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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to lose it at this angry woman who criticised my parking.

422 replies

bobbypercy1 · 22/07/2013 14:48

So i was in town this morning with the Q7 (or the panzer tank as I call it) and i pulled up to a space. I reversed in a few times but i was always a bit squint. Eventually i left the car squint but still in the bay. I let out my kids and just while i locked the car this woman came over.

she said i should go back and straighten the car out because it was squint. I told her that if she had a q7 i would like to see her park it in such a tight space. She thought i was suggesting that she didn't have a big car because she was poor. i wasn't suggesting that at all. so she went into a long rant about me being disrespectful. i was shocked .

but i didn't shout too much cause i had two kids with me.

aibu to be annoyed at her.

OP posts:
SirChenjin · 25/07/2013 22:36

Grin Must see if I can find a link to that story! If only he'd had a Q7 Wink

AberdeenAngusina · 25/07/2013 22:37

I've looked it up. It was a Universal Carrier, also known as a Bren Gun carrier and it looked like a proper tank with caterpillar wheels. It was a three-man tank, designed to carry two crew and a gunner, but he drove it single-handedly (obviously he didn't need a gunner in Deeside Wink )

AberdeenAngusina · 25/07/2013 22:39

Google Dr Ewan Forbes-Sempill

AberdeenAngusina · 25/07/2013 22:47

Fourth paragraph of the Wikipedia entry - Medical career.

ChaChaDigregorio · 25/07/2013 22:51

It would take 1.5 yrs on my teaching salary to buy the cheapest Q7 and i would have to live on air, in a tent too. Something is wrong with the world....

chipmonkey · 25/07/2013 23:25

But parking is difficult for some of us! I really hate this attitude by people who find it easy. I hate, hate, hate my Verso, I feel like I am driving a truck, I have no spatial awareness and have difficulty with laterality and directionality. The poor guy who taught me to drive and succeeded in getting me to pass my driving test where other instructors had failed had to tell me that if you are reversing and you turn the steering wheel to the right, that the car would also go to the right. That fact had completely eluded me! And boy did it explain a lot about why I couldn't park!
I passed my driving test but no matter how much I practice, I never know how close I am to things on the left-hand-side or in front of me and usually find when I step out of the thing that I am a couple of yards away from the wall I thought was a couple of inches from the bonnet!
But once we had ds4, I had no choice but to buy the stupid thing. I can't wait till ds1 can drive himself and I can drive a small car again.

SlangWhangering · 25/07/2013 23:48

Blimey Chip I would never have admitted to being a bad parker on this thread.

They are ALL perfect parkers and they will crucify you Shock Shock

Grin

(Obviously, I am a perfect parker, obviously) Hmm

🚙🚗🚕🚙🚙🚗🚕🚕🚗🚙🚓

chipmonkey · 26/07/2013 00:33

I normally do park well...........eventually!Grin but it has sometimes involved tears and swearing or driving off in a huff to another parking space so that someone who is trying to get past won't be sitting there in their car, thinking "What the fuck is she doing?"

everlong · 26/07/2013 01:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SirChenjin · 26/07/2013 09:10

Thanks Aberdeen that's a great link and story! I see he was in Alford rather than Deeside, and as we all know the winters in Braemar are far, far worse - hence the need for the Q7 Wink Grin

Chip - have you got parking sensors? We had them fitted to our previous car which was an Alhambra and huge, and parking was a doddle afterwards - I can highly recommend them. A couple of parking lessons too maybe, to build your confidence? Smile

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 26/07/2013 10:05

*"I always call my car by its model. When I had a Ford Fiesta it was 'the Fiesta', when I had a VW Golf it was 'the Golf' and now I have a Landrover Freelander it's 'the Freelander'. I think that's pretty normal actually. What the hell do you call yours? confused"

I call it 'my car' confused*

Sorry baby I forgot that not everyone has more than one car sitting on their drive! We currently have three, and have to be a bit specific!

MidniteScribbler · 26/07/2013 11:08

I have two cars so have to distinguish between the two. Although I just generally use "the beast" and "the fartbox".

KatoPotato · 26/07/2013 11:16

We used to call our scenic the Venga bus. Now my Clio is called 'My car'

I had to ask a visitor at work to get my car out my space after being hemmed in by a Ginormous Volvo. It took him 7 maneuvers and a lot of dry streering.

ComposHat · 26/07/2013 11:25

My previous car was known as the eliminator (ancient anemic 1.2 Clio in old man maroon)

Its successor (an even older but perkier Toyota Corrolla) is known as the dream machine.

Yeah P reg Corolla with intergalactic mileage and more scratches wnd scrapes than a skateboarders elbow. Got you all green with envy now!

sue52 · 26/07/2013 14:42

I agree with the "can't park it then don't drive it camp". it really doesn't matter if it's a Q7 or a Ford Ka. Hemming people in by parking badly is inconsiderate. I'm not sure if the OP did this or her bad parking made it difficult to use the neighbouring space.

alemci · 26/07/2013 14:50

Chip Monkey I agree with you that about the steering. I am not a bad driver but if i feel a bit flustered with parking I am not sure which way to turn the wheel. It doesn't seem logical as the wheels somehow seem to go the opposite way to the direction you are steering.

is it because you are going backwards?

Goooooooooooooooooooooood · 26/07/2013 14:58

My car is known as my car by me and Goo...d's car by everyone else

My DH's car is known as my car by my DH and Goo...d's DH's car by everyone else

Dull but accurate Hmm

coraltoes · 26/07/2013 15:00

hahahaha i read the OP and KNEW the crown would wade in re: gas guzzler/ why not get a smaller car/ why not walk and carry the kids in your pockets

Hows about she bought a car she wanted. it was on sale. legally you know. they do sell them over the counter so to speak. Until it becomes illegal i dont see the issue with people driving whatever the fuck they like.

you should learn to park though

TheFallenNinja · 26/07/2013 15:03

Lol coral.

I can't wait for the planets resources to be exhausted so we can finally live in space. Smile

HaroldLloyd · 26/07/2013 15:04

I can't park for shit and I've got a punto.

As long as you were in the white lines and not causing anyone a problem she was being a knob.

TSSDNCOP · 26/07/2013 15:15

Have whatever car you like, but only on condition you can drive it. Inability to park isn't a cute "aw shucks" thing, it causes problems for other road users and makes the driver look a twat.

Frankly given a q7's spec I'd have said your have to be a super crap driver not to be able to park.

TSSDNCOP · 26/07/2013 15:16

You'd not your

GoodTouchBadTouch · 26/07/2013 15:21

You are being very U to give a shit about something so trivial, when you have FORTY ODD GRAND to spend on a car

chipmonkey · 26/07/2013 16:28

alemci, I think it is, the whole thing just seems counterintuitive to me. I think what also doesn't help is that I panic. I remember trying to get out of a really tight space and taking forever going an inch forward, an inch back, an inch forward for around 15 minutes and this awful feeling of fear and panic that I was never going to get out. Or the time I ended up too close to the car beside me and actually crying because every time I tried to get further away from it I got closer to it until I had to fold my mirror in to get back out. A nice man came along and pretty much told me what to do with the steering wheel till I got out but I remember thinking that what he was telling me was the opposite of what seemed logical to me.
A good driving instructor helped me a lot and I have managed to get a lot of practice in empty car parks but in a full car park I still get a bit panicky and I HATE people watching me!