We all love the rain. It’s good for the ground, and we need it.
It’s not so good for hanging out the washing, and it’s certainly not so good when inconsiderate drivers park illegally on the pavement forcing pedestrians into the road.
The convo started off politely. As Partner plus dog were forced into the narrow road.
‘Hello,’ he said. “Could you possibly find somewhere better to park?’ ie not on the bloody pavement, when there is a car park less than five minutes walk away.
‘No.’
Needless to state, a vehicle came round the corner and soaked both Partner and dog while they had detoured into the road around the people carrier.
‘Lo siento,’ called the driver.
He wasn’t even going fast.
‘No pasa nada,’ said Partner. Not strictly true but not the driver’s fault.
Meanwhile, two kids came around the corner waving at mama sitting in the idle fat kids people carrier.
Ah, of course.
That says it all doesn’t it? The sodding school run again. It’s not as though Gib is exactly unsafe, apart from when drivers disregard pedestrians.
They were old enough to make their own way home, or even to the nearby carpark.
This woman was illegally parked on the pavement and totally blocking pedestrian access.
Mr Polite, with totally drenched overalls, totally soaked dog, suddenly disappeared.
‘If you got your fat idle arse out of the car and walked with your kids, you might be a bit better off.’ [And the rest of us wouldn’t be walking in the road soaking wet either thanks to your lack of respect]
[Another post about boring parents and their fat kids being disrespectful]
Just to be clear, kids run around in the middle of the night in Gibraltar. Collecting your kids at 3pm is not a safety issue. Plenty of kids do walk during the day, the night, and get on the bus.
And, when it rains, it’s so important to get in your vehicle rather than walk with a brolly or get the bus, so Gib gets even more impatient drivers on the road.
This is the second most densely populated place in Europe and the fifth in the world. We are slightly more than two square miles with 30,000 people. The rain brings out the worst in Gib drivers. Mostly, where there are pavements, drivers merrily speed on by drenching everyone.
Honestly, parking on the pavement is a) illegal and b) dangerous when it forces people into the road. Not a single person could have got past, let alone someone with a walking frame or a wheelchair. Rain just makes it worse.
Seriously, how inconsiderate is that?
roughseasinthemed
Clouds moving in 
Aargh, the bloody school run!!
The problem is today’s children don’t have legs to walk with, they’re just there to stop them wobbling off their seat, and rumour has it if they get wet they have the same reaction as a Mogwai 😉
Seriously though, what is it with the youth of today that makes parents think they need to be mollycoddled……they’re breeding a generation of wimps!!
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Well, I know it’s not the first time I’ve gone on about it, but combine school run and rain, and the problem is more than doubled. Gib often gets grid-locked in the rain, so already bad-tempered drivers get impatient and start tooting their horns, etc etc
You knew I would have to look up Mogwai. That sounds a terrible idea. Even more of the fat idle monsters waddling around.
I was going to say you would think they are made of tissue paper, although possibly toilet paper might be a better description, and that they will just disintegrate in the rain.
Meanwhile A has just walked Pippa in the rain, and has set off (walking) to the shops in the rain, complete with the orange condom suit natch.
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It’s the same here, rain doubles the amount of school run cars, having three schools in the vicinity is no fun, luckily it’s not such a built up area, it must be a nightmare for you.
I loved Gizmo (the Mogwai) 🙂 I wanted him probably because he was a little furry creature 😳
Ha ha, toilet paper kids, that’s an idea 😆
Hope A and Pippa survived the rain. Did Pippa have his coat on too?
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I’ve always been unlucky enough to live near schools, because the sort of places I tend to choose usually have a school nearby, ie I choose local, public transport, urban areas. The other thing that used to drive me beserk was a wonderful peaceful quiet day’s leave from work and SUDDENLY! it’s break time, or lunch time, or going home time and the whole place is sooooo noisy. In fact, the only school near us right now is a Jewish school, it’s just over the road, but not a school building per se. I’m guessing they rent the rooms in the building, but as we live in the Jewish quarter anyway, it’s hardly a vehicle problem as they all walk to school. So do the boys whose school is somewhere down Main Street or off Main Street.
Needless to state I’ve not seen it, although I have seen one of those funny creature films, not sure which one though.
As for TP kids and your comment about them being mollycoddled and wimps, I started to think that TP kids couldn’t even wipe … etc.
Yes, they haven’t disintegrated amazingly. A also gave up his seat on the bus on the way back to a woman with crutches. Pippa had his coat on and has had for the last few days. He’s also doing pawly paw with the rain 😦
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A law unto themselves these arrogant selfish and inconsiderate people….:)
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If someone could justify the need to pick up kids twenty yards away from the building they are in, and park illegally, when there is a perfectly adequate car park nearby, a free bus service, and the kids have two functioning legs (well, possibly) I might have the slightest degree of sympathy and understanding. But for now, I don’t.
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In my dreams I would keep to my intended trajectory, climb up on the woman’s car bonnet accompanied by my faithful hound, stomp my way carefully up her windscreen, over her roof and down the other side…I might even jump playfully up and down in the ‘puddle’ my dream dog created on her roof as I passed through…
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Ha ha. Puddle? With any luck it might be worse than that.
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It seems the more in the wrong people are the ruder they are in response to polite entreaties for reasonable behaviour. And, there’s never a parking cop around when you need one.
