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This may look like a car waiting at a junction to turn right but closer inspection will reveal that it lacks that essential ingredient – a human occupant.
This car is, in fact, parked. If it wasn’t there – or somewhere close – every day you could almost believe it had been abandoned but it arrives there every morning (the owner works nearby) and leaves late every afternoon.
In the early 1980’s, the Thatcher government heavily promoted the concept of ‘free market enterprise’. Coupled with the growing era of political correctness, educational abandonment and the rise of the “self” this transferred easily to a culture of “dog eat dog”. It’s what, back in more innocent times was referred to as “I’m All Right Jack!”.
In our house, it is known as the “Fuck You Generation”. A generalisation I know and apologies to the legion of people who do actually think about others as they pass through their life. But surely nobody can deny that there are a hell of a lot more “Fuck You” people about then there used to be “I’m All Right Jack” people. It’s like a disease and the harm it has caused is monumental.
It shows itself in many ways and this is just one of them. People who park their cars right up on the pavement so you have to walk in the road to get around them. People who habitually park in reserved disabled spaces. People who park in the ‘pick up’ section at your local Asda and then spend an hour doing their shopping. People who park their car straddling two parking spaces.
What these people are saying to the rest of us is – Fuck You.
Owned
It took me a while to get just what you were saying in this post. The car is parked! Right! I agree this is a Fuck You but its also insanely stupid. If I did have an expensive car I sure wouldn’t leave it in the middle of the road! So not only is it selfish its also stupid. The sad thing is that the world has way too many of these type of people. At least I can say I am not one! Cheers…
In the early ’70s. our neighbour used to park his car on the pavement, completely blocking our gate. In fact, there were cars on the pavement all over our road. And it was 1972!! What do you blame it on? Ted Heath? The 1970s 1950s revival? Sorry, the ’80s were crap, but they just weren’t that influential. Until we start looking to now and ceasing the priggish, hypoctrical nonsense about the prat ’80s, we’re going nowhere.
Welcome Maria
I have to say you were real unlucky in the 70s then.! Yes – there have always been people who park their cars on pavements – of course there have been but that really isn’t the point. The point is the attitude. In the 70’s I found people generally a little more courteous (with the possible exception of the ’skinhead’ brigade) and asking someone to move their car was unlikely to elicit the same response as today.
But I have to disagree with your assessment of the 80’s (although I am still struggling with the ‘priggish, hypocritical’ bit – not sure what that relates to). The 1980’s were extremely influential in many ways. Musically they were somewhat banal, many of the movies were tedious and the fashions were generally shit but politically and socially the decade saw a huge upheaval in attitudes.
See, the first thing that I think when I see that is that you have access to two motor vehicles, which is coincidentally exactly the right number of motor vehicles needed to prevent this one from being able to drive anywhere at all, and you live just down the road so you could walk home afterward. And given that this one is already blocking the road, leaving another couple of cars in the general vicinity wouldn’t actually make the situation any worse for anyone else.
But that’s just me.
Alternatively you could try calling the police, ’cause I was told when I was learning to drive that it was illegal to park within ten metres of a turning and your vehicle could well be towed away. You know how they love that low-hanging fruit, after all.
Park my Audi down there? No fear!
And ‘10 metres’? Wasn’t that yards?
999, " Police please "
"Yes Sir ?"
"I’ve just seen a young girl dragged screaming into a Black Coupe registration AJO6 HZD -It turned left towards…."
btw:-
http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/application;JSESSIONID_EvlPortalApp=Hh9F8lDhRJy41yj7nBrzBGzVQM9YWlk0D1l4pb5y26jpjcrRgvWT!461452890!-939667667?pageid=Vehicle+Enquiry&portletid=VehicleEnquiry&portletns=VehicleEnquiry_en&wfevent=link.next
hope the link works, big brother is here…..
The link works if you can copy and paste into your browser, if you just click it, it times out.
Oh… I was expecting names, dates, mobile numbers, the works!
Sorry
If your really that pissed off:-
Currently, Regulation 27 of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 requires the Agency to release information from its vehicle register to the police, to local authorities for the investigation of an offence or decriminalised parking contravention, and to anybody who demonstrates ‘reasonable cause’ to have the information made available to them. Regulations also allow for a fee to be charged to cover the cost of processing requests.‘Reasonable cause’ is not defined in legislation but release is normally associated with road safety, events occurring as a direct consequence of the use of the vehicle, the enforcement of road traffic legislation and the collection of taxes. The Agency has to evaluate very carefully the reasons for the request as well as the way in which the information will be used before releasing the information.
From here :- http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/AdviceOnKeepingYourVehicle/DG_4022066
Have fun
> ‘10 metres’? Wasn’t that yards?
This country has been a metric country since before I was born. I know the French invented it, but really, it’s a good system! It works!
Also, I’m not so good at yards as I am metres, but I’m pretty sure that car in the photo is within ten yards of the turning as well.
let his tyres down… the facist. Should be easy enough to get him towed though…
Small shit like this is as corrosive as the larger sins of our politicians.
A note under his windscreen wiper, telling him not to park there tomorrow, or else it will be a key down the side of the car, should gently persuade him to park elsewhere…
On closer inspection I think it possible to see the problem here. You see, it appears to be an AMERICAN car, which of course explains everything. Americans and of course anything that is produced in that country are able to go anywhere, park anywhere, do anything to anybody anywhere in the world, without so much as a by your leave. They have no manners, after all, they tipped all our tea into the harbour in Boston. Dashed bad form old boy!
By the same token, the constant osmosis of American thought and mores has been accelerated around the world and in particular in this, the latest state of the Union ( we just aren’t sure which Union, of course),by the mass hallucination of Television, which teaches us that it is ok to kill, drink to excess, swear, beat up women, beat up kids, beat up anyone that doesn’t agree with you; kill anyone that has a different God, that has a different colour skin, take drugs, screw anything that moves without a thought to the consequences. That idolises awful behaviour and turns it into money.
And last but not least park like a complete wanker – I bet this driver even parks in disabled spots, by a pedestrian crossing, in front of someone’s driveway and any other damn place they fancy.
Me I’m with Wolfie Smith of the Tooting Popular Front – Come the glorious day, brothers, we will all drive Rolls Royces! And I shall park it across this guy’s driveway!!!
I am going to have to go off topic here a bit. I have said many times before that the USA and Americans basically deserve the reputation they have because they export an image of themselves and their country via Hollywood – both film and TV – that is brash, aggressive, loud, violent and often unsophisticated.
However, the more you travel to the country and get to know it’s people, the more you discover that, on the whole (and there are always exceptions of course) they are a very polite, courteous and generous people who go out their way to help and make you feel at home.
In more trips than I can count I have only once ever felt threatened (well, he did have this great big shotgun aimed at me!) and have always been treated well and often far far better than here in my home country.
I like how you make the blind person out to be a potential victim here. It’s not the owners fault she’s blind, it’s her fault.
Maybe she should have considered being born with sight.
So it’s clearly the bilnd persons fault if they can’t see the improperly parked car.
I agree with you on the dog shit, the owner should have clearly trained the dog to dispose of it’s own shit.
As for the napkie, wtf! How dare anybody throw something biodegradable on the ground!
/snark
I enjoyed the article.
It made me think of this .
Adam Curtis
The Trap – 1 – Fuck You Buddy
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv&q=fuck+you+buddy#q=the%20trap&hl=en
@wheeeee: Thanks. I have lot of time and respect for Adam Curtis…