The subject matter here was planned for the week of October 14 but “a strange thing happened on the way to the office.”  I received a diagnosis of “Squamish cell cancer in a lymph node on my neck” –  resulting in seven five-day weeks of radiation therapy concurrent with six weeks of one-day chemo therapy at Cancer Treatment Centers of America – Tulsa.  The combination of time demands and side-effect weakness prevented fulfilling my plans.  I hope to be able to fill in the missing items as more time and energy becomes available.  In the meantime, my grateful gratitude and thanks for friends and readers who have raised prayers and sympathy for my recovery.

One thing that continues to bug me is what appears to be a failure of designers and builders of the myriad  makes and models of vehicles being produced for us to purchase and drive on the roads today.  In some cases,

perfectly good designs have been dropped and replaced with some actually less safe and/or convenient to the drivers.  That problem also seems to pervade the professions of road and street design and construction.  Those circumstances must, however, wait for a different effort on my part.

Primary interest today is the placement of side mirrors on the front doors of vehicles, particularly when they have a fixed protrudence out from the vehicle side.  They do present a danger to individuals on foot that the vehicle may pass too closely causing severe injury, or even death.  One of the side effects of my treatments has brought home to me one of the more serious problems of this arrangements.  The radiation treatments caused a substantial loss of skin where the x-rays entered my neck which made it most difficult, and painful, to turn my head to the right to use that mirror.  It one day dawned on me that that location required a head turn of 90 degrees to use the mirror while the one on the left (driver’s door) only needed a turn of no more than half that, thus removing the eyes of the driver too long from the front for safety.

That thought reminded me of a family situation back in 1959.  Wife decided it was time for a new car as she had been driving one of two left in Denver by her dad or sister and mother.  Thus, a new Plymouth Sport Fury Convertible was ordered to my specifications late in the model year in July or early August.  In fact, when it arrived we were told that it was the last convertible to leave the line that model year.  In particular, among some other niceties, it had side mirrors, but they were placed on the fenders. 

They were, and are, nicely swept and so designed to produce less air drag than the ones in use today, and because of the location had a broader width of vision and little to no extension beyond the side of the car.  Thus the driver only had to turn his/her eyes rather than head to view the sides of the car – a much, much safer way to operate.

Incidentally, the car is still in the family.  It survived my wife, with her daughter taking it to college in Gunnison, Colorado, on the west side of the Divide. Son No. 1, Son No. 2, Daughter No. 2 and perhaps Son No. 3, had it and now it has returned to Son No. 2, who prizes it strongly and drives it sparingly and still look new with about 100 thousand miles of experience.  Among other conveniences, the front seats could swivel out about 45 degrees for more convenient entry and exit, it had a push-button transmission shifter (much better in case of a need to rock the car to unstick from mud or snow). It had factory air conditioning, which Son No. 2 was told by a collector (wanting to buy it from him for a monster price), “There was no convertible made that year with factory air.” He replied that he remembered it was there when it came. 

Perhaps the collector’s information was authentic but this one not included because of the lateness of its assembly.

In any event, it would be nice if someone would come out with such as aftermarket to add, and complete with the current convex glass and remote adjusting. Just a thought.

At this time of the year it is appropriate to offer my prayer to each and every one for a most joyful and pleasant Merry Christmas.  But remember the reason this is observed.  May God be with you each and every day and send His angels to protect you and yours from every evil as you live each day He has given you.

Also, may the year coming, 2020, turn out to be even greater than you could imagine!