UPDATE: Reviews section refreshed, redesigned, searchable: Go take a look
Cycling along this morning an illegal e scooter came flying out of a side road wrong side of the road didn’t even look . Dressed head to toe in black hood up he nearly ended up on the ground I just about managed to stay on my bike saidF@@@ing hell man then as I rode on spur of the moment called him a F@@@ing P@@@@ . He took umbrage at this and gave chase shouting who you calling a F P , I pedalled a heck of a lot faster hoping that the pedestrian crossing was clear which it was 👍 eventually after what seemed like ages I couldn’t hear him so was “ brave “ enough to look round and see he’d given up . Really shook me up I don’t mind admitting 🙄Why does it feel like people like this have the upper hand all the time ?
If your idea of engagement is calling people a Pedo, I’d say you are the problem dude.
Sorry the word I used rhymes with brick wasn't expecting anyone to make the assumption you did 🤔🙄
Oh and maybe counting the missing letters next time 🤔
Yeah, I read as P rick as well. I'd also probably have said similar.
Fair enough, I apologise for the incorrect assumption.
I was puzzled - I thought pterodactyl
That starts with a 'T' though dunnit?
It feels like they have the upper hand because you are scared of them. They are from a world that you don’t understand and have the power of youth on their side.
good work out peddling the scooter, though.
If you ran away at that, how would you cope in the blitz or similar in the future? Sounds like you need to not be so anxious.
I tend to find the best approach with the local scrotes is to treat them like anyone else - give them a nod and say ayup and generally get similar back. Never seem to get any disrespectful 'old man abuse' off them
That said, we just have a few ASBO's round here and not fully balaclava'd up Surron tossers
Not sure why OP is getting a hard time the words used seem totally justified to me.
Got in an argument with a scrote driver last week after he called me and my mates "dickheads" for riding two abreast in an empty country lane- this was as he easily passed us to the right with zero delay on a totally empty road. He genuinely seemed surprised when he stopped to threaten us and we remonstrated with him- as if nobody should ever have the right of reply.
Similar to the OP though I did think we were going to get our heads kicked in or run over 5mins down the road so it does feel like engaging with people in any way is kind of a risk and you never know where its going to end up.
Not sure why OP is getting a hard time the words used seem totally justified to me.
you can't call someone a ****ing prick and not expect some kind of response though can you? (whether it's justified or not)
Not sure why OP is getting a hard time the words used seem totally justified to me.
Similar to the OP though I did think we were going to get our heads kicked in or run over 5mins down the road so it does feel like engaging with people in any way is kind of a risk and you never know where its going to end up.
They are justified but if you're going to use them don't be surprised when the undesirable decides to clump you.
I'd never start a fight but will sometimes use colourful language to describe someone's behaviour. If they decided to have a go I'd try to defuse the situation while being prepared to defend myself. I wouldn't do it if my off ramp was to hope they didn't catch me.
A few months ago I was walking home from work. I got to a crossroads and a bloke on an e-bike riding on the path shot across straight in front of me (from my left around a blind corner). Out of shock and surprise at the near miss, I yelled "****ING HELL! What the **** do you think you're doing you ****ing ****!" (F and C words). I don't usually react like that, but the sheer speed he was going and the surprise/shock at how close he was to hitting me totally caught me off guard.
I kept walking, he turned the bike around towards me (he was at the other side of the road at this point, due to his speed) but seemed to think better of it and went off again (which I was quite glad about).
Edit: Don't think I explained the scenario well, so here's a diagram, blue is me, red is him, arrow is the near miss point
I thouht the OP was calling the scrote Farting Peter.
He chased after the OP shouting "who are you calling Farting Peter" because his name was actually Gary. Or maybe Wayne. 🤷♂️
He genuinely seemed surprised when he stopped to threaten us and we remonstrated with him- as if nobody should ever have the right of reply.
I had this sort of thing on the very unpleasant & crowded monorail at Stansted airport last summer. Cramming in with my Wife & daughter, getting shoved by the people still trying to get on board.
I heard the bloke behind me who I had admittedly bumped into a couple of times say to his mate something like "i'll sort it out when this ****ing prick (funnily enough) stops banging into me". I ignored that & tried to move, but he kept chuntering away so I confronted him about it, pointed to the hoards of people behind me who were still shoving us into the carriage and basically told him to stop being such a baby.
When I actually looked around, him & his mate had basically stopped with a shit-ton of space around them & had they moved further into the carriage it would give everyone else a bit more room. So I suggested that to them as well which got a smirk from a couple of people nearby who were in earshot.
He was about 6" taller than me, so I did wonder if I made the right call but hey ho. Luckily they weren't on my flight 😁 Given my normal luck, they would have been also flying to Lanzarote & staying in the same hotel.
