Immovable objects

Yesterday was not a good day!

After feeling generally crappy all day with a mild stomach flu I was about to go to bed when I was reminded that we needed to move the car or we'd get a fine.

This is not a fun task where we live as there are mafiosa tactics to extract money from car owners unable to find spaces (since there is a huge dearth of spaces available). See here for a previous rant on the road cleaning "system" and parking fines.

Anyway, back to the story:

I'd been driving around for half an hour looking for somewhere. Finally I found a spot, although I'd have to put some cash in the machine to cover the hour or so in the morning before we had a chance to move the car to a free spot. Of course I only had cash with me and the machine only took cards.

This did not put me in a good mood.

Driving along a narrow road a minute or so later (narrow because it was blocked on the other side by a fance around a building site) a taxi appeared at the far end. Did he stop and wait for me to pass? Nope. He drove right up to me and stopped.

There was no way in hell we were getting past each other. I flashed my lights. No response. I leaned out of the window and called at him to back up. He refused and told me to back up.

Now this was the umpteenth idiot I'd dealt with that day and his attitude reminded me very strongly of somebody at work (a post for another time perhaps ...). This was not a good combination of factors and I am ashamed to say I got out of the car and was rather vocal about my feelings on the matter.

Swedish doesn't really have any truly great swear words (barring one but it's pretty much totally taboo). Supplement it with a smattering of English though and you can get quite an impressive effect.

He got back in the car and told me he was calling the police and wouldn't talk to me any more.

(I'd just like to point out that no threats were made - it was purely shouting from a distance of about 5 feet and with a car door in between. Insults were most definitely made).

I got back in my car and settled in with the CD player and a book (always have one in my jacket pocket, just a shame I didn't have a phone with me too last night).

About 10 minutes later there is no sign of the police but another taxi (same company) shows up and wants to get past. An interesting argument ensues between the two taxi drivers where the first shouts that he's not backing up one jävla centimeter and the latest arrival ends up backing up and mounting the pavement to drive down the inside of all the parked cars.

I decided to go for a walk and wandered off to the 7-11 to buy a bottle of water. There was no way I was going to be out-stubborned at this point ...

On the way back I chatted to the other taxi driver, who had dropped off his fare now, and who informed me that he'd called it in to the company and the other guy was on his first night. He gave me their number and the blockaders driver number and told me to file a report.

I was feeling a little bit bad about my earlier outburst so I tapped on the window on the way back to my car. He ignored me.

I tapped again and he eventually opened the door a crack. I asked him if he'd called the police and whether they were coming. He informed me, without looking up from his phone, that they were on the way and would be here shortly. I, somewhat generously at this point I thought, told him that I could either back up and report him or sit and wait for the police. He told me I could do whatver I wanted (this seems to be a common Swedish response when somebody is sulking).

Sitting back in my car with my book out again and sipping my drink I only had to wait another couple of minutes before he backed up and drove off in the other direction.