Toot as much as you like, wee man

I was dropping my husband off at the airport sometime during the middle of the night.

Actually it was 6 in the morning but it felt like the day before, if you see what I mean.

Edinburgh Airport (where Scotland meets the world (apparently)) is like most airports in that they try to shaft every last penny from the poor traveller... although I have to say Edinburgh isn't as bad as Norwich Airport which actually charges you £10 to use security!

The particular charge I'm on about is the £1 you have to pay to drop someone off at the airport unless you want to dump them a mile and a half away.  Anyway, it doesn't seem like a lot and I always have my pound ready to throw into the coin bin.

This morning my pound was made up from a 50p piece, 2 20p pieces and a 10p.

The 50p went in fine, as did the 20p pieces but, OMG, my 10p was rejected!

I had to jump out of the car to pick up the 10p from the reject bin (which was nowhere near  where I could get at it easily) before trying again.

As I got out the guy behind revved his engine at me.

Why?

Did he think I was having my 10p rejected deliberately to naff him off?

So I asked him.  'Why are you revving your engine?'  Said I.  He just looked at me sheepishly and sort of waved apologetically.

Anyway, I found 2 5p pieces to replace my 10p and threw them in the bin... I think you can probably see where this is going.

Yes, they were rejected, too.

So it was out of the car, into the boot where my purse was to find more coins.

This time there was a toot of a horn.

My head snapped round... the guy behind who had revved his engine earlier smiled wanly at me and shrugged his shoulders.  His message was clear: 'It wasn't me love.  Have a go at someone else.'

So I did.

'You can toot as much as you like,' I shouted at the tooter.  Do you think I'm doing this on purpose?  Or maybe you'd like me to crash through the barrier so you can be out 10 seconds sooner.'

Don't get me wrong, I'm as impatient as the next person if, say, a driver has missed a traffic light turning green.  But, come on, tooting your horn for something that's not in my control?

A lesson for me there, too.  Impatience in work is fine.  There's a job to do and we have to get on with it.  But I'm not going to get frustrated at the wrong things.

Oh, and by the way, my second 10p, extracted from the depths of my purse worked fine.