Very bright, sunny morning, the sun in my back. Cycling straight, a car is driving towards me and is starting to turn left into an alley, crossing my path. I see it and continue forward at speed. The car speeds up, instead of stopping before the turn. It misses my rear wheel by centimetres. I stop dead in my tracks and sit on my horn for a few seconds. The car stops.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!”
“WHAT where you looking at?!”
“Sorry, it wasn’t on purpose, didn’t see you from the sun!”
“That would have made all the difference to me, if you had hit me, wouldn’t it, that it wasn’t on purpose?!”
[pauses for a brief moment]
“Is there anything I can do to make amends?”
[pause for a moment]
“You can. You can drive the car less.”
…aaaand silence, end of intersection conversation. It’s like I was on mute: the thought is not to be spoken or heard. Like I’ve asked her to donate a kidney. And just for good measure, an old woman passing by casually adds “it’s you, too: you cyclists drive around all over the place…” Fine piece of reasoning as icing on this wonderful cake I’ve been served. Should have just asked the driver to hand over 400 Euros to me as compensation, which is what the fine for this particular offence is. Somehow I feel the limits of how sorry she was would quickly become apparent…
The Usual Mix 