Good morning, friends and fans!
Welcome to another “Peek Into My Week”, a behind the scenes look into the (I hope) interesting events occurring in my daily life!
June 14, 2021.
For the most part, my weeks are the usual ensemble of dreary routine events – work, book marketing, tinkering on Dolly (my 1962 Beetle and daily transport), arguing with my wife about dinner, tripping over cats and rearranging the furniture – but just occasionally something interesting happens, interesting enough to want to tell someone about!
Here then, for your enjoyment, is my recollection of noteworthy events in my past week!
Monday:
Monday was quite a nice day – but that changed while I was driving home! Apologies in advance for starting this one off with a bit of a rant, but at least you might find some funny in it! It’s been a week, and although I’m still not amused, I enjoyed letting it all out in this entry, and had a few laughs too!
A Real Class Act
An angry gray-haired tubby white “gentleman” in a new white Audi fired a barrage of angry honks at me from behind after the traffic circle in Rink Street. I waved him off, indicating with a free hand that he should just pass me if that’s what he wanted to do – after all, what was his problem anyway? He did, and then stopped beside me on my left side at the traffic light. Then he took the trouble to lower his electric window just about three centimeters wide so he could stick his thick lips through the gap – all just to yell “It’s a yield sign, you p**s!” before speeding away.
I was so surprised I completely forgot to honk back at him – with Dolly’s newly reconnected hooter!
What was his major malfunction anyway? What made him so crazy – the fact that I wouldn’t let him stomp all over me – and… maybe it’s because he couldn’t get his window open wider? Or was he concerned the cold air from his aircon would all leak out?
Now, I’m no expert on the nuances of traffic regulations – but I’ve been driving for nigh on thirty years now, and as far as I know, I only need to actually yield to oncoming traffic which I know is coming into my lane or crossing in front of me. In the case of someone changing lanes ahead of a yield sign, it’s up to the person changing lanes to signal their intention to change lanes in front of cars approaching in the lane beside them. I’ve been driving this route for many years now, and this is the very first time I’ve had this sort of drama at that (or any) yield sign. It’s also the first time I’ve had some entitled, bloated rich wanker in a four-wheeled giant prosthetic penis shrieking guttural obscenities at me because I had no idea where he was going!
He probably thought he could just cross over my lane in front of me – and my lane, to pass into the left-turning lane on the left of that as well – without bothering to use his indicator! He must’ve expected me to just naturally give way to him on the assumption that he wanted to change lanes in front of me… (well, I am psychic I suppose, so why didn’t I just smell his intentions?). Well no, it doesn’t work that way – and no amount of sticking your lips through a tiny gap in your window to make yourself appear cheap and common before the entire world will change that.
It’s a funny thing, I used to think it was BMW drivers who generally drove as though they owned the roads and crapped over everyone they looked down on! I have to admit, I once had an Audi myself – and I really didn’t expect that sort of douchebaggery from an Audi driver!
Here then is a brief wake-up call for this individual, should they ever read it:
1) If you fail to indicate while changing lanes, how am I supposed to imagine that you want to change lanes and that I should yield to you? If my lane is clear, it’s clear, end of argument. If you want to change lanes, use your indicators so other road users are aware of your intentions.
2) indicators are operated via a lever to the side of the steering column of your vehicle (The big round thing with the hooter button on it. I’m sure they come standard with Audis as well) and are used to signal your intention to turn. Here’s a pro-tip – they don’t work on ESP – you actually have to use your hands to turn them on.
3) it’s no use getting upset with other road users who get in your way because they don’t know where you’re going, and you assume that just because there’s a yield sign ahead for me, I should stop even if I see no vehicles signaling their wish to change lanes.
4) Swearing at people in public is crimen injuria, a criminal offense. Since you came from the direction of the High Court in Bird Street and were dressed in a suit, I assume you probably already knew that.
5) Swearing at someone through a (partially) open window and then speeding off to get away before I can get your vehicle registration number is the mark of a coward.
You sir, are a real class act. Bravo. 🙄 With charming individuals like you on the road, nobody will miss you. In fact I’m sure of it.
