Emissions Inspection

If you're a DC resident--do any DC residents actually read this blog?--and you own a car, then you dread driving over to Half Street, SW, for your vehicle inspection every two years. Long, slow lines, cars running with their AC, hot hot hot. (I always have to go in the summer. It might be less unpleasant in the winter.)

Btw, "Half Street" is, despite the name, a whole street. It's not like half a paved street and half a cow track or something. (Not to say that there aren't such streets in the district, but I digress.)

So yesterday I had to go--time was up. I had been dreading the wait for days. I took my BlackBerry and a novel I've been reading, figuring that I would catch up on some email and read a few chapters.

But when I showed up . . . at first it looked closed. No cars lined up around the block. But no, there's the guy in the reflective vest, waving me in to . . . an empty inspections center! Seriously, there was one car in front of me. From leaving the house to leaving the center--passed!--took 30 minutes. Made one call on the BlackBerry, never cracked the book.

I guess it must have been a combination of it being mid-week (Wednesday), during the week of July 4 (many residents have already left for vacation). Not complaining. I'm doing the opposite. What is the opposite of complaining?