Friday 12 August 2011

Yobbery knows no age or class

There's a marvellous piece in today's Telegraph by Peter Oborne pointing out how moral decay has set in to our society at its so-called top end as much as at the bottom. The article perfectly captures the sod-you attitude that seems to pervade our sick society. I got a taste of this for myself on Wednesday during a routine visit to the hospital...

I was due for an appointment at my local hospital's physiotherapy department. Fortunately there's a car park for people who are disabled and who can't walk very far to get to the hospital. As you'd expect, many of the people who visit the hospital are disabled and have a disabled parking badge. They vary in the severity of their disability and the demand for spaces is high. For this reason I set off early and arrived with at least 35 minutes to spare before my appointment.

I joined the queue of cars waiting for a space and turned my engine off. A couple of minutes later a car drove past me and the car in front and took a space that was being vacated. As you can imagine, I was incensed. I wasn't bothered about waiting I was just really angry that someone should  jump the queue... let's face it, until recently, jumping a queue is just about the worst thing you can do in Britain.

I got out of my car and walked with some effort over to the car driver who had just stuck two fingers up at the rest of us waiting for a space.

"Excuse me... What do you think you're doing?" I asked the rather prim and austere-looking woman who was doing her utmost to avoid my gaze as she rooted around for a wheelchair in the back of her car.

"I'm late for my mother's appointment," she said as if that was some sort of an explanation. I looked at the woman to try to see whether it was worth reasoning with her. She wasn't tattoed or pierced; she didn't look like she was a member of the much maligned underclass. She was (and I'd bet at least £200 on this) a retired school teacher in her late 50s.

"We're all waiting for a space and we all have appointments," I said.

"Well I had nowhere to park and I was blocking the road waiting for a space," she reasoned with a hefty helping of irritation in her voice.

I tried to explain that what she'd done was unfair and she just huffed and puffed and kept repeating that she was late and hadn't been willing to wait in the queue. I got nowhere with her and, in the end, just told her she was no better than a rioter.

"Oh get over it!" she snapped at me before marching off, pushing her mother in a wheelchair that she'd just pulled out from the car.

That woman was the epitome of the nasty, snarling and snappy middle class sense of entitlement that's every bit as ugly and selfish as the looters of London. Is it any wonder that the young look at the selfish ways of some of the baby boomer generation and take their cue from them?

22 comments:

  1. Beware the sharp elbows of the middle classes! I cannot bear that attitude of ' I am more important than you and everything I need to do is paramount'. So selfish and thoughtless. I feel sure that this woman will get her come uppance sooner or later......'wheel of karma' and so on!

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  2. I always carry a Swiss Army Knife in the car; it has a "spike" tool in the back (for taking stones out of horse's hooves?) which is just perfect for rapidly puncturing all four tyres on a car in as many seconds. I always "do" the sidewalls since this cannot be a simple puncture repair but requires the purchase of four new tyres. Very effective!!

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  3. Sounds as though she will get her come uppance the day she steals Colin's parking space!

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  4. Nice tip, Colin, but I'm going to let karma sort this one out.

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  5. Fine point and well made as always, Mr Sparrow.

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  6. What goes around comes around... she will have the come around soon I reckon.

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  7. I've had this happen to me while a car was being reversed out of a space. I was sitting with engine running and indicators flashing when a car whizzed past and went straight into the space. The male driver knew exactly what he had just done as he looked at me and threw his hands in the air and walked off into town ! Also while shopping in Morrisons I was next to be served at the check out when a tall woman aged about 60 pushed in front and proceeded to talk very loudly to the cashier, then unloaded the trolley ! Before I could sound off the chap behind me said 'she means business, I shouldn't meddle with her'
    Then, of course there are those who leave doors to fly into you because they can't be bothered to check if anyone is behind them ... !

    Pleased to hear you are better though Mark

    Lansdown

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  8. You should have blocked her in!!
    Andrea

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  9. Get a life, indeed. Can't you see that you're saying exactly the opposite of what you said a couple of days before? But I guess that's okay with self-righteous middle-class disgruntles who think that if everyone acted the way they do, the world would suddenly revert to its pristine and innocent state of about, say, 1942.

    Stephan

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  10. Stephan... read what I wrote and read it properly. Top Gear is entertainment. It's not real! Ok? Now, as far as parking in disabled bays go, I said I was not offended by what happened on Top Gear as it was not depriving disabled drivers of a parking space. That's a world away from someone jumping a queue where many people are waiting for a space. If you can't see the difference then you really are a very silly person. Finally, 1942 could hardly be viewed as pristine by me. It was the year my home city was bombed by the Luftwaffe and almost 500 people lost their lives including friends of my family. So please don't lecture me with your half-baked nonsense.

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  11. WE have a crisis in society.
    I believe this is nature as much nuture.
    There will always be small groups and pockets in societies that resonate at the lowest rudder of human consciousness. And will identify in the first instance with aggression and violence as means of expression. This has always been so. As the boundaries between country and culture meld, it is more prevalent.

    You can nuture and educate but there are many kinds of intelligence that develop in us simultaneously. Only when an individual has sated his thirst for aggression will he take a step up the ladder of self awareness.
    It has nothing to do with poverty in itself.
    That's why not all savagery and thuggery can be identified by a so called 'hoodie'. There is no classification divide between consciousness. I mentioned in a previous post, some folk are well educated intellectually, well dressed well spoken. However, truly no man can hide his truth, his integrity - by the Light behind his eyes. Which has nothing to do with religion either.
    Personally i don't subscibe to the dogma of organized religions. Which has often used fear and control as a means of guidance. This too eventually creates its own backlash. My faith is sound - not blind. I have a type of Gnostic holistic faith and as such i reserve the right to question everything. To think for myself and to contemplate my own truth without fear or favor. I honour the right of others to follow whatever path they choose without harming others.
    The laws of cause and effect, karma, embrace all possibilities and all outcomes simultaneously.

    We live in a society now where the pendulum has swung to the extremes, in all directions at once. The kundalini of the planet is causing a kind of chaos.
    That chaos hold the potential for great and positive change to eventually emerge. Meanwhile those who have been disempowered or oppressed will get their voice heard. And those who seek to cover up their truth will eventually be exposed.
    It is likely there will be many more revelations and upheavals - but with it great opportunities. Lets embrace that positivity.

    LdV
    ...

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  12. "Is it any wonder that the young look at the selfish ways of some of the baby boomer generation and take their cue from them?"

    Yeah, I agree. People learn through imitating others especially imitating the older one, which we all know must show more wisdom than ordinary adults since they have seen the best and worst of the world. However, age indeed could be deterioration to some, not just physically but even their attitude and ways are deteriorating.

    Thanks,
    Peny@nurse uniform

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