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Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
I'd only been back in England 2 days, and I was having a row with a white van driver... I wasn't even on a bike!
Mum and I had just dropped my bike and luggage at the flat, she having brought me home from Leicester, where I ended up after my holiday. There's no parking at the flat, so we were on our way round to the nearest car park, to park up and then go have some lunch. We had to negociate the road which goes through the city walls, and at this point it's a narrow one way at a time gap for cars, with traffic lights contolling the flow through the arch, and again at the actual junction. And a separate narrow archway for cycles. We sat at red, and then when the lights changed, Mum, not used to the junction and conscious of the fact that cycles can just whizz through, set off quite cautiously, so as not to find herself colliding with one undertaking on the other side of the wall. The result was that by the time we got past the wall, the lights changed back and we were stopped at the juntion proper. (I'm sorry, it's a bit complicated to explain, you can see it at the beginning of this video.
Anyway, Mr White Van behind us got impatient with her gentle progress (I'll admit, she was being a bit slow, but for careful reasons) and made to overtake just after the wall as the road widens, but then was stuck on the wrong side of the road as the lights changed again and the other traffic behind moved up. So while we're sat at the lights, he got out and banged on her window and said "move forward, so I can get in" rather curtly. And I just saw red and got out. Mum tried to stop me, but I was gone... He'd got back in his van, but I told her not to move and stood staring at him until he got out again, whereupon I said in best RP: " 'Please' would be nice?". And that confused him to death. He paused for a second and then said "I said please, did you not hear me?" "No" said I, " I didn't". "Oh", he said, "well, I did. Can you move. Please?". At which point I got back in and told Mum to pull forward a bit (although this put her over the ASL line - I decided discretion was the better part of valour!)
It's probably the first time I've faced someone down and probably the last. Maybe he just thought I was a nutter and potentially dangerous. But I like to see it as a victory for manners.
I just wish I'd been a 7 foot tall heavyweight boxer for effect.
Mum and I had just dropped my bike and luggage at the flat, she having brought me home from Leicester, where I ended up after my holiday. There's no parking at the flat, so we were on our way round to the nearest car park, to park up and then go have some lunch. We had to negociate the road which goes through the city walls, and at this point it's a narrow one way at a time gap for cars, with traffic lights contolling the flow through the arch, and again at the actual junction. And a separate narrow archway for cycles. We sat at red, and then when the lights changed, Mum, not used to the junction and conscious of the fact that cycles can just whizz through, set off quite cautiously, so as not to find herself colliding with one undertaking on the other side of the wall. The result was that by the time we got past the wall, the lights changed back and we were stopped at the juntion proper. (I'm sorry, it's a bit complicated to explain, you can see it at the beginning of this video.
Anyway, Mr White Van behind us got impatient with her gentle progress (I'll admit, she was being a bit slow, but for careful reasons) and made to overtake just after the wall as the road widens, but then was stuck on the wrong side of the road as the lights changed again and the other traffic behind moved up. So while we're sat at the lights, he got out and banged on her window and said "move forward, so I can get in" rather curtly. And I just saw red and got out. Mum tried to stop me, but I was gone... He'd got back in his van, but I told her not to move and stood staring at him until he got out again, whereupon I said in best RP: " 'Please' would be nice?". And that confused him to death. He paused for a second and then said "I said please, did you not hear me?" "No" said I, " I didn't". "Oh", he said, "well, I did. Can you move. Please?". At which point I got back in and told Mum to pull forward a bit (although this put her over the ASL line - I decided discretion was the better part of valour!)
It's probably the first time I've faced someone down and probably the last. Maybe he just thought I was a nutter and potentially dangerous. But I like to see it as a victory for manners.
I just wish I'd been a 7 foot tall heavyweight boxer for effect.
