I was passed by a white van on my bike today.
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What?
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You lot still here?
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Oh … you’re waiting for the rest. The rant. The diatribe against white van man and his ilk and the way they go bombing down quiet country lanes, buzzing cyclists while laughing with glee, sending women, children, dogs, chickens (they’re very free range in these parts), stray cattle and pheasants flying into the nearest ditch.
It’s not like that round here. It really isn’t. In fact, when I got home, I found the same white van parked outside the house, it having been driven there by our cheery tv-aerial repairman who was busy ensuring that our next door neighbour could receive her fix of Strictly Come Dancing.
‘Oh, was that you I passed?’ he asked
‘It was, why, were you muttering to yourself about bloody cyclists?’
‘No, it was just that I was driving behind another car and when it passed, I hung back a bit to make sure that you’d heard there was another vehicle behind before I passed you. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure you’d know I was there.’
Now that’s advanced level driving politeness, that is. Especially as he didn’t know he was about to park in my drive at the time – although, given he seems to be about the only tv-aerial repairman in the district, the chances of my being a customer were fairly good.
I got passed by a different white van yesterday. According to the sign on the back, it belonged to a company calling itself the ‘White Van Gentlemen’. It didn’t do too badly either, but they’re going to have to try a bit harder if they want to stand out for their courtesy here.
(I still think bike lanes are a good idea though. Although maybe not here…)
Posted by disgruntled 
