Yes, I discovered they're here too. I was crossing the street to get back to my building this afternoon, and because cars won't stop for pedestrians to cross, I crossed one direction of traffic and was standing in the middle of the road waiting for the other direction of car to pass. This might sound stupid but it's not uncommon here. As the truck passed behind me, the asshole leaned out the window and slapped the door of the truck and screamed at me, to scare me. Of course I flipped him the bird. That was totally uncalled for- he had plenty of room to pass, and I had plenty of time to walk in front of him. Sadly, this is not uncommon. Bicyclists get run off the road with what seems like regularity. My sister saw an old lady run down in a crosswalk. This sort of carelesness is a surprise to me, because comming from the US, most everyone is scared into submission. I mean, the US has the greatest rate of incarceration in the world.
Which is worse? I think I can put up with the harassment, provided no one pulls over to beat the crap out of me for giving them the finger. This actually happened to me in Fargo, ND, when I was on my bicycle. I wasn't hurt badly, but my bike got messed up. This psycho who assaulted me had his wife and kids in the car, and they said nothing- probably because he abused them, like he was trying to do to me. Too bad for him, an off-duty cop saw the whole thing and called an on-duty cop. Hell yes I pressed charges and he threatened his judge prior to hearing. He got put in the mental hospital.
Now that I am reminded of that event, I recall that my sister Barb was also assaulted on her bicycle. Her assailant was a JUDGE !!! who was offended by her not stopping at stop signs.
I guess this is no different from the rest of the world. I should probably quit whinging, as I know life is a lot worse in some countries. Hey, I didn't have genital mutilation and get forced into marriage/slavery! Life is good.
