"You are an idealist. I pity you like I would pity the village idiot."

- Gen. George Broulard (Adophe Menjou) to Col. Dax (Kirk Douglas)

In this scene from the classic 1957 Stanley Kubrick film about the aftermath of a First World War French military debacle, Broulard blasts Dax for turning down a promotion to general.

Broulard thought Dax's efforts to defend three men scapegoated for the botched attack and to nail a general who wanted his own troops shelled were just part of manoeuvring for a promotion. :)

Here's a Wikipedia page on the film and a collection of reviews at Rottentomatoes.com.

I'm taking the Ossington bus south. It has to turn left onto King Street, but its progress is blocked by an illegally parked Volvo XC90 SUV.

Said SUV was parked to make for the shortest possible line between the vehicle and the Starbucks at Shaw and King.

Its well-coiffed, sleekly-dressed driver came back out of the coffee joint, beverage in hand, and sashayed back to her vehicle. The bus driver opened his door and gave her a verbal blast. "Sorry," she said -- in a quiet, flat tone that suggested she was anything but.

"You drive a Volvo and you think you can park anywhere you want," muttered the still-steamed driver as he pulled into the stop.

Now, this Davisville princess could have easily parked legally and not inconvenienced anyone, but at the cost of adding 10 or 15 seconds to her walk from her $65,000 (base price) vehicle into the Starbucks.

I have many flaws, but after this incident, I'm thinking a major self-improvement project should be developing a greater sense of entitlement.

OTOH, maybe the princess has some type of medical condition where if she doesn't keep up her caffeine levels, she can go into a coma. In that case, I'd be getting snarky about someone who was really trying to avoid a medical emergency. But I suspect that's not the case.

Addendum

I shouldn't forget acknowledging her male, high-end-SUV-driving counterpart from the previous evening who showed great arm-waving annoyance when the Queen streetcar operator honked him into stopping so that passengers could exit and enter the streetcar in safety.

It cost Mr. In-A-Hurry 10 seconds out of his life!

And finally, a shout-out to all the cyclists who like to blow through red lights. Please don't whine when ultimately, your aggressive riding catches up with you.