Was travelling back home from a meeting in Utrecht today and decided to use the occasion to give the zed its' weekly exercise run. So I'm on a 2 lane dual carriageway leading back into Vleuten, 50km/h speed limit. 4 or 5 sets of traffic lights separated by 0.5 km or so at each set.
I'm in lane 2, another car with a learner beacon on top of it is in lane 1.
1st set of lights we're standing at eventually turn green and we both set off at roughly similar speeds, well under the speed limit as we know we both have to slow down again as the lights ahead are on red.
A black Mercedes C class appears behind us in lane 1 behind the learner. He's revving the engine and it's obv an AMG or some souped up version because of the brapping from the exhaust overrun. Fair enough mate, make your presence known, new toy is it? I think to myself as I look in the mirror.
Lights turn green and we're off. The next set of lights is already on red and we can probably all see that so I and the learner are dawdling towards them and this has obviously pissed off Mr Merc as he's speeding up behind the learner then slowing down again quite aggressively. Again, more engine revving from the Merc, lights turn green and we're off again only for the next set to turn red. 's**t' I think to myself as the Merc pulls behind me and lurches forward and I really thought he was going to smack into my back bumper. Lights quickly turn green and we all set off. The learner in lane 1 has pulled forward ahead of me slightly opening up a gap, the merc sees the opportunity and undertakes me almost taking off my front wing and if I hadn't have take evasive action he would have also caused serious damage to his own car.
What do you know but the next set of lights are on red and both I and the learner have caught up. Still in lane 2 I pull up along side the merc to be met with a torrent of abuse for not getting out of his way. I respond by asking him why he's 'racing towards a f*cking red light?' to which he responded by launching into a full-on and very intimidating tirade of name calling and threats. He's obviously a tad irritated at being held up by dozy drivers and red lights and I really ought to have known better perhaps.
But that's not the worst bit. As I notice he's obviously of sub-human standard (or at least of limited education/intelligence/upbringing) by virtue of the vest he's wearing showing the tattoos, the gold chain around his neck, the gangsta haircut, the gold tooth, he flashes what I can only assume was a pistol. He's not holding it by the grip but by the barrel and not pointing it at me but waving it around inside his car while simultaneously pontificating 'You think you're focking mafia, you follow me into next road, I show you who mafia' (he's a dutchie but he's speaking in broken english so i should at least give him credit for that
)This you can imagine left me quite unnerved and not a little shocked.
I've never experienced anything as violent or intimidating - even the scraps I used to get into around the bars in Liverpool during a misspent youth pale into insignificance.
What a shame. The illusion of the nice, easygoing, friendly little country I've adopted as my home has been shattered into a million pieces, to an incident happening practically on my doorstep. Really hard to accept and has left me wondering if owning an idiot magnet that the zed has made me think it is from time to time is really worth it?
More serious is the quandary of whether to report the incident to the police. There was obviously a weapon involved and whether fake or real, was used to very intimidating effect. I can also only remember the 3 letters in the middle of his dutch reg number.
On the one hand here's a neanderthal who thinks it's acceptable to drive like a dick and wave a gun in peoples faces. On the other, no damage was done and no-one got a 'cap busted in their ass'
What would you do? Friends are telling me to report it but I'm thinking of the potential consequences - they could be less beneficial to me than to others I think.
Sorry for the ramble. Just felt I had to vent.
