Another case of road rage

I stopped, well, grudgingly perhaps,
to let a pedestrian cross.

But he didn't cross - he sauntered...

Before he'd reached the other kerb,
I accelerated (loudly)
and swerved (angrily) by,
almost brushing against him
with my dusty bodywork.

I thought 'Why did he walk so slowly?' and
'How can people be so inconsiderate? '
At least I stopped at the cross-walk.
That's more than most Spaniards do!

(This happened in Spain.)

Then I had to wait at lights,
and they weren't far off...

He caught me up.

He tapped on the driver's window,
looking, well, intense...

I lowered it just a little...
I'm not a coward
but he looked fit.
I didn't want to be thumped!

He showed me his card.

He was a plain clothes cop,
or maybe just off duty...

He said:
'I'll cross the street in my own sweet time.'

I said 'I understand that, officer,
but I've had a rough day...'

He said 'Me too! '

We parted.

— Robert Melliard, Jan 04, 2009

About This Poem

About the Author

Region, Country: Asturias, Spain

Favorite Poets: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Du Bellay, Metaphysicals, Petrarch, Dante, Baudelaire, Lorca, Becquer, Coleridge

Critiques

Proprietress o…

17 years 5 months ago

Robert,

I have had a similar experience a few months ago. except that the man wasn't a cop, he was the personification of anger and left a pretty big scratch along the side of my little car. and there wasn't a zebra crossing anywhere near him, he just decided to walk out onto the street. jeez, some poeple... thank you for sharing your experience in this piece, Robert. I enjoyed reading it, especially the ending. on some days it's just hard for us to think that the world doesn't revolve around us., others are entitled to bad days, too. your Proprietress

Robert Melliard

17 years 5 months ago

Anger

There's a wonderful picture by Goya of two angry men fighting. They look almost monstrous. Sorry I can't remember the title. Anger is surely one of our most harmful and useless emotions. It very rarely solves any problems, in fact in my experience it usually makes things worse. Sorry to hear about the damage to your car. It's not just the money one has to spend to get that kind of thing repaired, but also the hassle of taking your car to the workshop, managing without it for a while, having to pick it up again and so on. And I agree with your final comment: we all have a right to have a bad day sometimes... Best Wishes, Robert.

infinite_dwarf

17 years 5 months ago

gotta be careful with that

If the cop were in a bad mood, he could have gotten ugly. Not to mention, rolling down your window to ANYBODY is dangerous nowadays. Yes, they're definitely annoying sometimes, but unfortunately, they have the right of way, and you're at fault if anything happens... At least that's how it is in the states. They don't need to be in the crosswalk in order for that rule to apply. But, if they want to put their 175 pounds up against my 2,900 so be it - I will always win. ~Jess K. ---------------------------------------------------- - "If we always give what we have always given, we will always get what we have always got..." - Mike R.

Robert Melliard

17 years 5 months ago

The right of way

Hi Jess K, and thanks for your comment. I think pedestrians have the right of way in Spain, too, at least on cross-walks. But they walk across the road very slowly sometimes, even when they're young and fit, and especially when they're in a little group having a nice chat (which is one of people's favourite pastimes here) and I sometimes find this irritating. I try to remember a rule I read about called the 10/90 rule, which says that when you get angry, ninety percent of the problem is usually within you (because you're stressed out or whatever) and only ten percent is justified by the inconsiderate actions of another person, but I'm afraid I don't always remember that in time... Best wishes, Robert.