Should I have?

dkahn400 said:

Plan A is to look blank and say, "Je ne parle pas anglais." If by

You know, that would be an excellent use for Esperanto.

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

dkahn400 said:

Plan A is to look blank and say, "Je ne parle pas anglais." If by
chance the moton speaks French I plan to switch languages. I've got
Russian, Norwegian, Latin and (very poor) German in reserve but I
haven't had to use them yet.

Or you could always just say,
"Sorry I don't speak English."

Martin.

elyob said:

Got my first major "on the bike path" shout from a car when doing a charity
bike ride on Sunday.

Many years ago, there were about five of us cycling from our school to
Hatfield (as it was then) Polytechnic for some sort of school's open day.

We were cut up on a mini roundabout by a total imbecile in a knackered
up old banger. He gets out and starts having a go at us. We're all 15
and he's about 40, and a right little hard-case type, about 5ft 5, but
really mental, and you wouldn't want to get involved. While he's
threatening two or three of my classmates, I have the opportunity to
reach into his car and remove his keys from the ignition, and ride off,
signalling to the others to follow. The total [censored] would then have been
left screaming after us in the middle of the road, with his car blocking
the whole mini-roundabout. Here's where my own moment of "Should I ...
?." played itself out.

Alas, in the end I decided not to do it, just in case he had a spare set
of keys. It's a shame in a way, because it could have been very funny.

Mike the unimaginative said:

dkahn400 <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

On Jul 17, 10:54 am, Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Plan A is to look blank and say, "Je ne parle pas anglais." If by
chance the moton speaks French I plan to switch languages. I've got
Russian, Norwegian, Latin and (very poor) German in reserve but I
haven't had to use them yet.

Plan B is to look innocent and say, "Oh sorry, I didn't realise. Thank
you very much," and carry on riding normally. Repeat as necessary. The
moton then thinks you are an idiot and gives up.

My plan C is very bad (TM) and probably frowned on (but I've had cause
to use it in multiple situations where I feel seriously threatened)
"Jesus loves you" repeat as required until they leave *knowing* that you
are a total nutcase.
(Apologies to other Christians here who may feel that this is some sort
of blasphemy, but it works anyway you want it to work.)

Evangelical Christian here (yeah, one of those nutters).

Personally, I don't find it blasphemous (unless you really don't believe
it at all).

I use a similar tactic with telephone solicitors (assuming I have the
time to bother). I start witnessing to them. As a rule, they have to
try to be polite (sometimes they are actually monitored). Boy, do most
of them get uncomfortable in a hurry.

Paul Boyd usenet.dont.work@plusnet said:

(Bit like spotting someone on your stolen bike -
you can restrain the bike, but not the person.)

So if I see someone nicking my bike I can halt its progress by ramming
a stick through the front wheel? ;-)

Graeme

Simon Brooke said:

I've had these. Take a note of his number plate (and let him see you doing
this, if you want to)

I have a small black notepad which has the spine along the top which I
use everyday for work. People regularly say that it looks exactly like
a police notebook. I'd imagine that whipping one of those out and
starting to write in it would have a wonderful effect! 🙂

Graeme

"Chris Cowen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

elyob said:

Got my first major "on the bike path" shout from a car when doing a
charity bike ride on Sunday.

Many years ago, there were about five of us cycling from our school to
Hatfield (as it was then) Polytechnic for some sort of school's open day.

We were cut up on a mini roundabout by a total imbecile in a knackered up
old banger. He gets out and starts having a go at us. We're all 15 and
he's about 40, and a right little hard-case type, about 5ft 5, but really
mental, and you wouldn't want to get involved. While he's threatening two
or three of my classmates, I have the opportunity to reach into his car
and remove his keys from the ignition, and ride off, signalling to the
others to follow. The total [censored] would then have been left screaming after
us in the middle of the road, with his car blocking the whole
mini-roundabout. Here's where my own moment of "Should I ... ?." played
itself out.

Alas, in the end I decided not to do it, just in case he had a spare set
of keys. It's a shame in a way, because it could have been very funny.

Should have ... 🙂

However, it reminds me of the time a couple of nutters picked on me and my
mate, he managed to talk us out of it ... 50 metres on I decided to tell my
mate to run and called them $%$$**$$% .... it was then I realised how bad my
mates asthma was ... So, probably shouldn't have.

Chris Cowen said:

Many years ago, there were about five of us cycling from our school to
Hatfield (as it was then) Polytechnic for some sort of school's open day.

