I have to do rather a lot of driving to do my job. I have to drive for almost an hour each way to work. And then I have to drive during the day - to get to calls, to get to the branch practice, and so on. I don't have a particularly exciting car, it's old, cheap, blessedly reliable considering, and does the job. People who know me would tell you that I'm generally a patient driver, polite, considerate. I don't get stressed by traffic or riled at other drivers - what's the point? It doesn't get you there any faster, after all. But the last couple of days I've come across some especially choice driving which I really can't resist giving 'notes' on, as it were. So.
To the teenage boy driving what (I hope!) was your Mother's navy blue Peugeot estate, who I had the misfortune of being behind in a line of crawling traffic yesterday morning - It is not clever to wheelspin your car at a roundabout, creating a great plume of acrid smoke and fishtailing in a narrow lane. It is especially not clever to do this twice, particularly if the second time results in the plume of smoke obstructing visibility on a busy roundabout at rush hour, and a number of people around you having to brake abruptly. Even, and listen carefully, *even* if your mates in the back seat think it is. You are not cool, you are an idiot. You're well on your way to being a dead idiot. This is what we call natural selection. I just pray that when that day comes you take no one but your idiot mates with you.
To the middle aged woman in the purple S-reg Polo I was behind for the last four miles of my commute this evening - There is no reason to do 30 - 35 in a 40. Certainly not that 40, which could quite safely be a 50. Also, it is not necessary to signal right on approach to a mini-roundabout where the options are 90 degrees left and strictly straight on. It is, however, recommended that you signal left at a roundabout if that's where you're going!
Finally, to the older couple in the ancient Rover I was behind for most of my very final mile tonight - if you're already doing 15, it is *not neccessary* to brake for speed bumps!
Having said all this, there are benefits to the driving I do. Apart from the idiot boy, yesterday's commute was breathtakingly beautiful. The sun was rising behind me and glinting on the river, the sky was suffused a soft shade of pink, and the frost was lying in the valleys, making the world look as if every leaf, every blade of grass had been coated gently with icing sugar. Stunning...
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