Honk!

I know that every car comes with a horn. In the US I’ve even used the horn—but only on occasion. I used it mostly in San Angelo—I got tired of waiting while someone talked on their cell phone and the light was green OR waiting for that “mature” person to find to gas pedal (it’s on the right). But, only occasionally did I use the horn. I loved to hear the Mercedes horn—that was awesome and vintage.
Here in Riyadh honking the horn is part of life. I’ve been here six months now and have noticed that there are three types of honks—the “reminder”, irritation and mad.
The “reminder” is that—to remind the person that the light is green and it’s time to go—even the guy in the back honks (for some reason there’s a hesitation on going on green—not with me), to remind the person backing up not to hit you, that a person is gliding into your lane (they may not see the lines on the road and realize that there are only three lanes and not five), that you want to pass a person, etc.. The “reminder” is a nice gentle honk—or series of honks. No malice is meant—just little love taps.
The irritation is that—someone has irritated you and you want them to know. The driver came around the corner without looking (very common here), the person didn’t stop at the stop sign, the “Saudi sweep” happened (someone from the right lane decides they have to turn left and they “sweep” in front of the other cars going straight—lots of honking—very common), a driver changed lanes without using the signal (that depends on how close they cut you off). The irritation honk is longer—or may be a series of longer honks—it depends on the mood of the driver.
The mad honk—you know it. The horn is blasted for a long time. If the driver could up the volume he would. The mad honk isn’t a common occurrence but when it does occur—wow. The mad honk happens when someone in the left lane thinks you are going too slow and they want you out of the way (we’re going 120km and all the lanes are full—but I know you’re important). It can also happen when a car is backing up and not looking (just recently that happened to me—but nothing happened to my car). The mad honk could also happen when a car is zooming along and then cuts you off (I’ve heard some mad ones—and then the race is on). Again, the mad honk doesn’t happen often—but it does happen.
I used to not honk at all—it wasn’t polite. Then when Laurie and Timmie got here I honked all the time—as if I was now free to honk—forget politeness. I’ve toned down my honking—but I do honk. I wonder if I’ll honk when we come back and visit the US? Oh well—honk if you love Saudi—honk honk!