What is it with Polish drivers? Why is it that on a day where an endless series of non-events, description of which would only make one look like a whinger, such as a 6-year-old who goes into slow-motion mode when you’re running late, or appointment collisions, or the mother of all cold sores just in time for your performance at the recorder recital and your trip to the States, a cold sore so large that strangers stop and ask you, “What’s wrong with your face?” and don’t get it when you say, “my parents are first cousins” so you have to spell it out for them: “I swallowed a pin”, each with a frustration quotient approaching zero combine to contradict the rules of mathematics (0x0x0x0x0 not equalling a zero affect on your blood pressure, but rather have blood squirting out your tear ducts and your tail dropping off in agitation and you want to just rip yourself in half i.e. 0x0x0x0x0 equals something approaching infinity) you end up behind a semi with Polish plates fastidiously going the speed limit? What is he hauling, illegal toxic waste? Illegal immigrants? Going the speed limit in Austria, a country whose national driving motto is, “Fuck you, buddy” only makes you look suspicious.
And the Dobl
The US government on Polish roads:
http://travel.state.gov/poland.html
“Roads are generally narrow, badly lit, frequently under repair (especially in the summer months), and are often also used by pedestrians and animals.”
The Polish drivers you were stuck behind were probably driving quite recklessly in terms of Polish road conditions while keeping an eye out (perhaps literally) for things you might not expect in Austria. Things like the road disappearing.
And, as the old German (and Austrian?) jokes go, maybe a few of the Mercedes that sped past you were driven by Poles on the way to a quick sale across the border.
You know that day when I went shopping and witnessed that woman abandoning her cart in line then returning and reclaiming her spot? When I first walked into the store, I thought it was Polish day at K-Mart. In nearly every single aisle, I encountered someone speaking Polish (after the first few aisles I kept checking to make sure they were different people and not the same Pole following a similar shopping pattern). Is it possible that they all arrived there together by bus?