Keeping an eye on the road while driving is a challenge in of itself. What with those idiots on bikes weaving in and out of traffic, the guy changing lanes without even looking and cutting you off and having to listen to the boom, boom, boom of the high volume bass from the car in front of you or behind you (or both). Yikes! I'm having a really tough time keeping my road rage in check.

Now we seem to be seeing an even more annoying obstacle thrown in front of us as we drive in town in the morning. Any guesses what that could be? Yes, those annoying people who set-up camp near Johnny Barnes or standing along East Broadway waving or carrying signs every time any minuscule event is about to take place on the Island, or promoting some deal or other.

It's taken me years to get used to good old Johnny for the first couple of years I was in constant danger of crashing my car as this man shouted in my ears saying that he "loved me" followed by blowing kisses at everyone. If this was anywhere else in the world, men in white overcoats would have taken him away a long time ago.

But as a testament to our love of the man, we now have a bronze statue of him the only statue to a living person on the Island. There's even been movies made of him. He's the closest thing we have to a living legend, but like I said, it took me a few years to get used to seeing him every morning as I made my way into the city.

However, now we have some people out there who want to capitalise on Johnny's popularity you have a beauty pageant, you get the female contestants waving next to Johnny. If there's a comedy show to be promoted, sure enough you will see some joker out there promoting his show. You get Heart Month and you get Minister DeSilva standing next to Johnny, waving pathetically along with someone dressed in a heart shaped costume. Puhleeze! Enough distractions already!!!

Now, not only do they stand on the little island by the roundabout, they are also scattered all along East Broadway like a spreading virus they've got power boats, motorbikes, and even a fire truck! I couldn't believe my eyes one day when I saw someone laying on a sofa talking on a cell phone, promoting a certain phone company's new cell phone deal.

The one that gets my gander is where you have about six to eight people holding up signs and you have to read each one for it to make any sense. So while you are reading them, you completely did not see the car in front of you stop it's an accident waiting to happen! I'm surprised the Road Safety Council have not spoken up about this practice which is so distracting to the road user.

So apparently it's not safe to use a cell phone while driving ... but reading promotional posters is? I think we should change the name from East Broadway and call it “The Propaganda Super Highway" (who needs the Internet). Hey! That's got a nice ring to it “Take a left onto The Propaganda Super Highway”. However Dr Clarence (Tessie) Terceira would be upset, because when it was first built “Tessie” was the Minister of Public Works at the time and for a while it was nicked named um-um "Tessie's Highway".

So the next time you venture onto East Broadway and you hear the calls above Johnny's I Love You's, beckoning you to buy the latest cell phone or come to the latest comedy show, remember us poor old folks out there who are trying very hard to keep our senior citizens driving licence!!!

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