Can’t quite put my finger on it

The combination of load shedding and heavy rain every morning this week made for a nasty recipe on our roads. It was sheer chaos on our streets with traffic lights not working, incompetent driving exposing itself and frayed tempers the order of the day as everyone’s travelling time was doubled, if not tripled.

People arrived late for work, children weren’t in time for their first lessons at their schools, and I’m sure insurance companies were inundated with claims following countless fender benders.

My family’s weekday mornings are chaotic on a quiet day, so any new unwanted gremlins that surface are always going to make life interesting. No matter how early we leave for school, we always seem to be cutting it fine as I first drop my daughter off at her school and then worm my way to a different school to drop off my son.

This week, no matter which route we tried to take to get to their schools, we found ourselves gridlocked, and inevitably cutting it close. To pass time, and to keep our minds off the looming deadline of the first bell, we resorted to pointing out traffic infringements.

It ranged from people failing to come to a halt at stop streets, to drivers not having the faintest clue of how to negotiate a roundabout and, my pet hate, cars driving down the wrong side of the street. It puts your patience to the test, and I’m thankful for the presence of my 10-year-old son in the car, who helped me to keep it together.

This week’s craziness on our roads reminds me of the amusing story my father-in-law told me about his 90-year-old mother while driving in Cape Town last year. A car cut them off while my fatherin-law was driving in traffic, much to the dismay of my gran.

“Give him the finger,” the usually reserved Granny Pam said to my father-in-law Nigel.

“I will do no such thing,” said a stunned Nigel.

Granny Pam was having none of it. She rolled down the window as they went past the transgressor and gave him the finger – a big thumbs up, followed by the nod of the head to Nigel.

I’m certainly the last one to talk, but when frustrated on our roads – whether you are dealing with peak traffic, load shedding or the rain – instead of losing your cool, rather give those that trespass against you a smile, and big thumbs up.

If nothing else, it will confuse the hell out of them.