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And today's grump is....


Bullbasket

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I live on a road which, although it's out in the country, is busy because a couple of kliks past my front gate there is a large rare-earths mine. There is traffic going to and from the mine at all hours every day of the week. Some of it is BIG - trucks of more than 35 tonnes - and it's all going like the clappers. Doesn't seem to trouble the bike people, though - "we have just as much right to use the road as everyone else". No-one denies that, but some cyclists, judged by what I've seen of their behaviour on my trips to and from town, are just plain stupid. The most basic understanding of the laws of physics will tell you that, in a contest between about 100kg of cyclist travelling at (say) 20 km/h and 35 or so tonnes of truck doing around 100km/h, the cyclist will be a very messy loser. Even when it's a contest between the cyclist and about a tonne of motor car the result's going to be similar. The cyclists maintain the attitude that it's up to other road users to look out for them - never mind that it might be in THEIR interests to take a little care for their own safety.

 

And Bentwaters, there is a cure for stupid - it's called Death. Sadly, far too many seem to learn that lesson the hard way.

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8 minutes ago, Miko said:

Wow you guys are conforming to stereotype, can we have an anti grump thread where we can extol the virtues of those little moments in life that make it all worthwhile?

 

 

Miko (who tries to see the bright side)

Ah yes, the happy, happy, joy, joy thread.

It drops off the front page now and again but it does tend to pop up.

 

As to the stereotype curmudgeon, I'll have you know that many of us have spent a great deal of time, money and effort in the pursuit of curmudgeonly... um...ness.

I personally have spent decades building my crotchety old fart persona.

Now, small children quail before my stern glance and cantankerous expression.

Dogs flee and cats won't give me the time of day.

 

Sorry, I've forgotten where I was going with this.

Brains these days eh?

Not a patch on the brains I remember having as a kid...

 

Oh yes, the bright side is where you find it!

;) 

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3 hours ago, Miko said:

 

Ha! Fantastic, love it! 

 

So, such a thread exists? I'll have to seek it out! I saw a kitten earlier, doesn't get better than that! Ha!

 

Miko (loves cats)

There's only one place for you then a thread devoted to our moggie friends (Cats they're taking over)...

Edited by Vince1159
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Cycling is very popular here in France ( you may have heard that before ) and in this neck of the woods they are generally very good.

Back in the UK they were a pain in the proverbial where we lived,  especially what I called ‘ the Lycra brigade ‘ who seemed to think that the pavements were built for them and would get very cross if you had the temerity to actually walk on them!

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On 4/28/2021 at 9:11 AM, John_W said:

However. It was ITs fault that they didn't install my new printer properly and it was printing offset, so it evens out...

We hate printers as much as you do.

 

 

 

PS: 

I don't get the whole cycling being problematic issue.

Maybe it's because I'm Dutch and we're basically born with a bicycle in our hands.  I dunno. 
What do our Danish friends have to say? 

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We have the MAMILs too but now we have an increasing number of OOBs - Oldies On Bikes round my area. Not only do they all wear lycra but their road speed doesn't even register on my car speedo, and they have no idea about the road Highway Code

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16 hours ago, Vince1159 said:

Blimey the only explanation for that is they were colour blind....

Or his chain had broken ...

14 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Cycling is very popular here in France ( you may have heard that before ) and in this neck of the woods they are generally very good.

Back in the UK they were a pain in the proverbial where we lived,  especially what I called ‘ the Lycra brigade ‘ who seemed to think that the pavements were built for them and would get very cross if you had the temerity to actually walk on them!

Over here they're called "Lycra Nazis" They don't look any the less ridiculous!

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21 hours ago, Vince1159 said:

We've got the 'lycra brigade' over here who think nothing of riding around in packs of 10/15 and don't give a hoot about anyone else...

A few short weeks ago a herd of MAMILS came round a bend three abreast on a narrow village road towards me. Slammed on the anchor (I was only doing 20mph). In my rear view mirror head MAMIL raised his hand in apology.

 

So that made everything all right then😒

 

Trevor

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A story someone told me years ago was three from a sports club were in the south of the island (the north is flat and they use it for sprint training and the south is hilly) when they thought they'd take a shortcut downhill through a fairly straight quiet lane about halfway down a couple appear walking their dog,mass panic and one of them hits a hedge and goes straight over the top and luckily the couple stopped just the right side of a gate to a field,the other two go flying through the gate and end up covered in mud....

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We used to walk our dogs in the Uk in a forested area that was part of Windsor Great Park. There were lots of cycle tracks, but also areas where cyclists were ( notionally ) prohibited so that dog walkers and others were not at risk from them. Needless to say the cyclists mostly ignored this and coming out of a side track on to the main one it was always wise to stop and listen before crossing.

 

John

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1 hour ago, Vince1159 said:

A story someone told me years ago was three from a sports club were in the south of the island (the north is flat and they use it for sprint training and the south is hilly) when they thought they'd take a shortcut downhill through a fairly straight quiet lane about halfway down a couple appear walking their dog,mass panic and one of them hits a hedge and goes straight over the top and luckily the couple stopped just the right side of a gate to a field,the other two go flying through the gate and end up covered in mud....

There is justice, after all!

16 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

We used to walk our dogs in the Uk in a forested area that was part of Windsor Great Park. There were lots of cycle tracks, but also areas where cyclists were ( notionally ) prohibited so that dog walkers and others were not at risk from them. Needless to say the cyclists mostly ignored this and coming out of a side track on to the main one it was always wise to stop and listen before crossing.

