This amusing sticker used to be on the back window of a van in Canberra. I always thought it was a clever play on words but I want to recount an example of when I was privileged to see karma at work, up close and personal and it was even funnier than this sticker.
Several weekends ago, Paul and I attempted the Lakes Way ride. As already noted, it didn’t quite work out…
But it was an incident that happened on the way home from this ride that is the subject of my article today. Not long after negotiating the Ten Mile on the Putty Road ((heading south) [since we are no longer Imperial, I’d like to know if the name has stuck or if the entertaining set of wiggles we all know and love has been given another name?] we came upon some roadworks, controlled by a remote set of traffic lights. There were three cars queued up behind the red, the first one being a beat-up looking old 1970’s Datsun ute, old alloy tray and looking like a likely candidate for the scrappper.
I filtered to the front of the queue; Paul stayed behind, reasoning, as he later said, that he could pass the cars at any time so why bother. The light went green and we proceeded on. Some way down the track I looked in my mirror and I could see Paul leap-frogging the cars. BUT I could also see the Datsun ute about a metre or so behind me with the driver obviously swearing and shaking his fist at me. Oh, well, we could get away so I didn’t worry too much although he was dangerously close. Just then Paul passed the ute AND me and tucked in in front of me. On the next big straight, the buffoon in the ute came howling past, at 120+, pulled in front of me and brake–tested me.
Now the ute was scarcely roadworthy so when he jumped on the brakes, the rear wheels locked up and the vehicle lurched sideways towards the bush on the left hand side of the road. I just dropped back a couple of gears and took off while he sorted himself out. A bit later I noticed that he was back. I tapped the side of my helmet to indicate he should be thinking a bit but the twisties came up and we pulled well ahead.
When we pulled in to Grey Gums, we parked on the concrete parking spot for the bikes and started getting our helmets off and, what do you know, the ute pulls into the car park, backs into place just around the corner from the bike park and a bearded, toothless example of almost-humanity storms out of the ute and heads over to where we are, hurling abuse and looking for a fight. Now, like Chief Roaring Chicken, from “F” Troop, I’m a lover not a fighter so I ignored that and just kept on urging him not to spoil his day or ours but just to get back in his car and get going to where he was going. “I don’t have to go anywhere,” he yelled, “I live here.” Quite what relevance that had, I had no idea, but the scene continued to become more tense despite the fact that we were doing our best to settle him down.
In the mean time, there were some interested spectators. The first was his missus who had the passenger side door of the ute open and who was looking backwards to see what was happening. Sitting under one of the shade structures, behind our attacker, was a group of 8 motorcyclists having some coffee. They too were watching. Toothless then suggested that he’d fight both of us but I suggested that, given there were 8 other motorcyclists present who would undoubtedly side with US, that wasn’t a good idea, either. He then stepped right up to the pole dividing the bike parking from the eating area and tried to pick a fight with Paul. Paul’s response was the same, “Look, mate, shut up and leave us alone.”
“Tell me to shut up one more time and I’ll hit you,” was the reply. Here I thought Paul was a bit unwise but it was his call. “OK,” he said, “Shut up and go away.” Of course, like most bullies, Toothless was all talk and the hit never came. He stepped over the pole and stood right in front of Paul but he didn’t do anything.
NOW…while all this was happening, two people got up from the table of 8 and sauntered over to where we were involved with Toothless. One was a big guy, 6’4″ and BUILT. But, leading the charge was a lady’ also tall and very fit-looking. As they were behind Toothless, he didn’t see them until they were right there.
“HEY,” the lady yelled out. He turned around and then turned back to his “fight”. “HEY,” the lady said again, only louder, “GET OVER HERE NOW!” And, as she was saying this, she produced her wallet from her back pocket and flashed her police badge about 4″ from Toothless’s face! Deer in the headlights. His face went ashen white and his eyes were as big as dinner plates! “Get in your car and get out of here, NOW,” the off-duty lady police officer hissed at him. Needles to say he complied in record time.
Later it turned out that all EIGHT of the people at the table were off-duty police officers but to see this fool humiliated by a woman in front of his wife and the other witnesses was gold, absolute gold. We thanked them, of course, and the lady said, “You guys were doing absolutely the right thing, you were trying to pacify him, but we took the view that that wasn’t going to happen so we decided to step in.”
So the police have his own admission that he is a local, they have his number plate and the fact that, as he pulled away, one of them remarked that his stop lights weren’t working. He is surely a marked man now.
I would like to record here and now that I really like karma!
sesblocker says
I LOVE KARMA!
I had a good belly laugh Phil.
Phil Hall says
We DID laugh!!
dunc says
sounds like he was not a motorcycle friendly person
glad it got sorted out without any problems
ya never know where the cops are
Phil Hall says
I don’t think he was a PERSON-friendly person!! The old saying, you never find a cop when you need one did NOT apply here!