couldn't pass because they wouldn't get to the other side...same day another part of the lot a guy crossing in front of my while I'm driving through...he's texting and walking very slowly because he has his face in his phone...I should have HONKED at both these people but I didn't want to be rude. So when the guy is far enough over for me to pass, I pass as close as I can get to him without actually hitting him...I wasn't driving fast or anything but if I was closer my side view mirror would have bumped him ;-) But I thought to myself "how inconsiderate can people be". Common sense tells ME if I'm walking in front of a car to hurry and get across, don't make these people wait and I want to get myself out of any danger of being hit.

Oh yes, the super slow, diagonal walk across the parking lot! Drives me batty. Would be so much faster if it were a straight line.

Raye: I ignore most endearments. However, being called "dear" rankles, entirely due to a childhood where the nuns teaching us would only use that term to us when they were bent on scolding us. (I translate DH as Darling Husband when I read it on this site, never ever as Dear... Dear is never an enDearment for me.) You call me "dear", I am waiting for the shoe to drop....

And if I call some one "dear", you can be assured there's some sarcasm involved.

OK, gotta get this one off my chest, just thought of it. We buy toilet paper at the large discount warehouse and lately due to the tight wrapping that's done on the pallets, the rolls are squished and instead of the roll being round it's oval. Then if you don't shape it back to round when you put it on the dispenser it won't roll and you get one square at a time. I remember at public school they purposely rigged it up so that it dispensed that way and even as a kid I got all bent out of shape, no different now. Such a little thing but it really sets me off!

ritaweeda, I hear ya! What's worse? When you grab a big pack of T-paper, toss it in the cart, get home, and find the bottom plastic wrap has been worn away and all the bottom rolls are black on the edges. Ick.

Onliwon Paper Towel and Toilet Paper company

Or when they put so much glue on the end of the roll that you have to rip up several layers to get the roll started. Does anyone know why they only make white toilet paper? When I was younger they had all kind of colors and prints.

I liked the prints and colors. It's probably an environmental thing.

Envionmental and it was found to cause vaginal infections.

YESSSS...it almost seems the public restrooms have oval toilet paper rolls so you can only get 3 sheets of single ply at a time LOL

People who hold their phone vertical while taking a video. I seriously just want to slap the phone out of their hands and scream at them. Of course then they would all be posting here about their pet peeve of some crazy guy who runs up and knocks their new phone out of their hands.