People (who don't think)

Example One:

I'm playing squash. Squash can be a dangerous game - it's fast and the ball has the potential to fit perfectly in your eye socket and blind you. I also have to look out for my opponent who is likely to either run into me, get in my way, meaning I will run into him, or hit me with his racquet. The other thing about squash is that it is played in a sealed room. Not completely sealed - we wouldn't be able to breathe - but the door is shut so the wall around the court is continuous. Squash etiquette (and common sense) dictates that when it is your turn to play and the people on court’s time is up, you knock loudly on the door and wait for them to vacate the court. This avoids the potential situation of a player, focussed on the game and running full pelt for the ball at the back of the court, removing his head from his body with the aid of the open door. This thought does not seem to have entered the head of a particular fuckwit at my local leisure centre. Casual as you like, whilst we’re mid-game, he flings the door open and steps into the court. A brief exchange of looks – mine horrified, his completely blank – sees him leave the court and shut the door. We finish five minutes later and he’s waiting outside, to come in and play. ‘You know,’ I say, rather politely I might add, seeing as he just tried to kill me, ‘you should knock before you enter a squash court. I could have done myself an injury on that door.’ Now, instead of graciously apologising and thanking me for educating him on the error of his ways, he says something back. ‘Well, I didn’t know there was anyone in there,’ he says. Ok, so let’s just think about this a second. The door to the squash court is shut. There’s a fifty-fifty chance there’s someone playing. There’s a fucking spy hole on the door so you can see if anyone is playing. So what do you do?

Example Two:

Cycling home. I’m going up the bus/bike lane and can see, about 200 yards in front of me, a car waiting to come out of the side road on my left, looking to join the line of traffic on my right. As I get closer I can see the driver look at me. As she does so, she also starts to ease the car out into the bus/cycle lane in an attempt to squeeze into the traffic. Predictably, she can’t and stops, her car now completely blocking my way. I stop, with my wheel virtually touching her door and look straight at her. She actually looks surprised to see me and, more amazingly, annoyed that I should be blocking her view of the traffic. Silly bitch.