It Worked! (but only on paper…)
When the car in the oncoming lane swerved drastically onto my side of the road, it was less than 100 ft from me.
Speed limit on the road was pretty slow, only 25mph, but it felt like 250…
Seeing a car swerve into your lane and head straight for you is not a good feeling at all.
It reminded me of when I first was learning to drive, with a new learner’s permit at age 15. My dad, who was in the car with me, would shout…ok maybe not exactly a shout, but more forceful than a simple say… “Drifting!”
And I would jerk the cargo van back into the middle of the lane.
So I gave this other driver the smallest benefit of the doubt I could as they veered onto my side of the road.
Then just as suddenly, the car swerved back onto its side of the road.
I noticed it was a normal car, not one of those bright Kia STUDENT DRIVER cars.
Then a second car veered over onto my side.
Ok…this is getting weird. I think I saw this in a movie once. If I flash my headlights, will they do a u-turn and chase me down and steal my cell phone?
Then I noticed the cause of the veering.
The double yellow line in the middle of the road went from a straight line to a violent curve.
Seriously…I don’t know how to describe it accurately with words.
Imagine if there were a garbage truck on the side of the road and traffic had to swerve crazily to go around it. And the cars going in the same direction as the truck had no hesitation of swerving into the oncoming lane, forcing all THOSE cars to also swerve (basically onto the shoulder of the road and the intersecting street) to avoid a head on collision.
And then imagine that they repainted the double yellow traffic line and just swerved around the garbage truck…
My first thought was…Maybe not a good idea to mix beer and line painting…because this looks like someone was driving drunk when they did it.
But then there was a second curve.
And another.
And one more, for a total of 4 crazy swerves on this road.
As soon as I finished driving, I did what anyone would have.
Texted some friends to ask if they had seen it and ask what in the world had happened to the street.
This had to have been a mistake, right?
Someone printed the plan wrong…the file got corrupted somehow…maybe it didn’t take the brutal heat wave we had at the time…something, right?!
But no. After searching online, it became clear that the crazy swerve lines were intended. Someone had given the approval to do this.
Consciously.
Saw the plan on paper somewhere and said deliberately, this is a good idea. Let’s do it.
And then the idea on paper turned into reality.
But sometimes reality doesn’t quite match what the plan was meant to accomplish.
I understand that traffic moves too fast on this street. That it truly is a safety issue to get traffic to slow down.
And somewhere, in some committee, they had three options on the table to calm the speed of traffic…and decided that this one was the one to go with. Maybe because it was the easiest to do. Maybe it was the cheapest. Maybe… I really have no idea why!
But the plan that looked good on paper was an absolute disaster in practice.
As frustrating as the fiasco of road lines was, I had to stop my internal diatribe.
Because I’ve been there too.
Looking at numbers on a page and making a decision based on a spreadsheet.
Only to move forward and discover that what worked in Excel didn’t work in the real world.
Don’t get me wrong though…spreadsheets and numbers and ideas that work on paper are important! But if that’s the only tool available, the risk is that some real world factor hasn’t been accounted for.
Like the human factor of driving in straight lines for YEARS over the same road, then suddenly we all have to swerve into what feels like the oncoming lane of traffic (regardless of where the lines are…) curbs haven’t been moved or anything and the actual road pavement is still straight.
Not. Gonna. Work.
This happens on an almost weekly basis when we are analyzing opportunities. On paper, the numbers work. It’s a great deal!
Most of the time though, there is at least one additional piece of information we are missing. And when we dig down and uncover it, we realize the deal won’t work out here in the real world.
Regardless of industry, whether town council or real estate investing, don’t forget to search for that variable that is hiding behind the spreadsheet!
Have a great week, and stay cool!
P.S. We have several deals in the works that should be coming up in the next 60 days. If you would like to be among the first to know about the opportunities, please let us know!
