As I was going down Poynton Park Lane I passed the row of cars which always park on my side, about ten of them. I saw a Morris Minor approaching the other end, but the road is just wide enough for two cars to pass, so I proceeded. As I reached the ninth car, just one more to go, I realised that the MM driver was insisting on his ?right of way?, and stopping me. He quite angrily indicated that I was in the wrong. I politely indicated that if he moved three feet further toward the kerb there was room enough for both of us. After much fury and gesticulation he swerved across and passed me. A number of other drivers behind him obviously were wondering what I had done to upset the gentleman.
Next, in Cheadle Hulme, the road had been stripped for resurfacing and the near side half was coned off. At the end is a narrowish three way junction with painted white blob island, refuges and bollards. The workmen had red and green lollipops to control the traffic, but we didn?t seem to be going anywhere because a double decker bus was stopped. Eventually the lollipop man was seen trying to guide back a well coiffured silver haired lady who was insisting on her right of way at the roundabout and stopping traffic either way. It was raining heavily - the bus driver had a difficult task and went through painfully slowly. Two cars and then my turn, only to be blocked by another well coiffured silver haired lady who saw her chance to pass the waiting queue of cars by asserting her precedence on the island. She was incredulous and furious when I led a convoy of cars the wrong way around the island and across her front end. The lollipop man was almost in tears.
Have they all got it in for me? I insist that I am not guilty of ageism, because if you look around at the back of my head you will see a little silver hair there too! Many more days like this and I won?t have any.
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I can but sympathise with your experiences.
I don't often come into conflict with other road users but can almost guarantee that when it happens it will be a 60+ female wrapped up in a little world of her own and oblivious to events surrounding her.
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Thinking more about this, I wonder if the copious amounts of hairspray on these "well coiffured" females are emitting sufficient fumes to befuddle them?
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Hi Hillman
sounds like you are quite local to me.
Sounds like I'd better avoid cheadle for a while then.
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>>>Sounds like I'd better avoid cheadle for a while then.
Hi Jonathan
We have a Cheadle Ches., with adjoining Cheadle Heath and Cheadle Hulme, and a Cheadle Staffs.
The road in question is Gill Bent Road in Cheadle Hulme. The remarkable design and efficiency of modern road resurfacing machinery is such that the road was finished the same day. It is a very good finish too. Come to think of it, there was nothing wrong with the previous surface!
Give me a wave when you pass me.
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Will we all "progress" from Daily Telegraph to Daily Mail readers?
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Different categories of bad drivers may have different age profiles. E.G. Tailgaters: - usually young to middle age - male or female. Dangerous overtakers: - again, young to middle age, but predominantly male. Confused incompetent: - older, females outnumbering males.
To sum up - for every confused, doddery old lady driver there's a reckless, aggressive and inexperienced young male driver!!!
cheers, Sofa Spud
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Try putting a straw trilby hat on your parcel shelf, and see what happens...I'm not joking..well I was....I put one there for a joke, as at work, people call me an old man, and now certain other drivers come right up behind me and weave around, even if I'm going at 33mph in a 30mph area.
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I did not intend my comment to be in any way misogynistic, some of my best friends are silver haired ladies.
>>>Will we all "progress" from Daily Telegraph to Daily Mail readers?
The Mail is not to my taste, it has taken over the mantle of the Hearst newspapers - "Naked woman with throat cut running down Broadway!" On Tuesdays I have gravitated from the Telegraph to the Independant because it has quite a good motoring page.
Try the effect of wearing a shirt and tie and hanging a jacket on a coat hanger from the coat hook above the offside back door.
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Iknow exactly the scenario you describe - the road is narrowed by parked cars on one side, so the dotted line is now permanently offset from the centre of the remaining carriageway. There is plenty of room for two streams of cars to pass, but one in ten drivers either cannot judge width or else are like your MM chap and are living on another planet.
I don't think it is an age or sex thing, but you can make the following generalisations:
Man in a hat (usually but not always old) - slow, needs 6 feet either side.
Middle aged female in a 4WD - can't see other traffic. Used to drive a Volvo, when Volvos were Volvos.
Male, under 20. - say no more.
Female, under 20. Tends to be cautious, but very good driver. Realises she has only just passed the test.
Female, 30 something, wears sun-glasses in dull weather. Out to prove she can tail-gate as well as the next man.
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Re. narrow gaps: - it's not just whether you or I can pass the oncoming car, mirror to mirror, with 2 inches to spare, at 25 mph, it's whether we trust the oncoming driver to do the same!!! Definitely a case for erring on the side of caution!
Cheers, SS
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>>... or else are like your MM chap and are living on another planet.
The vintage gentleman in the MM was attempting to teach me the rule of the road for that part of the world (its the same everywhere), gesticulating that I should have moved left into the first available space and let oncoming traffic through. Good practice but, SWMBO and I went down Park Lane again today and I asked her to count the cars parked on the left. Twenty one in all, generally nose to tail except in way of back entries etc. In no case was there space wide enough to pull over. Sanctimonious person!
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Quote=hillman>>>Will we all "progress" from Daily Telegraph to Daily Mail readers?
[snip] On Tuesdays I have gravitated from the Telegraph to the Independant because it has quite a good motoring page.
Lord save us from the Daily Mail - it's a bit like listening to Radio 4 or FiveLive on the way to work. If you believed all their nonsense you'd die of stress by teatime.
I've always read the DT, but am increasingly moving to the Indi, and agree that Tuesday is an excellent edition. Even the weekends are good, great travel section on a Saturday. (I still usually find a Saturday Telegraph for the Motoring section tho')
I'd add to the topic that people really treat you differently depending on the car - in the old, knackered, grey, retirement looking Clio people seem to spend their time being annoyed by me being on the road at all. And I drive it the same as every other car I get into, I just never get the grief in the others.
--
Lee
MINI adventure in progress
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it's a bit like listening to Radio 4 or FiveLive on the way to work.
I must admit that I listen to Radio 4 or Classic FM - haven't ever tried Five. In the mornings on a journey with SWMBO we listen to Womans Hour until she falls asleep, then I change to Classic FM. At 17.25 I change to Radio 2 for the business news and then back to Radio 4 for the wind up to the 6-o-clock news.
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IIRC wasn't it Mike Harding (a good northern folk act) who said "...My mother-in-law has never had an accident; she's seen thousands....".
I think that sums up the little old lady with white hair beautifully.
I used to listen to BBC R4 all the time but the monoliths of Womans Hour and You and Yours move me over the Classic FM and BBC R2. When on-line and if you enjoy classical music try www.WCPE.org a great american music station with no adverts and an easier listening selection than BBC R3.
Unless the Barclay Brothers ruin the Torygraph, I'm staying with it, The Indy is far too radical and pro-arab for me.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Espada - I think the conclusion of the line was - she's seen thousands....". in her rear view mirror!
Mike Harding is a great act but I believe it was actually Jasper Carrott ( I stand to be corrected )in his very early days who first came out with that line in his sketch about his mother in law driving.His other comment about how she would climb the steepest hill in top with the car almost juddering to a halt and as soon as she crested the hill would change down into second rings a bell or two with some of the elderly blue rinses around our neck of the woods....
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Yes, concur with that - it was Jasper.
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