Well it’s that time of year, earlier than usual, but that time none the less. When warmer weather and sunnier days bring out the bicyclists who insist on riding on the sidewalks (Get A Helmet Ya Hippies!) and the gimp carts, or as I like to call ‘em: Parkdale Limousines, start to make our walk ways resemble a bumper car ride at the EX…and not the good one! Combined with all the reports of pedestrians getting hit by cars (I expect most of them are jumping just to escape the traffic on the sidewalks!) it’s getting to be that walking is no longer the pleasant pastime it’s cracked up to be! As if that weren’t enough, now we’ve got these random pairs of fund raisers bordering the sidewalks like gate keepers, catching people coming or going, to donate to sick kids, world health and any other worthy cause. But why do your fund raising this way? They’re like Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons (but not crazy) the way they travel in pairs. Dressed the same. Holding their various and sundry binders and books out at you as you pass…ignoring them. It’s like running a gauntlet of begging. Who’d of thought you’d long for a good old fashioned pan handler? I feel these tactics are counter productive to whatever cause they’re canvasing for. Do you even hear what they say as you skip by? Yes I skip. Shut it. It creates anxiety when you see them in the distance. Can’t they just let us enjoy our brief temperate months in peace and just go back to ambushing us on TV with their sad, starving, fly covered commercials? I gots some walking to do!