Ruby Finally Has A Win

Finally.  After so many trials and tribulations, Ruby has a win.

One of the many difficulties in driving a car in London has to do with the congestion and the narrow streets.  Drivers have to be much more courteous and willing to give way so that traffic can flow freely (well, as freely as possible).  This can prove very difficult in the narrow streets, where you have cars parked on both sides of the road, and really only enough room for one car to pass.  So what usually happens when two cars meet head on in this situation, is that the car that reaches a potential passing point, or gap in the parked cars, first, is the one that pulls off to the side to allow the other to negotiate a difficult passage.

The only problem with this is that in recent years, the level of intolerance and road rage in British drivers has been on a sharp increase.  This has particularly been the case in the male member of the species, especially when confronted with someone he perceives to be weaker.  This happened to me late last year, when I was returning home late one night from band practice.  I met a "white van" man head on, about 11pm, on a narrow road.  He came to a suitable pulling over place first, but blatantly ignored it, and pressed on - leaving me with no room to pass him.  I realised he had done this on purpose, and decided that I wouldn't move - why should I, he should've pulled over first!  He started f-ing and blinding, waving his arms up and down in the air, and I just calmly gestured for him to go back.  He then slams the van into gear and starts coming for me like a madman.  Of course, in hindsight, I should've just stayed there and called his bluff - would he really have rammed into me? - but this is England, the land of the yobbo (apologies to all those lovely English people I know though who aren't yobbos...) - and I guess in that split second I didn't really want to find out - so I gave in and reversed back.  Of course, as he passed, he gave me a few more salient words, coupled with appropriate gestures...

Then about 3 weeks ago, on my way home from school, I encountered a similar situation, this time with an African woman.  Again, she had the opportunity to pull over first, but didn't - and she refused to back up, and I refused as well - and she stupidly tried to pass, scraping my wing mirror in the process - and then pulling over to check the damage to her vehicle!  Fortunately Ruby didn't suffer on that one.

So last night, when I was on my way home from a night at the theatre with a friend, around 11.30pm, at almost exactly the same spot as the wing-scraping incident, the same thing happened again.  This time it was an African man - and rather than pull over at the first available place, he edged the nose of his vehicle just beyond the gap.  What an idiot.  Anyway, I don't know what happened, but I guess I just snapped - why should I have to keep backing back or giving way to these fools?  So I just sat there, and refused to move.  And so did he.  And I gestured for him to go back, and he didn't.  We were at an impasse.

So I did the only logical thing I could, turned off the engine and shut off my headlights (making sure the doors were locked in case the idiot got out of his car and tried to do something stupid).  And then a miracle happened.  The man gave in, and reversed back!  But the best moment was when I drove passed him - and he saw he'd lost out to a woman - he was not impressed...

One small step for man, one giant leap for courtesy and decency...