Narrow street. Noone giving way.
Discussion
Interesting situation last night in the van.
Driving round the back of Chelsea (just as the Liverpool buses were turning up, but that's a different matter) - a favourite little rat run to Wandsworth Bridge. Cars are parked both sides of the roads, making it wide enough for one and a half cars. There are very very few parking spaces to allow passing (as the game is on). There are pillow speed humps.
We are leading two-three cars and come face to face with a TVR about 20 yrds in from the junction. He is just about to negotiate the speed hump. We stop and decide we can't squeeze past him here. We stop. He stops.
Nothing happens.
It's dark so there's not good eye contact. Headlights are on.
Nothing happens.
We can see him take his hands off the wheel and shrug.
Nothing happens.
The cars behind us are still there. Reversing the van is a pain as there is no rear view. There might as well be no steering either.
Still nothing happens.
Noone flashes. Noone beeps. I am astounded by the patience being shown. We are at impasse for a whole song on the radio.
The TVR creeps backwards. He creeps back just far enough for us to just squeeze through -- although he could have made it easy if he wanted to.
We politely waved and thanked him, and drove on.
* * * * * *
The thing I still can't figure out is what was going through his mind. I had initially thought he might have poor ground clearance and was reluctant to go back over speed humps, but he was yet to go over it, and hadn't any behind him.
I also can't figure out what the right thing to do was. I was tempted to (have my passenger) hop out and ask if he needed a hand reversing.
Driving round the back of Chelsea (just as the Liverpool buses were turning up, but that's a different matter) - a favourite little rat run to Wandsworth Bridge. Cars are parked both sides of the roads, making it wide enough for one and a half cars. There are very very few parking spaces to allow passing (as the game is on). There are pillow speed humps.
We are leading two-three cars and come face to face with a TVR about 20 yrds in from the junction. He is just about to negotiate the speed hump. We stop and decide we can't squeeze past him here. We stop. He stops.
Nothing happens.
It's dark so there's not good eye contact. Headlights are on.
Nothing happens.
We can see him take his hands off the wheel and shrug.
Nothing happens.
The cars behind us are still there. Reversing the van is a pain as there is no rear view. There might as well be no steering either.
Still nothing happens.
Noone flashes. Noone beeps. I am astounded by the patience being shown. We are at impasse for a whole song on the radio.
The TVR creeps backwards. He creeps back just far enough for us to just squeeze through -- although he could have made it easy if he wanted to.
We politely waved and thanked him, and drove on.
* * * * * *
The thing I still can't figure out is what was going through his mind. I had initially thought he might have poor ground clearance and was reluctant to go back over speed humps, but he was yet to go over it, and hadn't any behind him.
I also can't figure out what the right thing to do was. I was tempted to (have my passenger) hop out and ask if he needed a hand reversing.
I've had much the same situation when towing a horse trailer down narrow country lanes. A number of vehicles behind and someone coming the other way who seems either incapable or unwilling to reverse. I've almost been tempted to invite them to reverse my Land Rover and trailer if they don't want to reverse their own car. Consideration for the horse's welfare has stopped me, however!
Some people just seem to be so obsessed by what they see as their "rights" that they don't take in the sheer practicalities of the situation, let alone the possibility of simple courtesy. Perhaps they just object on principle to the very existence of a LR and horse trailer. However, another possible reason becomes obvious when they do eventually start to reverse: they can't! Somehow they passed their driving test and have then seemingly avoided reversing ever since. One thing's for sure, they'll have no idea of the complexities of reversing a trailer!
Some people just seem to be so obsessed by what they see as their "rights" that they don't take in the sheer practicalities of the situation, let alone the possibility of simple courtesy. Perhaps they just object on principle to the very existence of a LR and horse trailer. However, another possible reason becomes obvious when they do eventually start to reverse: they can't! Somehow they passed their driving test and have then seemingly avoided reversing ever since. One thing's for sure, they'll have no idea of the complexities of reversing a trailer!
Then there's the semi-reverse of that situation... you're going down a narrow country lane in an ordinary car, and someone in a 4x4 not towing anything comes the other way. Now, they're the one with the high ground clearance, the 4WD and the diff locks, so logically they're the one most suited to pulling onto the verge... but will they arse.
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