does it pay to be nice?

I like to think that I am a “nice” man.  I am polite, courteous and just, well, nice.

But is all that about to stop?  Well, part of it anyway.

I drive an Audi. A newish one.  That makes me, in the mind’s eye of other motorists, an aggressive, selfish, maniac of a driver.  So, imagine their surprise when I kindly let someone into a gap in the traffic?  It’s something I’ve always done.  After all, who likes waiting endlessly at a junction while someone else in another Audi or BMW or Mercedes blocks their path?

Last Thursday, as the weather was lovely, I took my freshly polished and waxed TT out of its garage and for a short run up to the Brecon Beacons.  As is my normal procedure, at one point in the journey I slowed to allow another car out at a junction.  Nice, see?

But 15 seconds later, a truck coming the other way kicked up a stone which met violently with my windscreen causing a nasty looking crack / scratch which will probably need treatment to avoid developing into something much worse and eventually a new windscreen.

So, I questioned my actions; as if I hadn’t politely let the chap in a Vauxhall Astra out into the traffic I wouldn’t now be looking for the telephone number of an automotive glass company to come and fix my car.

Would I?

My car - before the windscreen was "assaulted"