Sitting outside a pub in Chelsea
Why on earth would you do that?
I had watched a bewildered young, ginger furred animal (not a rat) work its way along hedges until it ended up in the middle of the road, where it then stood stock still. Terrified probably.
I think perhaps you should qualify the term 'terrified' here. Do you have rather more detailed evidence that the creature was 'struck with terror'? In these situations, knee-jerk emotive ascription can be less than helpful.
There was a lot of traffic and I could see it was going to get squished.
Pure conjecture on your part. Evidence??
I went out and coaxed it back onto the pavement where it promptly disappeared into the bushes.
You rather lazily assume that its having returned to the pavement has a direct causal relationship with your attmepts at 'coaxing'. Any proof that such attempts on your part with gingery creatures has been effective in the past? No. I thought not.
I was roundly cursed in the most colourful and anatomical terms by a dear old London cabbie. Idiot !
Well, 'dear old', used in a manifestly ironic manner, may be taken as symptomatic of... ....
