19 November 2014

Oops!

So there I was in "The Hammer and Pincers", with my mate Mick attempting the Tuesday night quiz. We were sitting at a little table in an offshot area opposite the bar. Close behind me was another table where three or four thirty something men were socialising and beyond them another table with another bunch of thirty something men. We have been irritated by that little gang before - too loud, their laughter too false and schoolboyish as if they own the pub.

Mick and I were drinking our beer and chatting when suddenly and unexpectedly my chair was nudged forward - causing me to spill a little ale from my pint glass. It was one of the lads from The Irritators. Instead of going the very slightly longer way round back to his table he had just pushed his way through a tiny gap.

But now we come to the key reason for this blogpost. I was so instantly annoyed by the incident that without thinking or measuring my words at all, I just blasted out at this fellow, "At least say excuse me you ignorant bastard!" Oh dear! Some words are best kept inside our heads. Fortunately, the target of my unbridled blast of annoyance was clearly a wimpish fellow - probably a solicitor, a plumber or a university lecturer - something like that. There are many men who would take great exception to being called an "ignorant bastard" even when they have just acted in the manner of such a creature. He just grinned sheepishly and went back to his gang.

So I got away with that one. No bar room brawl or bloody nose. No police statement or hospital visit. It's funny isn't it. So often we journey carefully through life, often curbing our innermost thoughts and avoiding any shooting from the hip - but occasionally when all is said and done immediate  and instant reactions are sometimes the most honest kind.

21 comments:

  1. I am used to it I always open my mouth with my brain in neutral.

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    1. I find that hard to believe Adrian as you come across as a calm and cultured gentleman with impeccable manners.

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    2. My gob is for ever getting me in bother. I was sent off whilst playing rugby. Several times but the memorable instance was for swearing at a fellow team member. I know not to swear or express any emotion when it could be construed to be directed towards the referee. Soccer players could learn from rugby lads. We know our place and the penalty just keeps moving nearer for even a smile or a gesture. Must be much worse nowadays when the ref is wired for sound.

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  2. I think it would do some loud solicitors and university lecturers (not sure about the plumbers) good to be told the truth once in a while. So go ahead and yell at the Inconsiderate Irritators. On behalf of all us polite people who would have walked round the long way!

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    1. Morning AJ - I stuck plumbers into the wimpish category as they are clearly unreliable and fail to keep their promises. I am sorry if you happen to be a plumber. Please post photo of yourself in overalls with a blow torch and a wrench.

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  3. Better out than in, as they say in Yorkshire. I always want to have the cojones to do something like that YP, so good for you!

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    1. PS: Did you and Mick win the quiz?

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    2. Cojones? I doubt that you will ever acquire them Molly though it is amazing what they can do with drugs these days. No we didn't win the quiz but I did guess which TV quiz programme was originally to be called "Climb the Mountain".

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  4. The trouble these days is that there are far too many idiots out there keenly looking for trouble. You were lucky he wasn't one of them....he was just a rude little wimp! Ignorance and bad manners are far too prevalent these days.

    You're not alone, though, Yorky...I probably would've blurted out similar if it had happened to me, too! So high five to you and I'm glad you got away with it unscathed. :)

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    1. High five back to you too Lee! Somehow I couldn't imagine you being Miss Mousey, blushing and tittering into the corner of your floral handkerchief.

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  5. It is all those years of not being able to blurt out the very same thing to all those kids you taught ~ bottled up! Onya Hulk!

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    1. Yes. Teachers have to be expert in bottling up what they really feel or there would be hundreds of sackings every day. That bottling up cannot be good for one's health - like shaking up a bottle of soda water.

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  6. Tsk, tsk. If you don't keep it in, you're just about in the same Rudeness Club as Mr.-too-dumb-to-be-polite-and-go-round. Well, perhaps you'll do a better job next time ;-) (Did I just qualify, too, for not keeping my yap shut?) Funny place, blogland.....

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    1. Maybe that is exactly why I blogged about this event HillyTop - feeling ever so slightly guilty.

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  7. You'll find this becomes easier as you get older and there are fewer reasons to live a long life.

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    1. Perhaps I should enrol on the "Call a Spade a Spade" masters course run by Professor J. Blawat of Sloughhouse University.

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  8. But did the "ignorant bastard" apologize????

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    1. No Mary. He just stood there for a moment looking non-plussed and tongue-tied.

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  9. Most of the time, people who appear rude are simply acting thoughtlessly - he probably thought himself slim enough to squeeze through the tiny gap behind you and never expected you to spill your drink because of him. But it is exactly that Not-thinking-for-five-pennies attitude in people that I most struggle with. Whereever I am (train station, supermarket, canteen, fair trade...) there are those who know exactly what they are doing, and those who are completely lost in time and space, blocking up alleyways, forcing others to get off the pavement because of them, missing traings because they don't shift on the stairs, and so on. I could go on and on and on about these, but don't want to abuse the comment space on your blog for it more than I've already done.

    By the way, my team and I have been to the pub quiz on Tuesday night as well. We were in a tie for third place with four other teams but didn't win the tie question. It was: What percentage voted "no" in the referendum for an independant Catalunya?

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  10. A lucky escape indeed. You may not be so lucky next time !

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  11. I'm glad that you are feeling ever so guilty YP. Such an outburst puts you in the same category as the subject of your ire if, indeed, he was not actually just trying to squeeze through a space he thought he could manage. Something you, of course, being the patient model of perfection that you are would never have attempted. And thus wars are started.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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