Sometimes it's better to just keep moving

I shouldn't complain. The people were just trying to be nice. They thought they would make me happy. Instead, I just muttered under my breath as I started to go and grudgingly waved thanks and not really meaning it. What happened to set me off this time?

I was standing by the road waiting to walk across. I wasn't at a crosswalk where, in our state, it is mandatory for cars to stop for a pedestrian standing between the white lines. I was prepared to wait for the traffic to clear. The last in the line of cars stopped. They caught me off guard. I hesitated because I wasn't really sure of their intentions. Then, to make sure, they waved me across. At that point I felt obligated to not just walk across but to "jog" across so I didn't hold them up any longer than necessary. I've heard people complaining when pedestrians cross the street slowly. Now, my "jog" is much slower than other people's jog but it does take more effort than walking. I would have been glad to wait for just one more car to pass before taking my leisurely stroll but now I had to get myself moving and faster than I would have wanted to go. Rats.

This happens in my car, too. I'm waiting for a long line of cars to pass before making a left turn and I'm looking ahead to the approaching gap in the traffic. The last car in the line stops to let me through but I don't see it right away because I'm looking up ahead to judge how big the gap behind them is. So, we all sit there for a while until they either gesture enough to catch my attention or they honk or flash their lights. Usually at that point they've become angry that I haven't accepted their kind offer. So, I step on the gas to try to reduce their wait by a few milliseconds and everything in the car shifts around and I make my wife car-sick. No one is really happy.

If they had just kept moving, everything would have been fine. Am I getting old and cranky or what?