Sunday 4 November 2007

Dogfight on Ellon Road

To escape from my pc, i decided to head down to the beach to get some relaxing night shots of the city light, sea and moon. Grabbing camera bag, tripod and cold weather gear, i set off. Except that the Cooncil has coned off part of the beachfront 24hrs before tomorrow's fireworks display. My car is now headed out of town and streams of traffic speeding 30plus means i can't cross the unofficial dual-carriageway to park on the northern section. I finally manage to get across to park up by the Donmouth nature reserve. A couple of snaps taken.

Facing out of town with no hope of turning, i decide to head up to Peterhead and get some nightshots there. I forgot how offensive some of the drivers were. Yellow VW beetle on my tail flashing their beams, putting on their left indicators as i'm doing only 60 in a 60 zone. When we got to the Ellon bypass, i slowed down on to dual-carriageway as we came to the roundabout, to give them the opportunity to overtake and pulled into the same lane as them for Peterhead. Now behind them, a burst of .303" would have sent Fritz into the Drink, but i was just in my car and not flying a Hurricane. So i just kept up with the VW, decided not to be a git and watched as they kept accelerating beyond the speed limit. Then to be overtaken by a speeding peoplecarrier, and blinded by an oncoming vehicle who didn't bother dipping their lights.

So, i'm at the Lido car park in Peterhead, looking at lights reflecting on the water, and quite frankly, i can't be @rsed. I used to drive this road regularly for work, and a good day was one when i could get back to Aberdeen without almost dying. I even got as far as categorising the near death experiences. I heard that every fatal crash costs the country a million quid. I doubt that's correct, but i've seen road closures and diversions because of crashes. I have vague memories that last year the number of road fatalities in the police district was twice the forecast. From what i've seen tonight, i have little intention in ever driving the a90 again unless i have to. If the driving is still that bad at Sunday teatime, it must be worse when people have work to in to.



Toodle pip, old bean, best take the old crate back to base. Smoke me a kipper, i'll be back for breakfast.

0 comments: