Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on a strange incident
that happened to me today.

I was walking along a road near East Croydon station this afternoon at
about 3:30pm. At a busy junction, I came to a pedestrian crossing,
pressed the button and crossed when the green man appeared. In doing so,
on one side of the road I had to walk between queuing cars, which
unusually had not blocked the crossing. I then continued on my merry way.

After about 20 metres, I heard someone yelling abuse behind me. I turned
around, and a man in a white van yelled "dickhead" and "prick" at me,
amongst other things, before driving off over the crossing I had just
used. No-one else was around, so I can only assume this was directed at
me. He must have been several vehicles from the crossing when I used it,
but would probably have seen me.

I would have dismissed this as a slightly bizarre but hardly unexpected
development in drivers' attitude towards pedestrians, except for
something that occured to me later. In ten years of living in London, I
have only been verbally abused from a vehicle once before. It happened a
couple of years ago, in almost exactly the same circumstances, on
exactly the same crossing.

So, can anyone shed any light on why I might have had such an effect on
"white van man"? Obviously, I don't care that I ****ed off a driver
(twice!), but I honestly have no idea how I did it. Are drivers now
outraged by pedestrians using crossings? I know this happens in the
provinces (seriously - try it in commuter-belt Surrey!), but in London?
I don't look very remarkable, and I wasn't wearing anything
provocative, not even my "Sun readers are secretly gay" T-shirt. I'm
fairly certain I have never met this individual.

Any ideas?

A

"Anonymouse" wrote in message
...

At a busy junction, I came to a pedestrian crossing,
pressed the button and crossed when the green man
appeared. In doing so, on one side of the road I had
to walk between queuing cars, which unusually had
not blocked the crossing.

I heard someone yelling abuse behind me.

So, can anyone shed any light on why I might
have had such an effect on "white van man"?

It sounds like you pushed the button unnecessarily, since the traffic was
not moving, and then used the crossing. Just as the traffic queue cleared,
the light turned red for the cars, so they had to stop for a pedestrian who
had already crossed.

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

John Rowland ) gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying :

So, can anyone shed any light on why I might
have had such an effect on "white van man"?

It sounds like you pushed the button unnecessarily, since the traffic
was not moving, and then used the crossing. Just as the traffic queue
cleared, the light turned red for the cars, so they had to stop for a
pedestrian who had already crossed.

" and crossed when the green man appeared" - at which time, the traffic
lights would have been red for the traffic.

I think there's a simple explanation. The van driver was a tosser.

--- Anonymouse said:


So, can anyone shed any light on why I might have had such an
effect on "white van man"?

I've no idea. But keep up the good work. Anything that ****es of
motorists has got to be a good thing.

"Solar Penguin" wrote in message
...

--- Anonymouse said:

So, can anyone shed any light on why I might
have had such an effect on "white van man"?

I've no idea. But keep up the good work. Anything
that ****es of motorists has got to be a good thing.

Do you think the computer in front of you got from the factory to your house
without the help of any motorists?

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

-- John Rowland said:

Do you think the computer in front of you got from the factory to your
house
without the help of any motorists?


Yeah, I know. But I have to do *something* to re-establish myself as
anti-car here, after those u.r.c loonies ganged up on me in the other
thread and kept on accusing me of being pro-car. Me, of all people!
What is it with them!?!

Anyway, yeah, I do accept there is a place for motorists. Just as long
as they know their place, and stick to it, don't get any ideas above
their station. That sort of thing.. (Of course, just admitting there's
even a place for motorists is probably enough to mark me as pro-car in
the eyes of those u.r.c fanatics, so now I'll have to make some more
anti-motorist posts to re-establish my true position, and so-on and
so-on in a never ending circle...)

"Solar Penguin" wrote in message
...

(Of course, just admitting there's even a place for
motorists is probably enough to mark me as
pro-car in the eyes of those u.r.c fanatics,
so now I'll have to make some more anti-motorist
posts to re-establish my true position, and so-on
and so-on in a never ending circle...)

Why not just decide what would make the world the best possible place, and
stick to that?

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

"Solar Penguin" typed



-- John Rowland said:

Do you think the computer in front of you got from the factory to your
house
without the help of any motorists?


Yeah, I know. But I have to do *something* to re-establish myself as
anti-car here, after those u.r.c loonies ganged up on me in the other
thread and kept on accusing me of being pro-car. Me, of all people!
What is it with them!?!

You said, yourself, you were 'anti-anything non-pedestrian'. Cyclists
aren't pedestrians and you were hostile. Then you complained urc was
ganging up against you.

Diddums!

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

"Anonymouse" wrote in message
...

So, can anyone shed any light on why I might have had such an effect on
"white van man"? Obviously, I don't care that I ****ed off a driver

Don't worry about it, life is too short to worry about
over sensitive arseholes.

Just consider how fortunate you are not to Boris
Johnson visiting Liverpool this week :-)



--

Edward Cowling - London - UK

Edward Cowling ) gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying :

Just consider how fortunate you are not to be Boris
Johnson visiting Liverpool this week :-)

Can anybody else picture him saying "Eh! Eh! Eh! Calm down! Calm down!"?