One of my students and I were driving around today, practicing turns at intersections with lights. We were coming up to a red light at which we were planning to turn right. As we got closer, we noticed a crossing guard standing at the corner, observing us. We approached the light, made our stop, and slowly began moving up to see if the lane we were intending to turn into was free. As soon as we set the car in motion, the crossing guard's hand (occupied by a stop sign) went up. We stopped, assuming someone was about to cross in front of us. We waited; no one crossed. A couple of seconds later, the stop sign was lowered. I looked to the crossing guard for an eye-contact explanation, and instead received an intense blank look.
We began moving up again, and immediately the stop sign was flipped up. We stopped; however, this time we made it far enough into the intersection to notice that the side walk was empty, in both directions. Very very empty. No people; no cars. I again looked to the crossing guard, who was now staring at me very seriously while continuing to firmly hold the stop sign up, for an explanation; none was given. My student, slightly confused, looked to me for advice; I, less confused, told him "Ignore the crazy".
We proceed to turn while I continued to stare down the guard who, once we were half way through our turn, faced the stop sign in another direction and began to wave us on as if the only reason why we could even perform the turn was because she was doing us a favour by holding back all other traffic.
Thank you Crazy. Just imagine what a terrible turn my life could have taken if someone insisted that crossing guards had to pass psychological evaluations prior to receiving their Mighty Scepters of Stopping.
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