flashers aren't always bad, really
while i have never encountered a flasher before, i am told by some friends that the best response is to Point and Laugh. uncontrollably. a friend once encountered one between the shelves of books in a library. suitably unnerved by that incident, she has resolved to practice the Point and Laugh technique, so she will be prepared should she have the misfortune to stumble upon another flasher.
last night, as i was driving back past midnight after a good night out, i encountered my first flasher. it was on a rather deserted stretch of blackburn road, after exiting great eastern freeway. on such residential roads, the 2 lanes make it difficult for the driver of a cornered vehicle to maneouvre his/her way out of a tight situation. not to mention, too, that the 60kmph limit and the fact that it is past midnight would make any vehicle easy prey for the police-patrol-car-waiting-in-a-dark-side-road.
having heard stories of this particular type of flashers before, i was instantly alert when a driver coming from the opposite direction flashed his headlights at me. apparently, he had seen a police-patrol-car-waiting-in-a-dark-side-road, and this was a alert for oncoming vehicles to slow down, or else suffer the consequences. previously existing only in conversations with friends, this signalling held a new significance for me as i (sorry for the cliche) felt the love from a stranger on the street.
having been away from singapore, where the authorities feel the need to dictate random acts of kindness during a week known as national kindness week, i have to commend the strength of the community spirit within inhabitants of this new land i have inadvertantly found myself. while i chide myself for it, i have been guilty of finding pleasure in others getting a ticket for speeding or parking offences. "lucky it's not me. they deserve it!" i often think to myself. horrible. not proud of it.
after checking my speed, i saw there was indeed a police-patrol-car-waiting-in-a-dark-side-road, waiting like a predator for its prey. maybe they have a quota to meet every weekend. feeling so grateful for the warning signal, i thought i'd flash at the next oncoming car i saw, to pass it on. aah. warm fuzzy feelings. glancing at my rear view mirror when i'd stopped on red at the traffic light, i saw the flashing blue-and-red lights. someone got caught. it's uncanny how the behaviour can be analogous to the lioness watching and biding her time for her prey. and how helpless the prey is, once caught by the predator. it's all so discovery channel-like that i felt a slight sense of deja-vu.
but i'm glad i got flashed at. this time.
and that i got to flash at someone else in return too.
last night, as i was driving back past midnight after a good night out, i encountered my first flasher. it was on a rather deserted stretch of blackburn road, after exiting great eastern freeway. on such residential roads, the 2 lanes make it difficult for the driver of a cornered vehicle to maneouvre his/her way out of a tight situation. not to mention, too, that the 60kmph limit and the fact that it is past midnight would make any vehicle easy prey for the police-patrol-car-waiting-in-a-dark-side-road.
having heard stories of this particular type of flashers before, i was instantly alert when a driver coming from the opposite direction flashed his headlights at me. apparently, he had seen a police-patrol-car-waiting-in-a-dark-side-road, and this was a alert for oncoming vehicles to slow down, or else suffer the consequences. previously existing only in conversations with friends, this signalling held a new significance for me as i (sorry for the cliche) felt the love from a stranger on the street.
having been away from singapore, where the authorities feel the need to dictate random acts of kindness during a week known as national kindness week, i have to commend the strength of the community spirit within inhabitants of this new land i have inadvertantly found myself. while i chide myself for it, i have been guilty of finding pleasure in others getting a ticket for speeding or parking offences. "lucky it's not me. they deserve it!" i often think to myself. horrible. not proud of it.
after checking my speed, i saw there was indeed a police-patrol-car-waiting-in-a-dark-side-road, waiting like a predator for its prey. maybe they have a quota to meet every weekend. feeling so grateful for the warning signal, i thought i'd flash at the next oncoming car i saw, to pass it on. aah. warm fuzzy feelings. glancing at my rear view mirror when i'd stopped on red at the traffic light, i saw the flashing blue-and-red lights. someone got caught. it's uncanny how the behaviour can be analogous to the lioness watching and biding her time for her prey. and how helpless the prey is, once caught by the predator. it's all so discovery channel-like that i felt a slight sense of deja-vu.
but i'm glad i got flashed at. this time.
and that i got to flash at someone else in return too.
posted by limegreenspyda at 2:57:00 pm
8 Comments:
your experience with a flasher had been kinder (and less traumatic) than mine. on my part, i wish i had pointed and laughed and kicked.
p/s i'm not quite sure how you 'found' me, but thanks for dropping by. =)
My flasher was drunk and took so long to unzip himself I got up and walked away before I saw anything. Ha ha ha!
perhaps the coolest thing about aussie radio is that they even do traffic updates on the locations of booze buses and speedtraps in a somewhat similar fashion as Trafficwatch back in singapore.
cute story - now i can associate something positive with the word flashing
bwahahahaha. yeah, aussies are good that way. BUT hor, it IS illegal. U can get fined for warning the opposite direction ppl abt any speed trip. But lots of aussies tell me to say that i'm just checking my lights. haha. right :P
s: hmmm. the kicking part sounds like one would need loads of sharp-shooting practice beforehand. coupled with a great presence of mind. but it might come in handy...
LMD: bwahahah!! a drunk flasher! what a loser!
somehow i'd always imagined flashers in trenchcoats with nothing on underneath. never thought they'd have to unzip anything.
virgin undergrad: wow. more brownie points for community spirit! it's easy to predict when/where booze buses appear, though. which station is this? might come in useful to tune in, instead of always plugging in the CDs in the car!
kitty: there are two sides to everything. even flashing. *nods sagely*
scorpy: REALLY??!!! gosh. i was lucky, then! but the TP wouldn't really know, would they? since they're stuck in that dark little laneway...?
i was so confused with the side of my lights/indicator once that i accidentally turned on my windscreen wiper in broad daylight. "just checking my lights" is a reasonable excuse to flash accidentally.
it's a 92.9, a WA radio station. but i reckon they prolly have something similar in victoria as well since it's by all counts, an infinitely more happening state.
Post a Comment
<< Home