Consistent Speed
After leaving the supermarket laden with grocery bags yesterday morning, I stood patiently at a road crossing, waiting for the lights to change. As they changed, and I started making my way across the road, an old man barged in front of me – he seemed to be in a huge hurry to get somewhere. What he did next annoyed me – he slowed down.
Having rushed past me, and reached a part of the footpath that is too narrow to walk two-abreast, he slowed down. Why? Why do people do that? Why do they want to get in front of you, and then get in your way?
At the moment it happened I made a mental note – “must blog about this” – and then promptly forgot about it until a few moments ago. I'm resisting calling him an idiot, because somebody somewhere will smile, and say “there it is!” (apparently I always call somebody an idiot when telling a story).
The whole episode reminds me of the thing that seems to happen on just about every long train journey I undertake with work – a good few minutes before the train reaches a station, older people will get up, and make their way to the door – making sure they are first off the train. They will then dodder along the platform, getting in the way of the sea of people that get off the train behind them. It happens every sodding time.
Anyway... I have to go grocery shopping again in a few minutes – I wonder how many more idiots I'll bump into?