Driving home along the same road with the same lights is something that I have gotten very used to. I know which lanes will give me the smoothest ride, I know exactly when to change into those lanes and when not to change into the lanes in order to achieve that smooth ride. I know if I leave home at a certain time what the outcome will more than likely be. I am constantly watching the traffic to see who is around me, which car is changing lanes quickly 200 metres back… and will they hit the path that I am looking to take right at the moment that I will look to take it. Is the car ahead going to brake now or is the driver going to brake in a few hundred metres… all these things are floating around in my head while the sounds of the afternoon radio keep me in focus.
Going off on another tangent I know that some people are unable to concentrate while there is music playing in the car… too distracting to the driving. But for me it is like the musicans click track that they have going in the studio. The track that will keep them in time when they come back to a song when they are over tired and over worked… the radio is my click track.
The thing was, I was so engrossed in my click track this afternoon that I could not recall a certain section of the road that I drove through momentarily after I had driven through it. I remember turning this corner at a major intersection and heading over to the inside lane – it is a three lane road. I recall going through the first set of traffic lights up the slight incline, there are another set of lights less than 40 metres past the ones I just past through… I have no recollection of going through them. I have no recollection of going through the next set, just another few hundred metres further down… in total I would have gone through another three sets of lights before it dawned on me that I could not recall going through them. I had vivid thoughts of the getting into the car, the first left hand turn into a major road and just getting there before the cars came through. Stopping momentarily at the first set of lights right after the rail crossing. Going through the next few lights, over the major road with the tram tracks that divide the road into two.
All of those places are as fresh in my mind as if I am doing them right as I note this down.
YET that little section of road I have absolutely no recollection of driving through. Was my autopilot working that well that I do not need to remember it? I started to wonder is this the beginning of the end… am I going to experience more of these episodes. Will it soon become that I cannot recall the whole journey, then the whole, the week, the family, and even who I am.
All due to not being able to remember a short pathway that has become like my afternoon ritual.