I just came back from an interesting lunch hour. I went out with the express idea of buying a card for a dear friend who has just lost a friend to cancer.
Wow - what a trip out.
First of all, on the way down the road in the car, I remembered that it's Thursday, and Aldi have specials starting today, and Ken and I would like one of the $29.99 BBQ rotisserie's so that in summer time we can still enjoy roasts without also having to have the airconditioner on full blast... I think that's where I went wrong. I was going to Aldi...
In Gympie, to go to Aldi, you have to turn down the street that McDonalds is in. That in itself turned into a feat, because it's school holidays, QANTAS is half on strike, and it's payday for god knows who but they're all out in their cars, TODAY. So - I've turned into the street, and the traffic going the opposite way is banked back, I come to the corner where I need to turn to go to Aldi, and just before I get there, this car shoots out from behind one of the banked back cars. I hit the skids in the car (thank god for ABS braking - yes, I hit the brakes THAT hard). I also hit the horn to warn her I was there.
Stupid woman in car then gestures & says "I can't see" - pointing to all the traffic that is lined up trying to get through the lights. So I then wind my window down and say patiently "so why on earth did you go if you couldn't see what was ahead?".
She then tailgated me (should have just opened the boot & she could have gotten in) all the way down to Aldi, and drove then at high speed into the carpark, fortunately NOT the same way I drove into the carpark.
Am I getting old? Or is this the Safety Manager type in me coming out, that this type of behaviour isn't acceptable? Had she poked the nose of her car out from behind the pile of traffic, I more than likely would have let her through. But she didn't - she saw fit to endanger not only her but also my life, and telling me it basically wasn't her fault because "I can't see"...
This was then on my mind during my Aldi trip... bad move! I saw another mother & 2 kiddies nearly get hit by a car because they didn't look before they walked, other people looking frustrated as they found parks, and people almost throwing trolleys back into their corral - busy, busy, busy.
Seriously - are we that busy that we can't take 5 seconds to make sure something is put away properly, or that the road is clear before we drive on it? Are we so busy we'd rather hit or be hit by a car because we didn't look?
I then headed over to Centro, and witnessed kids running wild, mothers accepting this behaviour from them and not even attempting to control them, littlies squealing and being allowed to continue squealing... One child was swinging around and around in circles with a shopping trolley with his little brother in it. Fine - but what about the man with a walking stick coming??? Argh!
Maybe I am getting old. Maybe I expect more than some people and some kiddies can give. Or, maybe I'm surrounded by friends & family who do care about their children and do control them so that they're not running wild inside the shopping centre. Kids who want to run & play should be in the park!!!
God I'll be so glad when the school holidays in Gympie are over and life can return to normal!!!!
I know exactly where you're coming from. I live near a country coastal area and each holidays we are invaded by the city slickers who seem to think that if they are on holidays it absolves them from needing to control their wild children. I try to do a huge shop before the shorter holiday breaks so I don't need to go into town during and also try to avoid going the week before Christmas and the week after as it's pandemonium :(. Oh, and considering how they drive you'd think their main job was based at Mt Panorama, Bathurst!!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Robyn