After The Drama
At least the rest of the evening was filled with relaxation in the company of my Querida and our 3 kitties Nyx, Lily and Ash – and some episodes of Top Gentrified Toff – er, I mean Top Gear. Although I think the trio presenting the show, Clarkson, Hammond and May are motoring snobs, they’re at least very entertaining snobs who don’t mind taking the mickey out of themselves or each other.
Tuesday:
A Little Author Research – & An Article… & Maybe A Paper Later
I finally wrote the article I’ve been wanting to for some time – “Prisons Of The Future – In Sci-fi, Galaxii, & Their Relation To The Contemporary” in which I formulated my concept of prisons, crime and punishment in my Galaxii series – along with a general comparative examination of various real-world contemporary prison systems. I’m really tempted to turn this article into another academic paper, but I’m still thinking about it – I already published three earlier this year, so… – anyway, I’ll let you know!
As writers, we tend to do a lot of background research, and although I’ve mentioned prisons in past stories in Galaxii and Quantum, I needed to solidify a definite, clear approach to the subject in Galaxii, because it forms a part of the foundation of the new fourth title, “Sentinel“! I did some research, and found it a fascinating subject! I was also somewhat alarmed by what I found out about the US prison system – and pleasantly surprised by what I found out about the system they’re using in Norway!
“Why The Hell D’you Keep Hooting?!”
You might recall my activities over last weekend, that is reconnecting Dolly’s hooter (or horn, depending on where you come from) to the steering wheel button. Well, on Monday morning I drove Dolly without incident – and I don’t mind confessing (although it may seem a trifle immature) I did press the horn button a few times on a quiet, deserted stretch of road, just to appreciate the fact that it worked! Unfortunately, all was not quite as set right as I’d thought!
On Tuesday morning I left home for work only to discover that every time I turned the wheel (usually to the right and then back again) Dolly would honk in short staccato bursts, like Morse code! Oh, the mortification! Of course I wasn’t going to explain to my colleagues why I appeared to be hooting madly as I drove round the parking lot in the morning and afternoon – so I just smiled and waved at their blank stares and felt a bit like a twat.
Wednesday:
Wednesday was a fairly busy day for me! Firstly, I had to answer interview questions in an email sent to me by a writer for YOU magazine about the old-school motorcycle conversion I performed on a motorized mountain bike! I’m not sure when the YOU article will come out, but I’ll share it with you when it does! You can view the original article here.
I also posted a new DIY article: Easy DIY #69 Decorative Miniature Viking Shields.
A Real Hoot
For the past three days I’d been honking involuntarily every time I turn Dolly’s steering wheel. Of course I realized there must be a short somewhere, but I wouldn’t be able to check it out until Saturday, so I’d been annoying people everywhere just by driving – at work, in the streets on the way home – at Steers when I dropped in to get an appropriately named Wacky Wednesday for dinner… cringing behind the wheel while honking in Morse code! It was Wednesday afternoon… when I finally remembered I didn’t need to go to extremes – I could just reach under the fender and unplug the hooter there… No need to wait for Saturday to lift the fuel tank out to check the horn wiring then. Sheesh!
Thursday:
I don’t really have anything to report about Thursday, nothing of interest to anyone else happened! In fact, I’m not really sure Thursday actually happened – wasn’t it canceled or something?
I did manage to add around 400 words to a story in the Panic! Horror In Space series which is still not titled, and comes after “The Song Of The Drillipede”, the next new title after “Dust” which I’m also still working on. In this untitled story, the thing which Captain Flane has long feared – that someone at Space Fleet HQ would take a disciplinary interest in his reports, which include details about impossible things like spooks, poltergeists, zombies and other paranormal items, and would open an investigation – comes true! The story will revolve around how he copes with this investigation while the ship is sent to investigate a particularly haunted hotel on a nearby space colony – with the investigating officer aboard! Naturally this senior officer, a commodore, is a skeptic, which can only prove to have entertaining fallout!
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
Cheers!
Catch me on social media!
Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Academia | Minds | Instagram | GoodReads | Author’s Database | Library Thing | YouTube | Pintrest | Stage32 | The Book Marketing Network
All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2021.