Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Someone Nabbed My Parking Space and I Didn't Go Ape Crazy on All Fours

I guess I must be integrating well here in Estonia. Earlier on today I was in a multi-storey in one of the big shopping centres in Tallinn, which is undergoing some kind of refurbishment so spaces are at a premium. That coupled with the fact that it's cold out and seems to have snowed perpetually for the last month and everyone really wants to be undercover.
Having spotted a space I did my usual of overshooting it, indicating, and backing in. Of course the person sitting right on my arse wasn't about to roll over and let me take it, and nipped in there front-ways (presumably I'd have got the blame if I'd reversed into them).
Now, time was I'd have flipped. I mean, window down, out of the car, screaming and f-ing and blinding etc. Not a good idea, especially in England, I'm thinking of various knifing incidents. I even met someone once who managed to break his own leg kicking someone who'd done more or less the same thing!
It's a bit different here though. The poker-faced, I'm-never-wrong way people go about things in the baltics means that you might as well shout at the wall. You'd only come off second best. I can see it now, main headline on ETV news, mad Englishman screams at driver in car park. The tag would probably stick.
So I left it. Hardly even felt angry. And I found another space just round the corner!
Hardly worth reporting but I'm pleased with the outcome!

2 comments:

  1. You have my respect. Although (a large) part of me is against letting people get away with that kind of flagrant rudeness, I suspect that such reactions are probably more damaging to me (stress, etc.) than useful for teaching the offender a lesson in manners. I'm still working on achieving the patience of the Buddha.

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  2. Ah yes, I remember Alan's pedestrian crossing conflags:-) Happy to say that (usually) people slow down and stop here unless they're particularly close, though that can actually be even more dangerous since there'll always be the odd one that'll be an exception to the rule!

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