We were cut up on a mini roundabout by a total imbecile in a knackered
up old banger. He gets out and starts having a go at us. We're all 15
and he's about 40, and a right little hard-case type, about 5ft 5, but
really mental, and you wouldn't want to get involved. While he's
threatening two or three of my classmates, I have the opportunity to
reach into his car and remove his keys from the ignition, and ride off,
signalling to the others to follow. The total [censored] would then have been
left screaming after us in the middle of the road, with his car blocking
the whole mini-roundabout. Here's where my own moment of "Should I ...
?." played itself out.

It was a while ago that I read the book so my recollection maybe a bit
hazy bit at the beginning of 'The Cuckoo's Egg' Clifford Stoll, the
author, describes a similar event.

As a teenager he and a bunch of friends were cycling back from Canada to
the US. A van passes and the passenger throws a beer bottle out of the
window that hits one of the friends. They stop at the next phone-booth
and phone the American customs at the border. "We are not sure but there
is a van coming towards the border that may be carrying drugs". When the
finally get to the border they notice that said van has been pulled over
and American customs officials are systematically pulling it to bits.
Revenge is sweet.

Chris Cowen twisted the electrons to say:

Quoted message said:

Alas, in the end I decided not to do it, just in case he had a spare set
of keys. It's a shame in a way, because it could have been very funny.

Taking the keys would probably count as theft ("taking with the intent to
permanently deprive"😉? However, removing the keys from the ignition and
throwing them into the rear of the car would surely just be
inconveniencing them?
--
These opinions might not even be mine ...
Let alone connected with my employer ...

Alistair Gunn said:

Chris Cowen twisted the electrons to say:

Quoted message said:

Alas, in the end I decided not to do it, just in case he had a spare set
of keys. It's a shame in a way, because it could have been very funny.

Taking the keys would probably count as theft ("taking with the intent to
permanently deprive"😉? However, removing the keys from the ignition and
throwing them into the rear of the car would surely just be
inconveniencing them?

What about taking the keys and posting them to the local police station
with an explanation of the drivers behavior? No intent to permanently
deprive there.

Andrew

Andrew May said:

Alistair Gunn said:

Chris Cowen twisted the electrons to say:

Quoted message said:

Alas, in the end I decided not to do it, just in case he had a spare set
of keys. It's a shame in a way, because it could have been very funny.

Taking the keys would probably count as theft ("taking with the intent to
permanently deprive"😉? However, removing the keys from the ignition and
throwing them into the rear of the car would surely just be
inconveniencing them?

What about taking the keys and posting them to the local police station
with an explanation of the drivers behavior? No intent to permanently
deprive there.

Andrew

possibly, though doing any thing, is likely to have a possiblity of
making it worse how ever tempting.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com

Andrew May said:

Chris Cowen said:

Many years ago, there were about five of us cycling from our school to
Hatfield (as it was then) Polytechnic for some sort of school's open day.

Quoted message said:

We were cut up on a mini roundabout by a total imbecile in a knackered
up old banger. He gets out and starts having a go at us. We're all 15
and he's about 40, and a right little hard-case type, about 5ft 5, but
really mental, and you wouldn't want to get involved. While he's
threatening two or three of my classmates, I have the opportunity to
reach into his car and remove his keys from the ignition, and ride off,
signalling to the others to follow. The total [censored] would then have been
left screaming after us in the middle of the road, with his car blocking
the whole mini-roundabout. Here's where my own moment of "Should I ...
?." played itself out.

It was a while ago that I read the book so my recollection maybe a bit
hazy bit at the beginning of 'The Cuckoo's Egg' Clifford Stoll, the
author, describes a similar event.

As a teenager he and a bunch of friends were cycling back from Canada to
the US. A van passes and the passenger throws a beer bottle out of the
window that hits one of the friends. They stop at the next phone-booth
and phone the American customs at the border. "We are not sure but there
is a van coming towards the border that may be carrying drugs". When the
finally get to the border they notice that said van has been pulled over
and American customs officials are systematically pulling it to bits.
Revenge is sweet.

Ah, the Cuckoo's egg.. An excellent book, a sort of geek's detective
story. I'd forgotten the bottle incident. Must read it again.

Peter.

TerryJ said:

If I can manage to stop myself telling him to f off I would probably
suggest he goes to discuss it with the police traffic dept after
buying and reading a current highway code, and leave it at that.

You have to remember that half of drivers have less than average
intelligence. For all you know you might have a more productive
conversation with a monkey than with this aggressive ignoramus.And I
say that with all due respect.

That's the reasoning behind planning to make a response that doesn't
leave an opening for an argument to develop.

--
Dave...

Andrew May said:

What about taking the keys and posting them to the local police station
with an explanation of the drivers behavior? No intent to permanently
deprive there.

That's what I would do, though I'd take them rather than post them to
the station that was least inconvenient for me.

--
Dave...