Second childhood moment

Here I am dropping #1 daughter at her train in Perth City in my rattly old Peugeot 505 sedan and here comes Mr Ricer in his silver-grey badge-enhanced Nissan Pulsar with the BSN (Busselton) plates, rippin’ out of the driveway onto the road, revvin’ his model aero engine fit to pop the head off. Could I resist? No!

So... at the next lights (Barrack Street heading towards the railway and facing St George’s Terrace), I occasionally revved the motor just a little to keep his interest, and then (knowing that the pedestrian lights there are slow), “drove off” about 3m several seconds before the light was due to go green. This left me with my ’roobar hanging over the line, and Mr Ricer driving across the intersection sounding like an enraged wasp. The lights went green just as he got to the other side. #1 daughter was laughing herself silly. Quite safe entertainment, no crossing traffic or at-risk pedestrians in sight.

At the next lights (Hay Street), the pedestrian lights have a very short gap between the little red man and the little green light, so I timed that nicely and drove away smoothly through the green about two car-lengths ahead, despite Mr Ricer bouncing his tacho needle off the pin, then pulled left in front of him before he could catch up. In my rattly old Peugeot. #1 daughter just about fell out of the car laughing.

Simple entertainment, I’ll admit, but it’s interesting that an awareness of things like traffic light timings, once gained, fades very slowly. I’d last driven through those lights maybe 6 monmths ago, haven’t regularly been through them for maybe 5 or 6 years.

Comments

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