The Horn of Frustration

The first commute following the end of the festive season is always interesting. People (cyclists included) have got used to much emptier roads, save around the bottlenecks of shopping centres clogged with bargain-hunting-sales-shoppers and last-minute-gift-buyers. We get a brief glimpse of what life is like without thousands of people all making their way through the same areas of a city by car, taxi or bus. And then, the first Monday back after New Year and all hell breaks loose once more.

An easy 30mph stretch becomes a dawdle; slowing down for urban speed cameras becomes counting the reflective stripes on the back in sheer boredom; breezing through junctions becomes honking your horn at cyclists who are quicker than you... So it was this morning.

There's one particularly large junction where filtering on the right hand side when you know the exact light sequence is a John Franklin dream. It works perfectly, and so it proved this morning. Mid-filter, realising our lights were about to turn green, I cast about for a gap in the traffic to slip into. The slowly-moving-forward queue duly obliged. Moving slowly because the exit of the junction wasn't clear.

So there I was, slotted in a ten yard gap between two cars, keeping easy pace with the 10mph crawl, keeping slightly right of the centre of the lane knowing that the car in front was going to be stopped by the still-not-clear exit, and I could continue my filter.

Then Mr Toad behind takes offence. Bearing in mind the ten yard gap I moved into, the lack of pace of traffic, the unclear exit to the junction, and the fact that I had been in front of him for a good ten seconds before he decided to impart his parp upon me, it all seemed rather futile. To the extent that I gave it no response whatsoever. Neither cheery wave nor steely glare. And as planned completed my filter, leaving him behind to toot at anyone else doing something entirely legal and of no obstruction to him.

New year, same roads.

(this horn is actually destined for my Sunbeam restoration)