What a nice drive...

As I left home for the long trek up the freeway earlier today, I expected the normal bump-and-grind commute. When I leave for the office, usually later in the morning, the northbound traffic generally moves okay up through Long Beach, then gets a bit sticky around the 405-110 junction, is anybody's guess through the rest of the South Bay, then inevitably jams just north of LAX, as I enter West LA, where it's usually stop-and-go, no matter what time of the day (save midnight-5 AM, perhaps), what day of the week.

Today, though, the surprises kept coming. Traffic stayed relatively light through the south bay, and no brake lights north of LAX. What gives? Wasn't this a normal Tuesday? Where was the traffic?

To my amazement, it stayed clear through West LA, very light, in fact, and even as I exited Wilshire Blvd., headed east, there were few cars, save for the usual blur of activity near UCLA. Past Westwood, it thinned out again considerably, and as I wound my way past the Beverly Hilton, up Whitter Ave, then to Lomitas, weaving through Beverly Hills...still no traffic! Back on to Sunset, where it was also uncharacteristically clear sailing, all of the way to my building, where the parking garage, capacity usually bursting, was practically empty.

What was going on, I wondered? Was a hurricane on the way? Had everyone evacuated West LA? And if they did, how did they do so without me knowing, or seeing? They sure weren't on the freeways, they weren't on the streets, and they definitely weren't at work.

Then, in a flash, I was enlightened. There are a handful of shops on the bottom floor of our office building, all but one of those being closed as well. I walked by one of them, and it finally hit me as I saw the sign on the door.

"Closed Tuesday--Rosh Hashana."

Not a lot of perks to being a gentile and working in West LA, but being the only one up here on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is rather pleasant.

Shalom, indeed!