Have you ever sat in traffic for what seems like an eternity, at a moment when you can least spare the time? Maybe you got caught in a counterflow of traffic after dropping the weans off during rush hour? Were you queueing for ages to get out of the car park which cost you an arm and a leg because it was handy for the venue and she didn’t want to walk in her new cowboy boots (that were cutting the feet off her)? Ah no… you didn’t have to sit for longer than the Garth Brooks concert you splurged on in an excess of goodwill after one too many, did you? When will you ever learn!

What did it feel like, sitting at the roundabout with the traffic whizzing past that morning, until you began breaking into a sweat worrying about getting parked, through security and to the waiting area on time? Well, when I say waiting area, stairwell if you are on what is laughingly called a ‘value fare’ these days (you know what I mean, right)? We’ve all been there!

Have you ever really given queueing in traffic a thought between breaking into the flow (due to a break in traffic or an unselfish motorist) and being caught in the same predicament the next time? Not really? Well, I sure have! Let me share my thoughts with you, for what they are worth. I’ll begin with my conclusion – all this is down to a lack of etiquette. When I say etiquette, I really mean good old-fashioned manners. Give and take, putting yourself in the other’s shoes, doing a good turn. In French, etiquette literally means, ‘ticket’ or ‘label’.

It’s not an issue until it’s missing. What’s more, you don’t realise it’s missing until you find your pulse racing and some lunatic near you shouting at other drivers in exasperation. (Wait! That’s actually you shouting).

Think about it. The lack of a label gives rise to another needless queueing scenario when the cashier has to go to the rail to check the other labels, look it up on the computer, or worse still … go in search of what is rarer than hens’ teeth; ‘a manager’! Life really is just too short to queue, you may say to yourself between gritted teeth. However, the fact is, we want the goods and we want to get where we’re going. Pronto.

So, by way of conclusion, and possibly a solution to the matter in hand, we ourselves can fill the interminable vacuum left by the absence of etiquette by staying calm, level-headed and being the generous driver who lets the other out, so we can all keep rolling. After all, nature abhors a vacuum and it’s ourselves who will inevitably fall in and get swallowed up by our irritation, racing pulse, soaring blood pressure and Lord help us, road rage. You know it!