While cycling to work this morning I stood at a junction for nearly five minutes astride my mountain bike, waiting for a break in the traffic. The entire road behind me became filled with angry motorists variously beeping their horns and/or blaming me for all manner of injustices in their own sad little worlds.
I’m not sure that “ignorati” is a real word (what is the collective noun for ignorant people?), but I’m sticking with it for the moment. It describes the people who wouldn’t pause during their commute for 2 seconds to let me out of a road junction perfectly. Eventually they formed a queue for a junction half a mile down the road so long (half a mile long, funnily enough) that they could no longer continue to pass the place I was waiting, and so instead rolled to a stop and completely blocked the road end.
I will admit to wearing a wry grin as I picked my way inbetween the now stationary cars. Having gridlocked an entire area of town they had suddenly become aware of a wider world outside of their sad, pathetic little cars, and were no doubt shocked that the traffic had become so bad. Traffic they were an instrumental part in making so bad by their own ignorance.
A mile further on I (having the right of way) approached a car waiting to pull out of a similar junction than I had been waiting at. Noticing the gap to oncoming traffic, I slowed and nodded. The driver obviously wasn’t expecting it, and dithered - by the time they realised what I had done, it was too late. I continued on my way, shaking my head.
The morning commute ignorati obviously expect others to behave exactly as they do - and when any act of consideration or kindness is presented to them it’s such a shock they almost can’t believe it’s happening. That makes me sad.