Walking regularly with Flossie gives me the perfect opportunity to witness people’s driving styles.
It’s interesting to observe the etiquette when cars need to pass us when there is no pavement and we are forced to walk on the road.
I always walk between Flossie and the traffic. Some vehicles zoom past, barely noticing that we are there. Occasionally, I step out and make myself obvious, if we’re on a bend. Usually, I flatten myself and Flossie into the hedge.
Once, a car mirror clipped my sleeve. The driver seemed oblivious.
At the other end of the spectrum, are the ultra cautious drivers. They slow right down, to match our pace, and move across to the other side of the road.
It’s thoughtful, of course, and I wave my thanks, but I find it rather awkward as we creep along together at the speed of an elderly snail.
Then there are the regulars. The farmer with the bushy beard who gives me a cheery thumbs up as he carefully drives his tractor by, the friendly woman who lowers her window to say that she hopes I recognise her in her new car and that I will still wave, and the elderly man in the smart red car who nods and smiles almost every day.
And there are the drivers that I will never forget. The hearse that patiently waited behind us while Flossie did an urgent poo, and the truck that was parked sideways across the road whose occupant asked his entire team of tree surgeons to down tools while he helped Flossie and I clamber over several felled tree trunks.
And, just the other day, the van that sped past so close that I had to fold myself and Flossie into a blackberry bush.
As I did so, my hat was plucked from my head by an overhanging bramble and tossed to the ground.
I sniggered as I caught the eye of the driver in the car behind the van.
It’s glamorous stuff, this dog walking.
As published in the Bath Chronicle, 23 October 2025
Suzy Pope is a certified copywriter and newspaper columnist specialising in pets, business and lifestyle. If you would like help with a writing project, please get in touch.