Thank You

A car driver said 'thank you' to me.   That doesn't happen very often.

I was biking home from work today, climbing a short steep hill, on a curve, on a moderately narrow lane constrained by curbs & gutters.  As urgent car drivers zoomed around me, I spotted this water valve cover sitting in the street.  It was about 8"/20cm in diameter, 5"/13cm tall, and heavy like cast iron.  If a small car rode over this, it could do some serious damage to the car.  And if the drivers saw it in time, and swerved to the side, they could do some serious damage to me.

So I stopped, got off the bike, and decided to put it back in its hole.

I crossed to the far side, stood poised on the curb, and waited for a break in the packs of lemming cars going by.  Within a minute, a driver figured out what I was going to do.  He slowed to a crawl and drove far to the side.  I darted out and reseated it.  He yelled 'Thank you'.  Very nice.

Too bad the lemming drivers behind him didn't know what I was doing, or didn't care, and glared at me over their cellphones.  :-)