All things papal

So the pope is in Washington this week, and the whole town is a-twitter. And that's great, not least because it meant that the road crews that had been paving Massachusetts Avenue worked overtime to get the work done in time for his visit (the Vatican's embassy is on Mass Ave). It's like driving on glass! No more debilitating potholes! Awesome!

Anyway, all of the pomp and circumstance reminds me of the time that my friend Brad and I were driving back from a basketball game last year. It was mid afternoon in downtown DC, and traffic had been moving along just fine until a parade of speeding shopping carts exploded onto the scene. It was evidently some sort of race, with the shopping carts decorated for the occasion (imagine pirate ships, race car themes, etc). And then came the pope himself, except it was a dude of about 22 years old, almost certainly drunk, standing up in the shopping cart that was being pushed by another dude, almost certainly drunk, wearing running shoes and a red cardinal's robe. As the "pope" was blessing the crowd, his "cardinal" was sprinting through traffic--with the shopping cart careening out of control as it cut a diagonal along the intersection of Massachusetts and 17th Street--and screaming, "GET OUT OF MY [BLEEPING] WAY!! WE'RE NOT STOPPING!!"

As I sat in the passenger seat, mouth agape, Brad had the presence of mind to scream back, "THAT'S NOT VERY PAPAL!!!"

I know I'm not doing it justice, but it was hilarious, I assure you.