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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:
berylmuspratt · 11/05/2011 16:27

I'm looking forward to the next instalment !!

caramelwaffle · 11/05/2011 16:21

Same again tommorow? Grin

NellieForbush · 08/05/2011 22:17

Brilliant! Already looking forward to next Thursday and hope she winds down her window as you coo "love your new hair do" then accelerate off.

By the way - I imagine you looking like Penelope Pitstop.

[panda] (Thought I'd just get a feel for the new emoticon)

CaurnieBred · 06/05/2011 22:33

Yay - go KFP!

ChishAndFips · 06/05/2011 20:48

Only just managed to catch up with this, well done Panda! TWO fantastic victories Grin.

Love the poem Stately, apt indeed (except in this case Panda wins, of course!)

StatelyPoshBeartrothal · 06/05/2011 20:35

Has anyone mentioned the Zax yet? Very apt:

by Dr. Seuss
From The Sneetches and Other Stories
Copyright 1961 by Theodor S. Geisel and Audrey S. Geisel, renewed 1989

One day, making tracks
In the prairie of Prax,
Came a North-Going Zax
And a South-Going Zax.

And it happened that both of them came to a place
Where they bumped. There they stood.
Foot to foot. Face to face.

?Look here, now!? the North-Going Zax said, ?I say!
You are blocking my path. You are right in my way.
I?m a North-Going Zax and I always go north.
Get out of my way, now, and let me go forth!?

?Who?s in whose way?? snapped the South-Going Zax.
?I always go south, making south-going tracks.
So you?re in MY way! And I ask you to move
And let me go south in my south-going groove.?

Then the North-Going Zax puffed his chest up with pride.
?I never,? he said, ?take a step to one side.
And I?ll prove to you that I won?t change my ways
If I have to keep standing here fifty-nine days!?

?And I?ll prove to YOU,? yelled the South-Going Zax,
?That I can stand here in the prairie of Prax
For fifty-nine years! For I live by a rule
That I learned as a boy back in South-Going School.
Never budge! That?s my rule. Never budge in the least!
Not an inch to the west! Not an inch to the east!
I?ll stay here, not budging! I can and I will
If it makes you and me and the whole world stand still!?

Well?
Of course the world didn?t stand still. The world grew.
In a couple of years, the new highway came through
And they built it right over those two stubborn Zax
And left them there, standing un-budged in their tracks.

mistressploppy · 06/05/2011 19:20

Spiffing. Marking place in case something else fabulous happens

GeneHuntsMistress · 06/05/2011 19:06

I can't stop singing the Hong Kong Fuey theme song, but with KungFuPanda substituted

Disclaimer, I have already cracked the Pinot grigio blush Smile

You go girl !

TastesLikePanda · 06/05/2011 18:32

I'm so proud of a fellow panda!

So proud!

SauvignonBlanche · 06/05/2011 18:16

Another result - well done! Grin

Grockle · 06/05/2011 16:52

Hurrah! Well done Panda. What a week!

MichaelaS · 06/05/2011 13:39

Well done Panda - twice! Can't wait for next week's installment.....

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 06/05/2011 11:15

Much, thankyou panda. Smile

Blush
Original poster
TandB · 06/05/2011 10:59

StayingDavidTennantsGirl Fri 06-May-11 10:30:59
Oh I am sure if you have a notice in your windscreen saying "It's me, Jenai - please don't scare me" then panda will be kind to you, Jenai.

And I am a bit miffed that no-one has laughed at my panda car joke.

[rolls about laughing]

Is that better?

OP posts:
StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 06/05/2011 10:30

Oh I am sure if you have a notice in your windscreen saying "It's me, Jenai - please don't scare me" then panda will be kind to you, Jenai.

And I am a bit miffed that no-one has laughed at my panda car joke.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 06/05/2011 10:00

I'm local and would happily join a convoy.

I should warn you though that I am crap at reversing, despite having driven since 1996 Blush

I am rather scared of meeting you and am therefore avoiding narrow lanes and villages to the south of Bath Grin

TheSkiingGardener · 06/05/2011 09:31

I have the feeling word is spreading. There is now a sign at the entrance to the lane with your picture and a little message saying: if you see this woman, reverse, it's just not worth it not to.

ExitPursuedByALamb · 06/05/2011 09:13

I still have the pombears for the picnic .......

Isn't it funny what a change in attitude can do for you?

KaraStarbuckThrace · 06/05/2011 08:48

Kungfupanda, clearly your fame is spreading Grin

Your little sign should say "Panda takes no prisoners"

Original poster
TandB · 06/05/2011 08:47

The funny thing is that I am naturally quite bolshy - I am always the one who shouts at people to move down the train carriage, or refuses to let people queue-jump, but for some reason this woman was managing to walk all over me.

I have recovered the wrath!

OP posts:
AttillaTheMum · 06/05/2011 08:42

you should namechange to pandaballsofsteel

Original poster
TandB · 06/05/2011 08:36

Can we still do the MN convoy/picnic sometime?

OP posts:
Original poster
TandB · 06/05/2011 08:36

I am back. Unfortunately no sign of Cowbag. I wonder if I have actually driven her out of "the lanes" for good?!

The good news is that yesterday's victory has given me a massive bolshiness boost and I won another reversing stand-off with another stupid woman. Just as you leave the village there is a very narrow twisty bit with a dip and then a hill. If you meet anywhere in it, someone will have to reverse right back out. When you get to half-way you are on a hill and can see and be seen by everyone approaching from the other direction and there is a big side-entrance which can fit several cars so there seems to be an accepted rule that you wait there.

Unfortunately the first one of a row of five cars decided this didn't apply to her so while everyone else stopped she trundled on into the narrow bit and met me about 20 feet inside it. Whereupon she stopped and smiled happily at me, clearly expecting me to do the 200 yards plus reverse round a blind bend. So I smiled back. Her smile faded and turned into a glare. So I smiled some more. And she reversed (very badly, I should mention, with a minor detour via the hedge) back to the entrance.

I got a grin and an eye roll from the guy behind her who had clearly seen how it was going to go - I wonder if his OH is a MNetter?

Everyone else this morning very obligingly got out of my way - people even stopped half-way through convoys of cars that I was quite prepared to wait for, and one guy reversed when I was just past a passing place and about to back-up. Maybe word has spread!

OP posts:
AttillaTheMum · 06/05/2011 08:29

how did it go? did you print a scroll?

PigeonPie · 06/05/2011 06:26

Go Panda, go!

Good luck for this morning!

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