A new Aldi has opened up down the road from me. Although I have never really found Aldi to be the kind of place that I want to do my regular grocery shopping, I finally succumbed to curiosity and ventured down there for a little look. I had a half hour to fill in before picking Miss Nine up from school so a little drive to this new shop seemed like a good idea.
Inside, the Aldi store really was no different to any other Aldi store in Brisbane. Same stacked boxes opened with supposedly cheaper goodies, same unknown brands peeking out from said boxes. It's an interesting place but I'm still to be convinced of its grocery-shopping potential.
While inside the store, I noticed a few people. It wasn't full of people, but there were a few browsers and shoppers like me.
Afterwards, I headed out to the car and began the drive to pick Miss Nine up from school. I was quickly able to back the car out of the car park in pursuit of the only exit.
As I went to put the car into drive, I noticed an older gentleman slowly moving across the drive way in front of me. I did remember seeing him inside and so decided to stop the car in the middle of the road and wait for him to pass....the same courtesy I would given any pedestrians.
As he moved, however, I began to feel uneasy. Instead of making a straight path across the road, he walked at an angle towards my car......in effect, constantly blocking my driving path.
As he picked up pace and headed to the front left hand corner of my car, I started to become suspicious and without thinking, hit the door lock on my driver door. Thank goodness for central locking because this obviously locked all the doors in the car.
The man was now walking very closely down the left hand side of my car. It all happened so quickly but at this point I remember being afraid that if I moved forward, I would run over his foot. Within a split second, however, he was at the passenger-side door, grabbing the exterior handle and trying to open it.
It was then that I freaked, hit the accelerator and drove off. I saw the stranger turn and walk towards other parked cars and then I lost sight of him as I advanced further.
Now, I'm not saying that this man had any sinister intent. In fact, I think that he was either mentally impaired or just plain drunk (there is a tavern about half a kilometre down the road!). But the whole incident was scary enough to have my heart pumping in my chest. While I don't live in an area that is known for crime and while it was broad daylight, the whole incident was still unsettling.
When I told my husband, he asked why I didn't go to the police. Although I probably could have, the weirdness of the incident along with my belief that there was nothing the police could have done, stopped me. That, and the fact that I was running incredibly late to pick Miss Nine up by that stage. I believe that I passed the man in Aldi previously so did wonder if perhaps he - in whatever state he was in - had a case of mistaken identity.
But I did learn one thing - make sure that you lock your car doors cause you never know who might try to get in! Thank goodness that my mother always taught me that!
