Coco, Jonesy, me and Mr Mustard met at our new favourite eatery, the New Atlas Cafe, for some lunch before setting off for another rewarding day's $chunting at ConAll Crescent.
We were joined later by Dan C and with 5 of us present there was little chance of anyone slipping through the human cordon we set up across the mouth of the road. This later resulted in one of my favourite $chunt moments ever, but I will come to that later.
There was a steady flow of potential victims all of whom were successfully guided away, with many of them clutching a small leaflet (expertly designed, printed and cut out by Mr Mustard, who informs me it took half a bottle of wine to do the cutting out bit
) that explains what many drivers don't seem to understand, i.e. the meaning of the low flying motorcycle signs. The leaflet is attached so that members can download it for use on future $chunts.
It is amazing to think that so many drivers don't understand these signs, but our experience at ConAll Crescent has brought it home that large numbers of them have either forgotten the meaning of the signs since they passed their driving tests, or possibly they managed to pass without ever having learned what they mean.
Other motorists fall into a different bracket when it is apparent that until we drew their attention to the signs, they had simply not seen them. I suspect that some of them are bluffing when they tell us they know what the signs mean, but we tend to spare their blushes by not pushing the point.
Now comes the good part.
Apart from the usual suspects including the school run mums (we were told yesterday that following one of our $chunts they set up a highly successful whatsapp campaign that had spread round the playgrounds like wildfire), we have successfully stopped many professional drivers from receiving tickets. Just yesterday we diverted our fourth driving instructor from ConAll. At least he was on his own though. One of them had actually told his pupil to drive round us, and it's still not clear which bracket (not seeing, or not understanding) he, or indeed any of the other four fell into.
And we have lost count how many taxi drivers (black cab and minicabs) we have saved.
So imagine our surprise when a Special Patrol Group (riot squad) van attempted to push through our human cordon, with the driver and passenger demanding to know why we were barring them from conducting their lawful business. The driver looked stunned when one of our number explained to his passenger what was happening, pointed the signs out to them and handed over a leaflet.
I was laughing so much that I didn't hear a word of the exchange between the driver, passenger and the Mob member (who may wish to enlighten us if he has a moment
). All I know is that it was a grateful driver who turned the wheel of the van in the direction of the A40.
Job's a good 'un!
Can't wait till next week's $chunt. Perhaps we will save a London Tribunals traffic adjudicator from getting a ticket?
P.s. Not one driver will receive a ticket as a result of our efforts yesterday.