Driving etiquette

I really enjoy driving - for me, it can be fun and relaxing. Today, I had one of those happy moments where I am really thankful that I have my own car and get to drive.

Before I tell you what happened, let me first give you some background. The estate I live in is a little isolated as its halfway up a mountain. To get to it, you have to drive over these winding mountain roads which seem to go on forever - very idyllic. You can find an artists impression to the right (can I still call it an artists impression if I'm such a bad artist?).

When you finally get to the estate, you have to drive up another winding section of road inside the estate which goes upwards in a circular direction in order to get to the car park. It is quite tight in that section and the speed limit signs all show 8km/h (although everyone drives at around 20-30km/h - hey, its not that tight!). However, the design of the road means that it isn't possible to overtake during this portion of road. Our estate provides a shuttle bus. However, due to the narrow road, the management will stop any cars from going up or down the car park road while the shuttle bus is there.

Anyway, I was on the way home and get to the front of the estate. At this point, I get told that I have to wait as the shuttle bus is coming down. Meanwhile, another car pulls in behind me. He then beeps his horn. Thats right - he beeps his horn. Despite the fact that he should know better (I can tell he is a resident in the estate as he has a residents pass to get to the car park).

Now this kind of stuff really bugs me. In general, drivers in this city have awful driving etiquette (and many of them are poor drivers as well). Of course, being the evil and vengeful git that I am, I wasn't about to let this slide.

As soon as the shuttle bus passes, I start to drive up the road to the car park. Slowly. Very slowly (and if you have ever driven a car, you will know exactly how slow 8km/h is). All the way up to the car park, the other driver is right behind me and I can see him straining his head to see if he can find a way to overtake me. He can't. This really frustrates him and his mood isn't helped by my constant braking to ensure I don't go over the speed limit (did you know that its very hard to drive that slowly?).

The expression on his face made it all worthwhile.

As I said, I really enjoy driving.

>:)