Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You...
Jul. 19th, 2011 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
endlessraritiesToday was a bike/train commute. And this morning it didn't pass without incident.
Picture the scene: a standard road through a standard suburb. There are cars parked all the way up one side - the other side has a smattering of respectable potholes (I nearly wrote 'postholes...')
I left the house, set off past the parked vehicles (my right of way - my side of the road was clear) when - lo and behold!- a Ford Transit comes charging straight for me. Did the driver slow down? No. Did he so much as acknowledge my existence? Not likely.
He just overtook those parked cars like I wasn't even there.
There must've been three inches between me and his wing mirror.
To add insult to injury, he was being drafted by a second transit van which was driving far too fast and far too close. I reached a pothole at just the wrong time, had to swerve to avoid it, and nearly got taken out by the second van. I yelled, I cursed, I told them they were imbeciles.
But, hey, ho. Getting harassed and victimised by arrogant a***holes in vans just goes with the territory when you take a bike onto the road these days. J said I should have gone for the pothole ('that's what mountain bikes are for', said he), but to be honest it was such a crater that I think I'd have been off and right under the wheels of van #2.
I've seen these guys before. They habitually drive along my street too fast, and without sufficent care. They work for a firm called 'Alter Designed Landscapes'. My advice? If you live in the west of Scotland and you need some garden landscaping or maintenance work done, don't ask them. If their standard of workmanship matches their driving ability, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Why, I wouldn't even trust them to weed my herbaceous borders... And if their customer care is anything like their courtesy to the general public in general and vulnerable road users in particular, I'd be equally reluctant to hire them.
There, rant over. I made it in one piece. And I'm in a lot better shape than Johnny Hoogerland, bless his little cotton socks.
There. Rant over. Normal service resumed. Thank you!!
Picture the scene: a standard road through a standard suburb. There are cars parked all the way up one side - the other side has a smattering of respectable potholes (I nearly wrote 'postholes...')
I left the house, set off past the parked vehicles (my right of way - my side of the road was clear) when - lo and behold!- a Ford Transit comes charging straight for me. Did the driver slow down? No. Did he so much as acknowledge my existence? Not likely.
He just overtook those parked cars like I wasn't even there.
There must've been three inches between me and his wing mirror.
To add insult to injury, he was being drafted by a second transit van which was driving far too fast and far too close. I reached a pothole at just the wrong time, had to swerve to avoid it, and nearly got taken out by the second van. I yelled, I cursed, I told them they were imbeciles.
But, hey, ho. Getting harassed and victimised by arrogant a***holes in vans just goes with the territory when you take a bike onto the road these days. J said I should have gone for the pothole ('that's what mountain bikes are for', said he), but to be honest it was such a crater that I think I'd have been off and right under the wheels of van #2.
I've seen these guys before. They habitually drive along my street too fast, and without sufficent care. They work for a firm called 'Alter Designed Landscapes'. My advice? If you live in the west of Scotland and you need some garden landscaping or maintenance work done, don't ask them. If their standard of workmanship matches their driving ability, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Why, I wouldn't even trust them to weed my herbaceous borders... And if their customer care is anything like their courtesy to the general public in general and vulnerable road users in particular, I'd be equally reluctant to hire them.
There, rant over. I made it in one piece. And I'm in a lot better shape than Johnny Hoogerland, bless his little cotton socks.
There. Rant over. Normal service resumed. Thank you!!
