Cars!!!!
I put it behind a cut in case nobody wants to see the scary things that Irish drivers can do. What is it with Cork people and cars today?!?!? I thought there were enough suicidal fuckers on the road ealrier this week but that was explained by the rain, which does tend to make most Irish drivers extra silly as 1) they are cranky 2) people who wouldn't normally drive are in the car and 3) they rush home to try and keep the car dry. Today though was BAAAAD!!! Coming home from DD's playschool was terrifying. People were actively trying to kill me! At one stage I had a car either side of me (one in a bus lane and one in a parking zone) both trying to move into the spot where I was. On our own road I had to drive like some slalom skier dodging illegally parked cars (school run), got to wave grateful thanks to the kid who yanked his little brother's backpack and so stopped him from throwing himself under my wheels (although at 5kph it might have hurt the car more than him), had a car and trailer reverse out from an illegal parking space right at me (no indicators on the trailer of course) but at least I was kind of ready for those. They had a familiar quality that you could predict. The final straws were the motorcyclist stopped at the side of the road chatting to a mate on the footpath with his helmet cocked onto the back of his head waiting until I was making a nice wide circle round him before setting off at speed (no indicators, hand signals or even putting his feet up onto the rests - no clues at all in other words) and jamming his helmet back over his head at the same time - result = wild swerve and having to push off my car with his boot. I, somewhat unnerved, then indicate right to turn into our parking space only to have a woman pull out of the sidestreet opposite our house just as I am turning (yes she saw me, she pulled away from a stop) and try and turn right right infront of my right turning nose, swearing and gesticulating all the while. I parked. Sat. Shook. Luckily I didn't eat all the chocolate yesterday.