Incident on Central St
Read something a few minutes ago that reminded me of an incident last week.
There’s this little side street that I cross on the way to and from the office each work day. It’s not much of a thing - one way and barely 2 car widths, but it does have a traffic light on the corner because it opens on to a busy city street. For those of you who know the Sydney CBD, I speak of Central St, which leads onto George St. It’s next to the McDonalds, which is across the street from the cinemas, which in turn are just down from Town Hall. Got it now? :-).
Most times people just wander across regardless of the colour of the light, because it’s easy to see if there’s a vehicle coming or not. Of course, if the light is red and there is a car there waiting to turn into George St, pedestrians are required by law to stop and wait, and generally they do. But not always.
On day last week - one of those miserable drizzly humid days last week - I was heading home as usual. Coming up to Central St, the lights were red and I could see a dozen or more people on either side of the street There were two cars on the road itself. One was just on the turn of the corner - waiting for the traffic to clear. Behind him - right in front of the crossing point - was a police car.
I stopped like a good little citizen, unlike the gent behind me.
Business suited, briefcase in hand, attention solely his mobile phone as he texted away. Completely oblivious to everything around him, he just kept walking. He had taken maybe two steps onto the street when there was a sudden blast of car horn from the vehicle he so blithely ignored.
Suit!Man was, unsurprisingly, a bit startled and probably a bit cranky about the noise and he swung his attention in the direction of the sound - words of abuse clearly forming in his mind - and stopped dead.
In the front seat of the police cruiser the two officers - male and female (driver) - sat with their arms folded across their chests; their best “don’t even think about it, bucko” looks glaring out the windscreen at him.
Suit!Man’s expression could best be summed up as “oh shit!” He put his head down and scuttled across the street and into the crowd as quickly as he could.
Of course by this stage, the first car had gone and the police car moved on and the world went back to normal.
But I’m betting I wasn’t the only person snickering about the moment as they walked away.
There’s this little side street that I cross on the way to and from the office each work day. It’s not much of a thing - one way and barely 2 car widths, but it does have a traffic light on the corner because it opens on to a busy city street. For those of you who know the Sydney CBD, I speak of Central St, which leads onto George St. It’s next to the McDonalds, which is across the street from the cinemas, which in turn are just down from Town Hall. Got it now? :-).
Most times people just wander across regardless of the colour of the light, because it’s easy to see if there’s a vehicle coming or not. Of course, if the light is red and there is a car there waiting to turn into George St, pedestrians are required by law to stop and wait, and generally they do. But not always.
On day last week - one of those miserable drizzly humid days last week - I was heading home as usual. Coming up to Central St, the lights were red and I could see a dozen or more people on either side of the street There were two cars on the road itself. One was just on the turn of the corner - waiting for the traffic to clear. Behind him - right in front of the crossing point - was a police car.
I stopped like a good little citizen, unlike the gent behind me.
Business suited, briefcase in hand, attention solely his mobile phone as he texted away. Completely oblivious to everything around him, he just kept walking. He had taken maybe two steps onto the street when there was a sudden blast of car horn from the vehicle he so blithely ignored.
Suit!Man was, unsurprisingly, a bit startled and probably a bit cranky about the noise and he swung his attention in the direction of the sound - words of abuse clearly forming in his mind - and stopped dead.
In the front seat of the police cruiser the two officers - male and female (driver) - sat with their arms folded across their chests; their best “don’t even think about it, bucko” looks glaring out the windscreen at him.
Suit!Man’s expression could best be summed up as “oh shit!” He put his head down and scuttled across the street and into the crowd as quickly as he could.
Of course by this stage, the first car had gone and the police car moved on and the world went back to normal.
But I’m betting I wasn’t the only person snickering about the moment as they walked away.