Mankind's Most Annoying Invention

While on our morning SOG City jog we passed city workers polluting the air in Ballast Point Park. There were three leaf blowers blowing full blast with dust and debris flying everywhere. Noise and air pollution was rampant and destroyed the serenity of the park. Thank you Dom Quinto, you butthead! (Quinto is credited with inventing the blower in the 1950s)

Then a mile or so past the park we came upon the most miraculous of sights. A homeowner who had recently finished mowing her yard was also cleaning debris from her walkways and the sidewalk using the most amazing device. In her hands she had grasped a long wooden pole which at one end had a block of wood attached and embedded in this block of wood were bristles similar to that of a toothbrush. This lady was using this implement to actually sweep up the yard debris as opposed to blowing it from point A to point B; probably to the street where passing cars could blow it back into her yard. We were figuratively swept away by this marvelous device, and without the usual accompaniment of gas fumes and clouds of dust.

Upon arriving back at our SOG City ranchero we laid our sweaty hands on the computer and Googled ourselves into a stupor. We discovered that the pole with a brush on the end has a name. It is called Fred. Really, it isn't called Fred. I made that up. It is called a push broom and it is not a new tool. The push broom has been around since Moby was a minnow and the Red Sea was merely pink. Apparently this push broom thingy fell out of favor when mankind got too damn lazy to use it, preferring to strap on a heavy, expensive, polluting noisemaker to use for relocating their yard crap. What a shame!

If you would like to experience life from a simpler time, click on the Amazon link. Think how much you will save on gas or electric...and, it is good exercise.