Here we are up in the North Country, with the Ash and the Oak, and the Bonny Rowan Tree. We set off at one minute to seven, and within 35 minutes we round the M25 and several miles up the M1 with very little problem. Sonya’s announcement on the SatNav took us both by surprise. . All the road works on the M1 and the A1(M) were met without any delay. The sign said 50 MPH and 50 MPH is what we got. It was an uneventful trip except for one occurrence as I will explain later.
Increasingly over the past few years, I’ve noticed the every unthinking, inconsiderate, nasty, aggressive driver is behind the wheel of a BMW. Even the DOB has notice that, almost without exception, when we are cut up or tail-gated, or our progress is impeded by someone going into a yellow box or unnecessarily blocking and entrance or exit, or lights are jumped, the car that is being driven is a beamer. It matters not the age, the sex or the experience, it just seems that whenever we are confronted with bad driving, inconsideration or simply bad manners, or by someone totally unaware of what is around them, the car is inevitably ….. Yes you’ve got it.
I spoke to a drinking mate, who is incidentally a BMW driver, about this phenomena. He agreed wholeheartedly, and said that it was due the performance and the relative affordability of older models. According to him the problem has shifted from other prestige makes to the BMW. I am afraid that much of the technical argument that he advanced went straight over the old noggin. Car talk and particularly talking about cars leaves me cold - absolutely slab cold, cold - I’m mortified.
Back to the main story, we were up to the new bit of the A1(M) just before the road works in the third lane overtaking slower moving traffic when I notice rapidly approaching BMW that hangs on my rear end so close that I think I detect a hint of bad breath and body odour. As I was doing in excess of 80mph, I had no intention of slipping quietly in to the slower traffic just to let aggressive inconsideration go past. When I found a suitable empty space in lane two I moved across. The BMW was past me in a blinking and they too moved in to the middle lane. Just as they flashed across my front end, a stone or someting hit the windscreen. I think I actually saw it coming or going, if the screen hadn’t been there I would have been hit between the eyes.
It is fortunate that modern screens don’t go like the old toughened glass screen into a thousand pieces that istantly reduce seeing distance to about 18 inches. All I suffered was a round mark about the size of a shilling right in the eye line. Too large I’m afraid for the polish and fill. A new screen is on order. Even with the insurance cover it is £75.00 in excesses. That I suppose is better than full cost and at least we are good health and arrived safely.
I had forgotten all about the way windscreens used to shatter. I seem to recall my father used to carry a little hammer thing in the car to knock a hole through the shattered glass if it happened to him (it never did but he was an awful pessimist). But that was an old Hillman Minx, not a BMW, I should add.
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