I had to head over to Olhao today to see how the renovations on the house are progressing – more on that tomorrow I think!
On the way back, I had both the van’s windows open and ‘The Presidents of the USA’ playing full blast (they must have been on something when they wrote ‘Peaches’!).
I was enjoying the drive, even though I had a few things on my mind: renovations, the virus, money – the usual! Anyway, I was enjoying the drive.
I came to the roundabout near the Marim Industrial Estate, took a right and headed for Fuseta on the 125.
Just past the roundabout is a turning that heads to Quelfes, and as I approached it, I noticed a bloke on a bike of some sort, waiting to turn onto the 125, waiting to go in the same direction as me.
The reason I noticed him? He was wearing a bright, neon orange t-shirt. I saw him but I had no idea what he was riding.
Was it a bicycle? A moped? A scooter? A motorbike?
Who knows?
It sat low to the ground but didn’t look too substantial. Initially, I wasn’t even sure it had an engine. Then I saw a big cloud of exhaust come out of the back and heard a high-pitched squeal as he revved it.
Blimey!
Even as I passed him I still had no idea what he was riding. It was low, it was small, and it looked well-dodgy – but it didn’t half move!
In my wing mirror, I could see the guy pull out onto the 125. Not a slow, gentle pull out, no. He came out like a rocket, followed by another huge cloud of exhaust!
I glanced at the road ahead and then checked my wing mirror again.
There he was, bent over the handlebars, his neon orange t-shirt billowing up his back, gaining on me at a fast rate of knots.
He came up behind me but didn’t slow down. He simply pulled out into the oncoming traffic.
As he passed me, I glanced at him. He was wearing an open-face helmet and I could see that his eyes were alight and there was a massive grin on his face. He didn’t even notice me; he was just so wrapped up in pushing his bike to the limit. He was loving it!
He passed me, accelerated towards the car in front and pulled into the oncoming traffic once again, managing to swerve back onto the correct side of the road just before a car coming the other way smashed him to smithereens!
I watched him continue up the road in the same vein.
I envied him, I worried about his safety, but I also thought: ‘What a twat! He must have a death wish!’
I turned my attention back to the queue of cars in front of me, and all of a sudden, it wasn’t just him overtaking. He’d started a trend!
One by one, cars were pulling out and overtaking something up ahead. A couple of cars forced the oncoming traffic to swerve out of the way.
It was mayhem! What the hell was going on?
And then it was my turn, and I found myself stuck behind a small, black Smart car, apparently the cause of the mayhem
As I came up behind it, I could see that it was weaving a bit. One moment it was virtually in the gutter, the next it was wandering across the median line. One moment it was doing 30 km/h, the next it was doing 70 km/h.
Mmmm… I’ve noticed a trend for people to come to Fuseta, have a drink and then drive home. Maybe this one had started early?
I obviously couldn’t be sure, but that was the way it looked to me, so I hung back. I had no intention of overtaking this Smart car – I didn’t think the driver was actually so smart.
Sure enough, as we approached the turning for Fuseta, the car took the turning without indicating. No surprise there.
I followed it towards the front, reducing my speed to 20 km/h simply to avoid smashing into the back of it. At one point I thought I could have walked quicker!
As we reached the ‘fisherman’ roundabout down near Café dos Mestres, the Smart car took a right towards the three bars that sat there. I took a left towards home.
I really hoped that I was wrong about the drink-driving, that the person in charge of the car was simply a very bad driver, but if I had to make a guess…
At least the guy in the neon orange t-shirt managed to avoid him and continue on his way. The last I saw of the bloke on the bike, he was screaming away into the distance, disappearing around a corner, his shirt still billowing.
It must have been an exhilarating ride – mad, but exhilarating!
My drive was a little less exciting, but just as worrying…