Who would drive a (black) Range Rover?

This is a bit of a departure from my normal blog posts but please bear with me.  Besides, if you're a runner yourself this might strike a chord.

Through my running and cycling I have encountered a few Range Rovers and have learnt to be wary of them.    Especially black ones.  Especially black ones with black windows.  They don't seem to drive in a normal way where everyone blends in and co-operates with each other.  Not so with Range Rovers.  No.  Not at all.

Who drives a Range Rover?

Here in the East of England with occasional trips into London, I often see these machines and wonder who drives them.  The blacked out windows are there for a reason, perhaps?  Who could be behind....

• drug dealers
• celebrities
• "new money" people (i.e. Lottery winners)
• Royal protection officers / other Government vehicles
• hit men
• (from summer 2013) our friend Dave.  He's none of the above, that we know of.  Instead he's really nice and he helps us out with our various computer problems.

How they drive

Normally they are mean drivers.  Almost as if they are wanting some kind of pecking order on the roads in the hope that their huge heavy size counts for something.  Or perhaps the menacing look, the mysterious blacked out windows, the powerful engine, the ridiculous fuel consumption and obscene purchase price.  Would you believe some people pay well over £50,000 for these things?  I should think the four tyres would be worth more than my whole car.

They drive too close, don't give much room when over-taking, tend to be impatient, almost pushing others off the road, being unforgiving and generally having an intimidating driving style.  

How I react

When I'm in my little Toyota and have one of these things behind me on a country lane trying to nudge me out of the way, I deliberately carry on bumbling along.  I keep that up for quite some time until I imagine their annoyance is rising and then, in order to avoid the driver becoming too aggressive I might pull over in order to avoid them taking it out on someone else (like a runner or a cyclist).

And then the other day.....

I was out running the other day along a country lane.  It was a fairly narrow lane and as I heard a vehicle coming from behind I took a look.  Seeing as it was one of these Black Range Rovers, I naturally jumped up onto a grassy bank to let it pass by.  I was amazed at how carefully the Range Rover had slowed down and courteously avoided me.  Even more so when I realised it was driven by an ordinary looking young woman who gave me the sweetest smile and a little wave.

That made me smile as well.  An obscene, ridiculous car driven by a nice pleasant looking person, not a stuck up tough-guy on bling wheels.  Had I been maligning Range Rover drivers all along?  Are they all decent people driving tasteful, impressively purposeful cars bought with their small change?  No of course not.

But there is at least one decent Range Rover driver out there.  Unless you know different.....