Caol Ila
Well-Known Member
What is it with this week, middle aged men, and them feeling entitled to stop me whilst hacking to grace me with their opinion?
Four or five days ago, we were trotting along a trail and saw a guy and a dog some distance off. Pulled sharply to halt to let man collect his dog. SOP. Once he had it under control, we walked on past and he stopped me and said, 'I hope you're going to pick up all the dung." I said, "Yeah, sure." He said, "You'd better, or I'm going to complain and get horse riders banned from the trails." I was like, "Okay, fine." (as per Scottish access laws, he can't so, whatever). He continued to rant, saying stuff like, "There are children on these trails!" At which point, I urged Hermosa into a trot and we ran away.
The wise-arse answer would have been, "I hope you stop every other dog walker you see and give them a hard time about the vast amounts of dog-shight in baggies hanging on trees, fences, and chilling on the side of the trail." I only thought of that much later. Probably wouldn't have had the gallus to say it anyway.
Then today, we were plodding along the road at 3:30pm (sunset is at 4:54, so it was still mid-afternoon daylight, albeit cloudy), minding our own damned business, and a guy driving a Land Rover came up behind me, stopped, rolled down his window, and said, "You know, I can't see you." I was like, "What?" He said, "I couldn't see you. It's the light. You're not visible in this light." I have a huge hi-vis road worker (actually, Network Rail) jacket on, Hermosa has hi-vis orange and yellow and streamers in her tail, and she has a huge hi-vis breastplate (okay, can't see that from behind, but that's what the tail thing is for). I looked at him a bit blankly and said, "Even with all this orange?" He said, "Yeah, in this light, you're invisible." I was like, "Okay, thanks for letting me know."
Because I am far too non-confrontational to say, "Dude, if you can't see this get-up at f**kin 3:30pm, then you should probably get your eyes checked."
Four or five days ago, we were trotting along a trail and saw a guy and a dog some distance off. Pulled sharply to halt to let man collect his dog. SOP. Once he had it under control, we walked on past and he stopped me and said, 'I hope you're going to pick up all the dung." I said, "Yeah, sure." He said, "You'd better, or I'm going to complain and get horse riders banned from the trails." I was like, "Okay, fine." (as per Scottish access laws, he can't so, whatever). He continued to rant, saying stuff like, "There are children on these trails!" At which point, I urged Hermosa into a trot and we ran away.
The wise-arse answer would have been, "I hope you stop every other dog walker you see and give them a hard time about the vast amounts of dog-shight in baggies hanging on trees, fences, and chilling on the side of the trail." I only thought of that much later. Probably wouldn't have had the gallus to say it anyway.
Then today, we were plodding along the road at 3:30pm (sunset is at 4:54, so it was still mid-afternoon daylight, albeit cloudy), minding our own damned business, and a guy driving a Land Rover came up behind me, stopped, rolled down his window, and said, "You know, I can't see you." I was like, "What?" He said, "I couldn't see you. It's the light. You're not visible in this light." I have a huge hi-vis road worker (actually, Network Rail) jacket on, Hermosa has hi-vis orange and yellow and streamers in her tail, and she has a huge hi-vis breastplate (okay, can't see that from behind, but that's what the tail thing is for). I looked at him a bit blankly and said, "Even with all this orange?" He said, "Yeah, in this light, you're invisible." I was like, "Okay, thanks for letting me know."
Because I am far too non-confrontational to say, "Dude, if you can't see this get-up at f**kin 3:30pm, then you should probably get your eyes checked."
