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Original poster

to make a little sign for this woman?

862 replies

TandB · 15/04/2011 09:00

I have ranted on a previous occasion about the morning rat-run through our village so very quick summary:

Single track roads - short-cut to city - I am apparently only person who needs to go opposite direction during rush-hour - majority of people coming the other way clearly think I am unreasonable for driving through my own village and glare and head-shake at me - I am cross.

Obviously it is the holidays now, so the school run traffic is missing which makes life much easier. However, there is one woman who I see every single time. She drives very fast on a narrow, twisty road with several blind bends so I finish up crawling around corners in case she comes hurtling the other way. She flatly refuses to back up even a couple of feet to the nearest passing space, and she makes no attempt to move over so that both cars can pass without scraping through the hedge. So I finish up reversing to the next passing space with her driving about 6 inches off my front bumper with a face like thunder, and then as soon as the road widens at all, she squeezes past, glaring at me all the time and shaking her head.

Bearing in mind the following:

  1. I live here and have as much right to leave the village as she does to cut through it.

  2. I drive a very small car which causes minimal obstruction.

  3. I don't drive dangerously fast.

  4. I am the one reversing and getting off the road.

would I be unreasonable to make a little sign saying "The next time you shake your head at me will be the last time I reverse for you. I can sit here all day - how about you?"

Would probably be unreasonable to add "cowbag" at the end, I suppose.

OP posts:
Quenelle · 15/04/2011 15:29

Perhaps I did mean Dune after all Madam Grin

Original poster
TandB · 15/04/2011 15:27

And MNers with flasks. Grin

OP posts:
MadamDeathstare · 15/04/2011 15:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MadamDeathstare · 15/04/2011 15:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
TandB · 15/04/2011 15:24

So encouraged by all these stories of bolshy reverse-refusers!

I am wondering if I will see her going the other way tonight. I always see her in the morning, but I don't always collect DS at the same time at the end of the day, so I am not sure what time she goes home.

[ponders hiding in hedge waiting for her]

OP posts:
JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 15/04/2011 15:23

I have been desperately wracking my brains to work out if I know her Grin

So far sadly I've drawn a blank.

MadamDeathstare · 15/04/2011 15:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WhereYouLeftIt · 15/04/2011 15:21

Haven't read all the thread, just responding to the OP.

Some years ago I was driving in town, down a narrow back road. I was about a car's length from the end of the road, when an old gent came round the corner into the road and stopped. This blocked the road, so I couldn't move. He signalled he expected me to back up (road parked on both sides, I'd have had to back up some considerable distance), so I signalled back that it was more appropriate that he reverse (about five feet would have done it, he wasn't actually in the road yet) and he refused, obviously expecting my capitulation. I didn't have to be anywhere for an hour or so, so turned the engine off, got the newspaper out of my bag and spread it over my steering wheel. He stayed there for about five minutes, then gave up and reversed. I took another minute to finish the article I was on, then set off again. Amused the window cleaner a few yards up the road no end!

Don't make a sign, just refuse to reverse. Have a magazine in the glove compartment or some such visible aid to passing the time pleasantly. Enjoy! (I did Blush)

StealthyKissBeartrayal · 15/04/2011 15:20

lurking on this thread

Original poster
TandB · 15/04/2011 15:12

I still want everyone to come and help. When I stop you could all leap out from behind the hedge carrying flasks and biscuits and squeeze into the car. It is a very small car but I reckon we could all fit if we got really cosy and some people sat in the boot.

OP posts:
AnonymousBird · 15/04/2011 15:10

Oh damn, a bit far away.... with you in spirit OP, blocking the damned way and willing her to reverse her car up her arse.

I LOVE these threads that become a mission and an ongoing event, you could not write this stuff!!

JarethTheGoblinKing · 15/04/2011 15:02

Oh, misreading now..

JarethTheGoblinKing · 15/04/2011 14:59

ha, xpost. Yes, I'm in Oxfordshire too. :)

Original poster
TandB · 15/04/2011 14:55

She doesn't look like an axe murderer. Grin

Mid to late thirties. Very smartly dressed with a fondness for floral dresses under little jackets. Beautifully coiffed hair which I suspect is dyed. Quite full-on makeup. I have had several really good looks at her!

OP posts:
controlpantsandgladrags · 15/04/2011 14:54

definitely don't give in again! Personally I would just sit and wait whilst looking at her expectantly.

nijinsky · 15/04/2011 14:52

MmeSurvivedLent "Nijinsky
"Otherwise, as I learnt from the time I lived in Germany, it is the one in the smallest car."

Or the one not wearing a hat. I found that face offs with elderly men wearing hats were rather difficult. They were very much In The Right and would not budge."

It is true, they are a tricky breed. But it is also recognised in Gemany that S Classes only give way to BMW 7 Series or Maybach or Bentley. All else are superminis. I once had a stand off with an actual German Volkwagen driver in the Scottish Highlands. Not only was he facing downhill with a straight road behind him, but he was on his own in the car with no granny with him. He eventually realised his error and reversed. I like to think that he was grateful to me for reminding me of such rules even outwith his home country.

OP - the other driver doesn't have a big car and anyway the rules are now that you have reversed so many times for her, courtesy means she should take the turn of reversing a few times. Simply wait it out. But keep your central locking on.

iggi999 · 15/04/2011 14:45

Hold up the sign. But keep your doors locked just in case.

iggi999 · 15/04/2011 14:45

Hold up the sign. But keep your doors locked just in case.

JarethTheGoblinKing · 15/04/2011 14:41

yep, another place marker :)

I have a feeling you're local-ish to me kungfu but can't remember why.. hmm.

Original poster
TandB · 15/04/2011 14:41

Exitpursued - it was in Oxfordshire, near the stables I rode at. Definitely not you though - the rider had been dumped when the car first came screaming up to the horse. There was apparently a sort of stand-off betwen horse and car and then the car tried to make a break round the horse who decided to go the same way and got rolled onto the windscreen, completely mashing the glass and buckling the frame. I didn't see the actual accident, just the aftermath.

OP posts:
MmeSurvivedLent · 15/04/2011 14:39

Nijinsky
"Otherwise, as I learnt from the time I lived in Germany, it is the one in the smallest car."

Or the one not wearing a hat. I found that face offs with elderly men wearing hats were rather difficult. They were very much In The Right and would not budge.

Zanywany · 15/04/2011 14:35

Blatently placemarking to see what happens next Grin

Bumperlicioso · 15/04/2011 14:29

Please make a sign, I have many that I would like to have handy such as 'driving up my arse is only going to make me go slower' or 'don't bother to thank me for letting you pass twat!'

OTheHugeManatee · 15/04/2011 14:27

Marking. Want to know what happens when the OP holds up her sign!

ExitPursuedByALamb · 15/04/2011 14:25

Kungfu Where did you see the horse on car bonnet incident. I did that once - horse undamaged, car smashed up and occupants very shaken, me with hand two inches further up my arm than it should be.