As I write this blog entry, two middle school classes are walking past my office. This is the third program that educators have done today—three different programs for students from three different schools. End of the year field-trip time keeps the CHS educators busy!
It is during this time of year that I love my commute to and from work—I can roll the windows down, turn up the radio, and clear my mind. Sometimes. In order to get to this state of mind, I need to first tune out the honking of horns and forget about the bumper-to-bumper traffic that will be my fate for the next 20 miles.
What I wish my commute looked like!
As I was walking through our Behind the Wheel exhibit the other day, I stopped to read a segment of the “Diary of a Hartford Motorist”, which appeared in the November 1911 edition of The Automobile Club of Hartford Bulletin. The author’s humorist approach reminded me that my commuting woes were nothing new…
“Successfully evaded three children, two men and a grocery wagon on my way down town, four bewildered ladies on way home, a big flock of school children playing in Ward street…”
“Just before car came to stop a brat (CHS educators would never use this word!) about five years old dashed out from in front of trolley and went down in front of me. My heart stopped dead. Hustled out of car and looked underneath but could not find kid. Discovered him on sidewalk crying. I had run completely over him, bruising only one knee. Heavens! If I had killed him I would never have sat in an automobile again…Will take me a week to get over this.”
Visit the exhibit to read more from the “Diary of a Hartford Motorist”.
So, see my commute (and the commute of all the others who share the highway with me at rush hour) could always be worse!
If the traffic isn’t too bad, bring your toddler to explore the Behind the Wheel exhibit on Wednesday, July 10th and Thursday, July 11th during a transportation-themed Story & Crafts at the Museum program. Visit chs.org/calendar for more information.
Erin Strogoff is the Coordinator of Youth & Family Programs at the Connecticut Historical Society.
inside the CHS 