@chambord in the cold light of day you are right , in that situation the potential implications for one or both of us makes a difference unfortunately, Spur of the moment V hindsight.
I thought he'd called him a Pillock. Maybe try that in future if you don't want to get chased 😀
Thing is, the world has always been thus. You call someone a bad name and they want a piece of you. I remember once, when I lived in a slightly rough area (Cosham, if anyone knows it - I could hear the duelling banjos every time I walked through the precinct), I was walking to the shops with my wife and some ugly foetal-alcohol-syndrome faced mug just elbowed me for no reason whatsoever. If I called him a peter-the-rick or even a pillock for it I can't imagine what scenario would've unfolded (I wasn't old and crumbling back then). I just laughed and carried on with my day.
Not sure why OP is getting a hard time the words used seem totally justified to me.
I think it's more about whether it's a good call to swear at people you don't know, who may be drunk / irrational / violent / carrying a knife etc. I tend to think that people who do stupid, dangerous things on bikes or in cars, are probably also more likely to react badly if you call them out. Of course if you enjoy a bit of an adrenaline-fuelled chase and/or an impromptu shouting match/punch-up or want to make a clickbait YouTube short titled 'he thought he could cut up this elderly cyclist with impunity, but he picked the wrong person' then go ahead.
I get that sometimes it's hard not to react instinctively when something happens unexpectedly, but I try my best to let this sort of stuff wash over me, mostly because I don't want to end up in court / hospital / the dentist / counselling / posting on a forum asking why calling someone a 'F@@@ing P@@@@' has left me shaken up and questioning why I can't simply call someone a 'F@@@ing P@@@@' without any consequences.
Why does it feel like people like this have the upper hand all the time?
I don't really feel that. Maybe a more useful question is why you feel that they do? Sure, no immediate consequences for that particular dumb-arse behaviour, but in real life there seldom are. Hence the popularity of revenge vigilante films, where someone looks at you funny in the street or steals your ice cream and you spend the next decade mercilessly hunting them down.
But mostly, don't swear at people and expect them not to react?
Edit: sorry, hot, bored and dealing with a hot, bored, grumpy dog.
I wish I could keep my mouth shut sometimes too. I was cycling past a lay-by where a few ner do wells were jumping on top of an abandoned car trying to pull bits off. I shouted something like “Please vacate the area and desist from your wanton vandalism of someone’s valuable property. Go home and continue your academic studies.” However what came out of my mouth was something much more vulgar and unnecessary. As I continued cycling along the remote country road I couldn’t help thinking my outburst was ill advised and the scrotes could catch up with me at any time in their 1 litre Corsa using it as a weapon, leaving me in a heap on the verge. Luckily I never saw them again.
Once we are absorbed into the United States as the 52nd state (after Greenland) our second amendment rights will put a stop to this kind of thing.
Not sure why OP is getting a hard time the words used seem totally justified to me.
Absolutely this.
I think it's more about whether it's a good call to swear at people you don't know, who may be drunk / irrational / violent / carrying a knife etc.
It's not of course, which I think the OP recognises BUT when someone's nearly hit you by acting stupidly (and on an illegal electric vehicle) it can be a fairly automatic response (was there not a thread on here recently from someone who recognised that they had great difficultly not responding aggressively to idiots in cars).
I could see myself responding in much the same way under the circumstances then instantly regretting it. I'd be terrified if they chased me. The level of violence people seem to deal out (knives and all) these days is terrifying.
Hope OldFart is doing okay 👍
Thanks @PJay yeah I'm ok thanks 👍 decided to head in a different direction today and wear a different riding jersey in case, though I somehow doubt the e scooter riders memory recall is that good hopefully 🤞as for me out pedalling an illegal e scooter I can only assume the rider realised he was going to be late for his next " appointment" 🤔
I get that sometimes it's hard not to react instinctively when something happens unexpectedly, but I try my best to let this sort of stuff wash over me, mostly because I don't want to end up in court / hospital / the dentist / counselling / posting on a forum asking why calling someone a 'F@@@ing P@@@@' has left me shaken up and questioning why I can't simply call someone a 'F@@@ing P@@@@' without any consequences.
TBH I think it’s just a thing street savvy people do when they age, there’s only so much ‘excitement ‘ you can be assed with when you get older, you go a bit more zen.
Thanks @PJay yeah I'm ok thanks 👍 decided to head in a different direction today and wear a different riding jersey in case, though I somehow doubt the e scooter riders memory recall is that good hopefully 🤞as for me out pedalling an illegal e scooter I can only assume the rider realised he was going to be late for his next " appointment" 🤔
OldFart.
Put the whole incident in a ‘mental’ box and throw it away, don’t carry it around with you.
