As I continue learning how to use this camera, I have perhaps on occasion gotten a bit sloppy about paying attention to my surroundings. I was down near the boat basin, in Riverside park, walking along the pedestrian and bike path. Yes, pedestrian and bike. I saw an evergreen that had some fun shadows defining it, so I snapped that, then began to cross the narrow path to take a close-up, perhaps not noticing my surroundings sufficiently. It was the park for god's sake.
"Watch IT!" barked a man as he raced by on his bike, no attempt made to swerve or slow down.
Startled and angry, I yelled back "slow DOWN!"
"Fuck you," he threw over his shoulder, not slowing down.
"You give way to PEDESTRIANS, ASSHOLE!" I bellowed. Since he hadn't slowed down, he was by this point quite far away, so I needed to project a bit to assure he heard my nuanced, reasoned argument. Ah, voice lessons. All activity along the path for quite some distance came to a halt for a minute, while people figured out if I was crazy, dangerous or just very loud.
I'm forty-one years old. The biker was older than me, probably by at least a decade. I'm so glad we were able to handle this like adults.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
"...nuanced, reasoned argument." Yes. Doesn't every asshole know to yield to pedestrians?
You were just using your "outside voice". ;)
I quote The Kids in The Hall, writing a letter to someone in a hospital:
"Dear Guy I Clothes-Lined While He Rode By on His Bicycle--
You don't know me, but I'm the guy who broke your collarbone...."
Post a Comment