Just another virtual day in suburbia

It was a quiet suburban street

Well maintained houses and nearly trimmed gardens

Folks were leaving for work

Susan said goodbye as her husband left for the office

She worked from home doing IT assignments

Preferring those stand alone work packages

Which can be done without people interactions

She worked late at night leaving her daytimes free

Susan was still in her pajamas when she put on the VR headset

A few moments later she was in a remote Scottish castle

Moving from room to room looking for other characters

She found her gaming friend John in the dining room

Hey I missed you he said giving her a virtual kiss

There were no other characters in the castle today

What would you like to do today asked John

Lets have a big feast with music and dancing

With a few commands on their keyboards they added more characters

Servers filled the table with delicious food

A piper played highland music

Traditional Scottish dancers twirled around

Susan sat next to John at the head of the table

They were King and Queen for the day

Everybody was happy and having fun

Suddenly there was screaming

English Redcoat soldiers burst in and mayhem erupted

Swords and daggers flashed in hand to hand combat

John picked up a sword to protect Susan

He ran the sword through an approaching Redcoat

Susan watched in horror as blood sprayed from a gaping wound

She was terrified even in this virtual world

Somebody had hacked into their game and was taking control

She turned to John just as he was stabbed in the heart

The Redcoats ran away as she tried to tend to John

He looked at her with sad eyes and said “I love you Susan”

When John slipped away she could not bear it any longer

She ripped off the VR headset and was plunged back into the reality of her home office

It was such a relief to escape the horrors of what she just witnessed

Catching her breath as she went to the kitchen for a glass of water

As she filled the glass she noticed the blood on her hands and all over her pajamas 

21st Century hitchhikers

Hitchhiking was common when I was young

Ran out of money when leaving the pub

Get back home with just a thumb

We did it often as a necessity

Group hitchhiking was more difficult

We put the cute girl at the side of the road

While the rest of us hid in the bushes

I never had a problem hitching a ride

People took pity on poor students

You could hitchhike all over Europe

Meeting interesting people along the way

Somehow hitchhiking became less popular

Maybe it was due to safety concerns

Or the fact that minor roads were replaced with freeways

I suspect the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie is to blame

America responded in typical reactionary fashion

Making it illegal to hitch a ride

Europeans are much more pragmatic

They made public transport more accessible

Low cost student rail passes across Europe

A better and more secure way to travel for students

Fast forward to today and look at the road

There are still young people looking for a ride

But they are holding a smartphone waiting for an Uber

Perhaps all the hitchhikers become Uber drivers

With so much traffic on the roads we need to change

Most cars have just a single occupant

Imagine a new version of hitchhiking

With an App to hitch a free ride

You build up points as a car driver

Picking up folks on the App looking for a free ride

You earn more points by picking up multiple riders

Spend your points by taking a free ride

Less cars on the road and lowers carbon footprint

Somebody probably just invented all this before I reached this line

I might hitch a ride home tomorrow

If you see an aging hippy please pull over

I am not a chainsaw murderer

Hopefully you are not a murdering driver

Cheeky Monkey Hitchhiking rules!

Just another virtual day in suburbia*

It was a quiet suburban street

Well maintained houses and nearly trimmed gardens

Folks were leaving for work

Susan said goodbye as her husband left for the office

She worked from home doing IT assignments

Preferring those stand alone work packages

Which can be done without people interactions

She worked late at night leaving her daytimes free

Susan was still in her pajamas when she put on the VR headset

A few moments later she was in a remote Scottish castle

Moving from room to room looking for other characters

She found her gaming friend John in the dining room

Hey I missed you he said giving her a virtual kiss

There were no other characters in the castle today

What would you like to do today asked John

Lets have a big feast with music and dancing

With a few commands on their keyboards they added more characters

Servers filled the table with delicious food

A piper played highland music

Traditional Scottish dancers twirled around

Susan sat next to John at the head of the table

They were King and Queen for the day

Everybody was happy and having fun

Suddenly there was screaming

English Redcoat soldiers burst in and mayhem erupted

Swords and daggers flashed in hand to hand combat

John picked up a sword to protect Susan

He ran the sword through an approaching Redcoat

Susan watched in horror as blood sprayed from a gaping wound

She was terrified even in this virtual world

Somebody had hacked into their game and was taking control

She turned to John just as he was stabbed in the heart

The Redcoats ran away as she tried to tend to John

He looked at her with sad eyes and said “I love you Susan”

When John slipped away she could not bear it any longer

She ripped off the VR headset and was plunged back into the reality of her home office

It was such a relief to escape the horrors of what she just witnessed

Catching her breath as she went to the kitchen for a glass of water

As she filled the glass she noticed the blood on her hands and all over her pajamas