THE CURMUDGEON: SCOTCHED

Wednesday 14 April 2021

SCOTCHED

SCOTCHED
to prevent something from being believed or being done.

- Cambridge Dictionary

When shopping today I was about to park in an angled car park at the busy Countdown supermarket - a park I had lined up on some time earlier and was just waiting for some pedestrians to move out of the way - when another car tried to nose in from the other end. It was one of those parks where you can drive in from a Western position and drive out to the East. I had lined up to face the same way that all the other cars were facing which coincided with the one-way traffic flows at each end. The other car kept moving even though my car had claimed (rightfully) two thirds of the park. I beeped and threw up my hands in the universal sign language of:

Hey! I was here first.
Back off!
Robert might love you but I don't.

Having got the other driver's attention I noticed that she was an elderly woman.*

That didn't matter to me as she could clearly see that I had been waiting for this park and had been there first and she had approached it against the flow of all the other traffic. She backed away and I proceeded to finish parking and to enter the supermarket. I noticed that she gave me a hard look and muttered something though.

Luckily this was in Whangarei and not Lower Hutt where people murder each other over car parking issues.

I shopped for a half hour buying things needed that were on my list and a whole lot of other unneeded things that weren't. As I approached the busy checkout counters I spied one that was about to come free and steered my trolley towards it. Just then another laden trolley appeared and cut in. It was the same old dame who had tried to cut me up in the carpark. I caught her eye and smiled and waved her through. She also smiled in recognition and took the spot. I didn't fancy having any conversation so, instead of lining up behind her I headed off to the deli counter and bought myself a Scotch egg for my lunch.