What you describe with the rain bringing out the worst in people must be universal. We experience the same. I rarely drive but if it rains when I have to drive somewheere I hate it, not because I’m a bad driver, but the water seems to turn so may other drivers into idiots – they go faster, rather than slowing down which is safer.
Children walking to school or catching the bus it seems is old fashioned but they miss out on so much, it was freedom & our space in between school and home, and as far as I know there were never any issues. We felt sorry for the kids whose parents picked them up.
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You’re right about people being in the wrong and being rude and defensive. He did fleetingly think of taking a pic of her car reg, but what’s the point? Nobody would do anything. One way to discourage school runs would be to ticket people who park illegally.
The worst experience I had was on an extremely rare occasion being driven by Partner’s mother. It was chucking it down and we were either on a dual carriageway or a motorway and, yes, she was going bloody fast and tailgaiting. Partner pointed out that she might not be leaving the appropriate stopping distance given the conditions and she got really shirty. Don’t think we went anywhere with her in the car after that. Needless to state, he had taught her to drive in the first place, and it wasn’t to drive right up someone’s rear at 70mph in the pissing down rain.
That’s exactly what it was either walking or catching the bus. I was about five/six miles away I think), so normally got the bus both ways. But in summer I’d sometimes walk home, or catch the bus part-way, or take the long way home across the fields (and past the boys’ school). I don’t think my dad could understand why I would turn down his offer of a lift to school in the mornings. A friend used to give me a lift on a Friday but I managed to wriggle out of that as well.
Whatever happened to independence and resilience?
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There are so many creative ways of dealing with people like that. Carrying a herring around in a ziplock bag sometimes comes in handy. :>) or a used out smoke flare, some thumbtacks, crazy glue, the list is long…
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True and all good ideas. But sadly we live in a small place and there are too many eyes around. Brake fluid over the car comes to mind as well, but not in broad daylight.
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I find a polite message written on the windscreen with a nice greasy old lipstick causes no damage, but causes a lot of inconvenience; it is my favourite way of remonstrating with people who selfishly ignore car park markings and park their (usually) Madrid plated charabancs centrally across two bays.
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Señora, is that not possibly criminal vandalism? If you can cite me Spanish law where it is acceptable I may consider buying some lipstick and indulging (not something in my store cupboard).
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Has he considered climbing over the vehicles that still have drivers in them?
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That gave me a chuckle this morning when I read it, and it echoes Totty’s suggestion above. However on his return I will tell him this is the future recommended course of action.
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There is a message here about the causes of childhood obesity. In the UK there was a government message about saving fuel costs etc., by sharing the school run. This reduced the number of vehicles whilst increasing the size of each vehicle to 7 seat SUV, many driven by people quite unable to control a vehicle of that size, let alone park it. Maybe there should be a more advanced driving test for vehicles seating more than 5 people.
Fortunately it doesn’t rain all that often in Gibraltar.
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You are having a laugh! I daren’t even tell drenched Partner that one. FFS!
No! No! I rest my case. Just walk to school or get on the bus. What the hell is wrong with that? Oh. Status. Of course.
Anyway, it has rained since Sunday here, so don’t be so confident about that. And even when it doesn’t rain, the idle bastards still park on the pavements illegally and causing danger to the poor pobres, ie pedestrians.
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Even after all the travelling we have done as well as living in various countries and now living east of Melbourne on a quarter acre block I can’t imagine that number of heads per population in that small amount of land 😦
Why do they do it? Because in ‘their eyes’ they can! And not you nor anyone else are going to tell them otherwise!
Take care
Cathy
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It actually doesn’t bother me, although years before we moved here we met someone who had left because she couldn’t live with everyone knowing her business. For me, it’s an attitude of mind, if I’ve got space in my head, and somewhere to eat and sleep, that’s good. More land would be great, but at least Partner can get some work in Gib. Pros and cons to everything.
They do it because they are lazy, disrespectful and downright inconsiderate. It’s actually quite difficult to approach someone and say, excuse me, do you think you could park somewhere else, it is not only illegal, it is causing a hazard to pedestrians and inconvenience to other motorists blah blah. But sometimes we feel like saying it, it’s like tacit approval if you don’t.
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That is the really good thing about being retired – I don’t have to go out of the house during the school run!
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Well I try and avoid it too, but there are also events held during the day and evening so there is still terrible parking from time to time. Anyway, she was parked again there today, but right on the kerb, and immediately looked away when they approached. They got to walk on the pavement today.
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Might be worth investing in a wheel clamp!
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No 😦 it’s a bit like all the other solutions, great in theory, but in broad daylight, and even at night, too many eyes around. Doesn’t help when the driver is sitting in there either 😀 Maybe clamp her?
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Sadly bad drivers park inconsiderately everywhere, but it must be even worse in such a densely-populated area. And don’t rtalk to me about people driving through puddles when i’m walking past. Grrr! I think a lot of people have forgotten what the two long things at the lower end of their body are actually for…..
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I don’t think it makes any difference tbh. Bad ie illegal parking is the same wherever it is. There are only so many cars can park illegally!
The puddles. How many times have I sworn at drivers for that? Meanwhile today, I remembered to power up those strange things, get them to take me down to the bank, a couple of shops and back home. Amazing. No parking. No cost. Fresh air. Do you think I could sell them as a new concept – Have you tried legs? Walking on them?
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