Rob
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Post by Rob on Aug 7, 2023 23:21:56 GMT
When I started out as a company car driver.... we had to do a defensive driving course. Mandatory.
On the day I had my only one (stopped to save money!) I was the only one with a manual car so I spent a few hours with a RoSPA driving instructor on my own. Some of what he taught me my excellent driving instructor had already - I did motorway lessons after I passed my test.
In fact something I was 'taught' on a motorway lesson was to remember cars behind.... and if you didn't know where they went... assume they were somewhere you couldn't now see them, e.g. in your blind spot.
It was before widespread speed cameras, but the same BSM instructor in 1994 that said when on the motorway always have an escape path/route. More limited in the outside lane. But if alongside an HGV or similar in the outside lane then floor it and risk speeding to avoid being boxed in.
I think I had a good BSM instructor. I had a good RoSPA instructor.
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Holidays!
Aug 10, 2023 14:15:27 GMT
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Post by dixinormus on Aug 10, 2023 14:15:27 GMT
Well, handed back the Bezza after 12 days and almost 1000 miles. It did the job. Not much fun navigating downtown KL using Googlemaps when the chosen route becomes a 6km long tunnel with no phone reception and a choice of exits…. The best laid plans…! Sigh!
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bpg
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Posts: 2,812
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Holidays!
Aug 10, 2023 16:27:45 GMT
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Post by bpg on Aug 10, 2023 16:27:45 GMT
Haha, I had that with Google maps coming back through the Gotthard tunnel, seeing the distance to empty clicking down while the distance to destination remains the same.
Having lost 40kms in the queue to get into the tunnel then a 17kms long tunnel starts the mental numbers gymnastics. Did a splash n dash at the services when we got out of the tunnel as the border at Basel was reporting delays. Thankfully, there's a back door into Germany with much less traffic on Friday afternoon.
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Holidays!
Aug 10, 2023 16:39:34 GMT
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Post by Humph on Aug 10, 2023 16:39:34 GMT
Take me with you, I can see…
😎
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Holidays!
Sept 5, 2023 9:23:39 GMT
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Post by Humph on Sept 5, 2023 9:23:39 GMT
How was Murca Al?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2023 9:32:51 GMT
Gosh darn, yeehaw and hooooch, ptoo, ding! (That's my new chewin' tobaccy habit in case you couldn't work it out)
I am now (more) broke (than ever before). It's bloody expensive. Damn that dollar exchange rate (thanks again, Tories and Brexit).
I went to a shop with a sign over the door saying "Whiskey Guns Ammo", so I think I got the full US experience.
Noo Yoik is amazing, and Vermont was as beautiful and peaceful as you'd imagine. I now have a horrible cold (bloody filthy people in bloody filthy airports, grrrr).
Did I mention it's expensive? 'Cos it's bloody expensive. Especially with 2 food-obsessed teenagers in tow.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2023 11:10:22 GMT
Oh, forgot to say, whilst central New York City, i.e. Manhattan, is lovely, the periphery is falling to absolute pieces all over the place, and that extends to "upstate" New York as well. The roads are in absolutely shocking condition, whilst also costing an arm and a leg to drive on in tolls. No wonder everyone drives massive SUVs. Once out and into Vermont though, the roads are in far better fettle, in fact they were superb. We also went through New Hampshire (Live Free or DIE), Massachusetts and Connectitcut which were also far better then New York State. On the way back it was immediately noticeable once we'd crossed the state line - the road surfaces deteriorated immediately. The outer reached of NYC (we crossed through parts of The Bronx and Queens to get to JFK from the north east) were particularly bad.
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Holidays!
Sept 5, 2023 12:17:06 GMT
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Post by Humph on Sept 5, 2023 12:17:06 GMT
I once, got talking to Tony Curtis at the gloves counter in Bergdorf Goodman in NY as we both tried on a few and separately bought a pair each one cold February day. Pleasant sort of chap actually.
Apologies for the Giles Brandreth style intervention. As you were etc.
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Holidays!
Sept 5, 2023 12:30:18 GMT
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Post by Humph on Sept 5, 2023 12:30:18 GMT
I once, got talking to Tony Curtis at the gloves counter in Bergdorf Goodman in NY as we both tried on a few and separately bought a pair each one cold February day. Pleasant sort of chap actually. Apologies for the Giles Brandreth style intervention. As you were etc. Edit- I still have the gloves as it happens, in fact, appropriately enough, they are in my glovebox. Pretty worn out now. I don’t suppose my mate Tony still has his, being dead and so on. |
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bpg
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Holidays!
Sept 5, 2023 13:04:52 GMT
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Post by bpg on Sept 5, 2023 13:04:52 GMT
As none of us know where we're headed next maybe he took his gloves with him. Hell could well freeze over.
Plan for the worst hope for the best kind of thing.
*I'm not suggesting Tony Curtis is in hell or was a bad person.
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Holidays!
Sept 5, 2023 18:17:46 GMT
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Post by Humph on Sept 5, 2023 18:17:46 GMT
Talking of temperatures, 26C in NI today and not raining. It’s all too weird.
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Post by EspadaIII on Oct 8, 2023 5:30:49 GMT
What had been a very pleasant holiday has now turned into something much more sombre. We are about 80+ miles from Gaza but the roads are quiet and there are very few people walking the streets.
We were due to visit Jerusalem today and also to celebrate two weddings this week before we came home, one of which was at the largest kibbutz next to the Gaza border. That has certainly been canceled and it's doubtful if the other one will go ahead as originally planned if at all.
Staying safe..
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Oct 8, 2023 6:53:51 GMT
Must be very distressing, Esp. Hoping you’re OK.
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Post by Humph on Oct 8, 2023 7:22:26 GMT
Yes, keep safe Esp.
Humankind never fails to disappoint, you’d think we might have evolved enough by now to be able to resolve differences without slaughtering each other.
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Post by EspadaIII on Oct 8, 2023 8:08:48 GMT
We are fine. Other than the quiet, it feels very normal. Some people are moving out of an apartment in my block as I type this and the new people are arriving shortly. Espadrille has gone grocery shopping with her mum. We were meant to be celebrating her 80th Birthday today at a restaurant called the Whisk(e)y Museum in Tel Aviv but that is cancelled.
The action is all down south and unfortunately a lot of innocent people on both sides will die prematurely today. I may have written this before... The period from 1945 to about 2000 was a golden age of European history. For the previous 2000 years or more, most of Europe experienced war either directly or via passing armies kidnapping men to fight. It was an existential hazard that we in the UK were fortunate not to experience in the same way, certainly since the 1700s.
We seem to be back to that level of constant threat either by the chasm that has opened between ultra right and ultra left and exacerbated by Twitter etc, or by the similarly divisive rhetoric between extremeties of religion; either within the same religion or between different religions. It is very sad but there is no obvious solution.
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