Tuesdays and Thursdays are always fun around here, because those are the days that my local paper comes out. The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript serves up all the news that's fit to print for our tiny region. Some of the most fascinating news items and discussions recently have centered on the ever-controversial new shopping center that's being constructed.

What, you're asking, can be the big deal about a shopping center? Well, it's not the actual stores that are the problem — the only tenants are a Shaw's grocery store and a CVS pharmacy. No, the things that has the jaws flapping is the planned road access: a roundabout.

Oh... my... gawd.

When it was announced that a roundabout was to be installed instead of the 'normal' traffic light/turn lane combination, you would think that they'd also planned to sell dead puppies at the Shaw's. It's been stated recently that the USA has taken the gold medal in whining about the Beijing Olympics. Maybe we need to have an Olympic whining competition, because there are some New Englanders who would certainly end up on the medal stand.

What's the problem with a roundabout? You know... they look funny? And they're tricky to drive through. Apparently, fewer people will visit the grocery store because of this thing (right... it's the only major grocer in town!). Oh, I forgot about the safety issues. Despite what a mountain of traffic study data suggests, people will just not be convinced that these things are safer. There's is a variant of the roundabout, usually called a 'rotary,' that does indeed cause problems. They're often multi-laned and are wide enough to allow for fairly high speeds. No, the roundabout is small and is built so that entry must be at a slower speed.

Oh... my... gawd.

But what about runaway trucks? A letter to the editor proclaimed the great danger of having a road stoppered up by a roundabout when the approach from the west comes off of a fairly large hill. A trucker who has lost his brakes would slam right into the thing! Yes, I suppose that might happen, though he might also attempt to drive off into the huge, unoccupied field to the south? Nah!!

I've often said that New Englanders feel like it's their right to complain about the weather in all seasons ("Too cold! Too Hot! Too buggy! Too muddy!!"), but the truth is that we'll complain about anything. I had a friend who went through culture shock by moving from California to New Hampshire, taking the position of engineer in one of our expansive southern border cities. His proposal to put in a roundabout for access to the newly-constructed high school caused him no end of grief. He had phone calls and actual office visits daily. You would think he was selling dead puppies out of his office! It seemed that no amount of data would convince the complainers... until he revealed that his solution was much less expensive than a big intersection. That always ended the argument. We New Englanders are notoriously crabby and frugal (read: cheap).

I'm certain that we'll survive all of this, but the story hasn't been completed. There will be more concerned letters in the paper, more photos of the ongoing construction. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be front page news, right next to the stories about local high school athletics, the police blotter, and engagement announcements.