The numpties probably getting called a prick on a daily basis with his crap road skills and at the end of day he’s not sat thinking about you, your yesterdays news so don’t sweat it ,you’ll needlessly worry yourself sick over an unpleasant interaction if you dwell on stuff like this.
The actual violence nowadays is less than the 80/90s but there’s definitely an issue with knives but the 24/7 news cycle and social media make it all much worse perception wise.
More advertising revenue frightening everyone to death 🙁
@dudeofdoom Yep it's gone now 👍 I think it's the fact that where we live is nice and quiet normally so these chances encounters are very rare , sadly this sort of incident and these sorts of people seems to be creeping further away from bigger towns and cities .
It's funny I talked about it at Tai Chi yesterday as only last week we were discussing ways of defusing confrontations with distraction . Making light of it he said you should have gone over to him and said are you ok do you need any help 😁😁😁😁
I wish I could keep my mouth shut sometimes too. I was cycling past a lay-by where a few ner do wells were jumping on top of an abandoned car trying to pull bits off. I shouted something like “Please vacate the area and desist from your wanton vandalism of someone’s valuable property. Go home and continue your academic studies.” However what came out of my mouth was something much more vulgar and unnecessary. As I continued cycling along the remote country road I couldn’t help thinking my outburst was ill advised and the scrotes could catch up with me at any time in their 1 litre Corsa using it as a weapon, leaving me in a heap on the verge. Luckily I never saw them again.
Back in the 90s a mate's dad went to remonstrate with the scrotes burning a car in the car park of the shops over the road from his house. I'm not sure what he said, but they threw an unopened can of coke in his face and proceeded to kick the shit out of him, hospitalising him. It was Grimsby, so I guess it's not that suprising.
My dyslexia and dodgy middle aged eyes means I can't help but read this thread title as a warning off of a popular forum member.. @scotroutes seems a perfectly reasonable chap to me! 😀
If you don't like eScooters, never go to France again btw. I don't know what their laws are like but the things are everywhere being "driven" by people of all ages.
We're here now, with Irish in-laws, who have said apparently 50% of child beds in a Dublin hospital are taken up by escooter related injuries.
sadly this sort of incident and these sorts of people seems to be creeping further away from bigger towns and cities .
I've noticed that - stuff in the media is weirdly glorifying it. Scum razzing around London nicking phones with balaclavas on must appeal to the brain dead youth because I've noticed an increase in sightings of similarly clad morons on Carreras with million watt motors and Surrons around the less desirable areas of the city where I am. Luckily, to give the rozzers their due, they are visible and are clamping down on them (been various bits in the news of bikes being confiscated and crushed etc).
It’s Decline Porn 🙁
It seems to me youth chavs aspire to be 'road men' these days. It's relatively rural where we are yet the bad boys wear the chav uniform, North Face, handbag, and speak 'chav urban' I think they dream of living in lawless ghettos.
Rural areas are also prone to county lines gangs with an associated culture of violence & weaponization. I'd be extremely nervous about interacting with balaclava wearing yoofs although I suspect I'm just as likely as anyone else to shout in the heat of the moment!
On the banning front, I think that some councils are looking into this although I'm not aware of anything on a national scale.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gyqlpzwzno
They're driving cars, too. twice in two weeks when walking I've been (just) struck by cars and in both cases the driver had a go at me! the first time I was on a pavement and a car coming from behind me mounted the pavement to park and her door mirror hit my hand - my fault apparently. Second time walking on a country road with no footway and passing car struck the back of my hand with it's wing mirror and the driver made a point of stopping to yell at me that I should have been walking on the other side of the road so it was my fault, despite the curve in the road and sheer rock cliff on the other side making that so deathly-dangerous.
If you ban balaclavas bc of scrotes you could also lose your ability to cover your identity during a protest, where you'd become an offender automatically. The right to cover your identity is higher than the scotes issue, imo. Just because one is more visible or common, or easy to whip up local rag comments sections over, doesn't make it the first order point.
Nearly taken out by two lads on a Sur-Ron last night commuting home. Just on the Alan Newton Way, coming up towards Bredbury Hall, and one flies down the hill towards me but he's hardly in control and drifts right out into my path as I make a beeline for the grass verge. The knobber laughed and shot off. I guess the laugh was 'phew didn't die'. I just swore under my own breath. Won't cry if one of them get's splatted. Unfortunately, that route is commonly used by the balaclava crowd as a get away.
Two lads in their 20's (not kids, grown adults who should know better) got quite mangled a few years ago - shut the bottom of my road off. Driver pulled out of a junction, but the lads were going so fast the driver couldn't see them approach (limited vision with resident parking on the road) so they went over the bonnet. The social media posts were 'interesting'. No sympathy, and the family waded in ! Only sympathy was for the poor driver.
