Spatial awareness

 While taking my daily constitutional I was overtaken by a female driver. I accept that I'm walking down country lanes, but I have regularly seen large four by fours pass huge tractors, which always seem to come out in force on bank holidays to tow cow manure across three counties. Coming in the opposite direction was another lady driver. Although the road was wide enough to get a bus through sideways, neither of these women were prepared to take the risk of  passing  and a standoff ensued. As far as I'm aware no angry words were exchanged, just looks of helplessness, until one of the women  reversed  all the way back to the main road. I hope she didn't encounter another car on her second attempt to negotiate the lane as she could have been there all day.

This got me to thinking about spatial awareness. Two men would have passed without difficulty; no I'm not a chauvinist just a realist, but  a lot of women seem unable to judge the width of their vehicle. Now don't get me wrong my wife and both of my daughters are very good drivers, as many women are,  and I have to take some credit for that, or blame as the case may be, as I'm the one who taught them all to drive. In the wintertime however, when the car has  been parked in the garage due to inclement weather, I am the one designated to reverse the car out of the garage  in my carpet slippers and pyjamas, as my wife doesn't trust herself even though it was put in straight the night before and only needs to be reversed out in exactly the same way.

     A neighbour  recently went to the doctors and parked on the surgery car park. While she was in the process of receiving  medical consultation, cars parked on either side of her car and although she only had to reverse backwards, but after half an hour  the car was wedged diagonally across the parking space and she was forced to telephone her husband and ask him to catch the bus to the doctors to reverse the car.

     Spatial awareness is not the only problem women have, indecision is yet another. I hate going to the supermarket  when the car park is quiet, yes you heard me correctly, quiet. My wife will find a parking space and once in it she will see another one which she thinks is a  better one.  Four or five space changes later I am thinking park the bloody car, although I daren't actually say anything. If my wife reads this I will be sleeping in the spare room for a week, but she is not usually interested in anything  I have to say so I should be safe.