Thursday 10 August 2017

I am tired of the endless bullying

by "activists", people who want things done or said or changed "their way". I am tired of people who keep telling me - and many others - "we are right and you are wrong and you are the one who has to change". I am tired of being told I cannot have opinions about things - even when I have read widely on a topic or experienced an issue.
Yesterday I got told off in no uncertain terms for parking my tricycle where it should have been parked, where it is allowed to be parked...in the bike rack. I try to park it on the end because it is wider than a bicycle. It was parked on the end. There is a normal car parking space next to the bike rack. It isn't a designated parking space for a person with a disabilities. I simply wouldn't even consider parking my bike there under those circumstances. The designated parking spaces are something I feel very strongly about. You don't use those unless you have the right to use them. No, this is a normal car parking space. 
My tricycle was not in the way of the car doors either. There was plenty of room to open those and for an able bodied person to get in and out.
No, the telling off I received was because someone could not push a shopping trolley between the car and my tricycle. There is a slight curb between the two. The trolley went off the curb and into the car. It marked the car. It was, apparently, MY fault - even though I had parked there before the owner of the car and gone to have an almost unheard of cup of coffee with friends. Still, it was my fault. The idea that the able bodied owner of the car could have walked another (and much easier) route of about the same distance to the car was not even part of the equation. 
     "That's going to cost good money to fix! You disabled idiots...." the owner of the car ranted on as I  unlocked my trike. My way was blocked. I couldn't get out.  People were passing - for once there was nobody around that I knew - and how were they to know who was at fault?
I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say which wouldn't make matters worse.
And then, behind me, a voice said, "When you have quite finished I'd like to talk to you."
There was a parking inspector. Oh yes, the fifteen minute car park space...and there was the mark on the tyre and a ticket under the windscreen wiper. The inspector was not looking at me. He was looking at the driver and his expression was not friendly.
The inspector pulled my trike out for me, something I normally wouldn't like but accepted gratefully. I pedalled off to the sound of another attempt to argue. 
It was an argument the driver of the car was not going to win.  

5 comments:

Jodiebodie said...

Thank goodness for that Parking Inspector. Sweet justice.
Still, you shouldn't have been forced to endure that abuse.
It is very distressing. I'm sorry this has happened to you.
I hope that driver gets punished for the abhorrent behaviour.
Hugs for you (and a cuppa). xx

Momkatz said...

I am sorry you were treated so badly, Cat. I'm sure the irate motorist said more mean things to you than you reported in your blog. I am so glad the Parking Inspector arrived just in time. Sometimes I despair of people today. So selfish and mean.
Big Sister Cat

Susan Ramsaran said...

It's difficult to imagine how the car driver could be so unreasonable, rude, insulting, unsympathetic...but I'm glad that the angel in disguise came along.

catdownunder said...

Angel in disguise indeed - I might have been tempted to say something had he not turned up.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes Karma is slow in coming, but better late than never!