Dear Editor,
I live in a cul-de-sac in the Waterworks area of St Andrew and as such there is only one way in and out of my road. I pride myself on being early for work most mornings, and make it a point of duty to leave my house by the latest 6:20 each morning. However, I am having issues with a group of joggers who park their vehicles at the end of my road, to jog around the Constant Spring/Norbrook Area.
It has become a habit for this group to 'socialise' at the end of the road while they cool down after their morning jog. Many mornings I have to be very careful in negotiating my way around them as they do not move out of the way until I am almost upon them, and even then, quite reluctantly.
One morning I had had enough of contending with the car doors left open, persons standing in the middle of the road, and the legs of those who sit on the sidewalk, splayed-out in the road, so I stopped and asked two members of the group, quite nicely, to ensure their safety and that of their vehicles (and mine) simply by closing their car doors and moving aside to give my vehicle enough room to pass .
Apparently my speaking to them was a problem. How dare I? After all, I'm not of their social 'ilk'. They were missing from the road for some time, but have since returned, except now, it seems like a game for them to impede my progress, judging by the smirks I see on their faces while passing.
I refuse to be bullied on a road that I have lived on for close to 45 years, when all I am trying to do is to get to work. Indeed, in all the years I have lived there, I have certainly never experienced anything like this.
I am not opposed to persons parking on the road, nor am I opposed to them socialising on the road. But I would think that self-preservation, if nothing else, would dictate that one gets out the way of an approaching vehicle. shudder to think about the kinds of trouble I would be in if, in negotiating my way through the narrow space left for my vehicle to pass, I should 'touch' one of their vehicles, and/or — God forbid — one of them.
I am merely asking for common courtesy to be extended and common sense to be displayed, after all, as a taxpayer. I, too, am entitled to safe passage along our roadways without obstacles or hindrances. But perhaps that is too much to ask.
My experience with this group is but one of the examples of thoughtlessness and selfishness that pervade our society. The general thinking, at all levels, from top to bottom is... "as long as I'm doing what I want to do, when I want to do it, and how I want to do it, I don't give a damn how my actions affect or impede others".
As a good friend once observed: "The level of disregard for simple order in our society is frightening and baffling. I guess only when we truly get a taste of the chaos that we are bringing upon ourselves will we realise that there's merit in living not just for yourself, but as a member of a civil society".
H R Campbell
Waterworks
St Andrew
Thoughtless and selfish joggers
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I live in a cul-de-sac in the Waterworks area of St Andrew and as such there is only one way in and out of my road. I pride myself on being early for work most mornings, and make it a point of duty to leave my house by the latest 6:20 each morning. However, I am having issues with a group of joggers who park their vehicles at the end of my road, to jog around the Constant Spring/Norbrook Area.
It has become a habit for this group to 'socialise' at the end of the road while they cool down after their morning jog. Many mornings I have to be very careful in negotiating my way around them as they do not move out of the way until I am almost upon them, and even then, quite reluctantly.
One morning I had had enough of contending with the car doors left open, persons standing in the middle of the road, and the legs of those who sit on the sidewalk, splayed-out in the road, so I stopped and asked two members of the group, quite nicely, to ensure their safety and that of their vehicles (and mine) simply by closing their car doors and moving aside to give my vehicle enough room to pass .
Apparently my speaking to them was a problem. How dare I? After all, I'm not of their social 'ilk'. They were missing from the road for some time, but have since returned, except now, it seems like a game for them to impede my progress, judging by the smirks I see on their faces while passing.
I refuse to be bullied on a road that I have lived on for close to 45 years, when all I am trying to do is to get to work. Indeed, in all the years I have lived there, I have certainly never experienced anything like this.
I am not opposed to persons parking on the road, nor am I opposed to them socialising on the road. But I would think that self-preservation, if nothing else, would dictate that one gets out the way of an approaching vehicle. shudder to think about the kinds of trouble I would be in if, in negotiating my way through the narrow space left for my vehicle to pass, I should 'touch' one of their vehicles, and/or — God forbid — one of them.
I am merely asking for common courtesy to be extended and common sense to be displayed, after all, as a taxpayer. I, too, am entitled to safe passage along our roadways without obstacles or hindrances. But perhaps that is too much to ask.
My experience with this group is but one of the examples of thoughtlessness and selfishness that pervade our society. The general thinking, at all levels, from top to bottom is... "as long as I'm doing what I want to do, when I want to do it, and how I want to do it, I don't give a damn how my actions affect or impede others".
As a good friend once observed: "The level of disregard for simple order in our society is frightening and baffling. I guess only when we truly get a taste of the chaos that we are bringing upon ourselves will we realise that there's merit in living not just for yourself, but as a member of a civil society".
H R Campbell
Waterworks
St Andrew
Thoughtless and selfish joggers
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