 

John

In 1997 the late bride and I were visiting Finland (great place; love to go back sometime ...). We managed to get lost trying to locate our hotel in Tampere and found ourselves in the middle of some sort of park or forestry plantation, surrounded by hundreds of would-be Rauno Aaltonens all going flat out in all sorts of interesting configurations. Now THAT was interesting, if only because you usually couldn't see them until they sprang from behind a spruce tree and confronted you! To add to the joy, it was snowing fairly heavily. Eventually we did succeed in escaping and finding our digs, but I needed several large glasses of lemonade (or something) to calm my nerves!

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On 30/04/2021 at 06:11, Miko said:

we do have an idea of the Highway Code we just interpret it in a more progressive way than most road users

That's down to the fact cyclists are difficult to trace not having to have licence plates.

 

On 29/04/2021 at 13:25, Miko said:

But the whole brightly coloured skin tight lycra thing, just looks a bit ridiculous to me

Rather have them wear bright coloured lycra than the camouflague colours they seem to go for currently - try seeing cyclists imitating the Sky cycling team (all black clothing) in the dead of night on unlight country roads. A single cycles bad enough - but a whole club without a brain cell between them.

 

If the Government serious about eco travel it's got to review the laws.

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Bit late to the car park discussion, but is seems there is a bit of confusion. The following applies to wherever the Road Traffic Act 1988 has jurisdiction.

 

First, we need to define a road. A road is any road or other highway to which the public have access. This is not my definition - it's what is meant by 'road' in the RTA. Therefore public footpaths, pavements, bridleways are all roads. Motorways are not roads (because the public do not have access - you can't walk on one) and thus have to be designated 'special roads' by legislation. Car parks have been held by case law to *not* be roads, since a highway has to go somewhere, and car parks don't. None of this is just my opinion - these are the definitions by which the police work. If the police do not work by these definitions it simply means they don't know what they are doing - in my experience, it's only traffic police which actually get this sort of training in any meaningful way. Car parks *are* public places during the times they are accessible to the public, i.e. a closed car park with barriers and signage preventing the public from access is not a public place when closed. It would be a public place when open.

 

Who owns the land (public v. private) is irrelevant. The point is access to the public.

 

Second, we now have to look at the legislation itself to see what offences can be committed on a road only, and what offences can be committed on a road or public place. The RTA legislation is online and easy to find. Some examples:

 

Dangerous driving, careless driving, driving without insurance and drink driving can all be committed in a car park (public place). However, dangerous condition, construction and use offences (defective tyres, lights, brakes, etc.), driving without an MOT and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence cannot be committed in a car park, but only on a road.

 

In relation to RTCs in a car park: if damage or injury is caused (to any third party or property), details have to be exchanged (name, address and registration number - not insurance details! - of driver and registered keeper (if different)) with the third party. The RTC does not have to be reported to the police, but details have to be provided if the police ask for them. If a driver does not exchange details, they can perform this function by reporting the RTC to the police. If the RTC did result in injury, then insurance details by the driver must be provided, effectively within seven days.

 

It may vary from force to force, but in Surrey, police will attend any RTC which results in injury or damage to a third party and complete a report. This is entirely separate from any insurance liability and the report will rarely be used by insurance companies. The report may, however, result in a prosecution.

 

It's also worth noting that police can only demand vehicles to stop on a road (Section 163). Therefore, a vehicle that fails to stop for police in a car park is not committing the offence of failing to stop (although I suppose you could try to make it fit some other offence, such as driving without due consideration). 

 

Note that it does depend to some degree what sort of vehicle is involved/being driven, as the RTA makes a distinction between mechanically propelled vehicles and motor vehicles, and not all offences apply to the former. Thus you cannot commit the offence of Section 5 drink-driving of a non-road legal quad bike that has not been adapted/intended for use on the road, but you could still be guilty of Section 4 Unfit Through Drink or Drugs (which is harder to prove).

 

Road Traffic Law is a mess and needs to be re-written...

 

Jon

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Inaccurate weather forecast, which bear no resemblance to reality. On Friday I drove to a "local" DIY store (it's 30 miles away), to buy a couple of worktops, some laminate flooring and some other items for my model room. The forecast said that their would be rare, light showers in the afternoon. I arrived there at about 0730 and bought all of the items. I loaded the flooring into my trailer and secured the worktops on the top of the trailer, and was on my way before 10am. Because the forecast had said rain in the afternoon, I didn't bother sheeting the load over. Half way home, the rain started. By the time I got home, it was pissisting down, and so it all got soaked. It's dried out now, but I just hope that no damage has been caused.

 

John (Not a fan of MeteoFrance).

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I used to think that Meteo France were pretty accurate, but not any more. We had the same forecast for Friday and on the way home from collecting our shopping late morning we had heavy rain and hail!

 

John

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On 5/1/2021 at 5:32 PM, IanHx said:

Todays mild regret is that we in England dont get to sample the latest in Scottish cuisine.....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-56955873

 

Perhaps if you were to buy the cake and take it to your local chippy they might do the business for you?  It can't hurt to ask!

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3 hours ago, 593jones said:

 

Perhaps if you were to buy the cake and take it to your local chippy they might do the business for you?  It can't hurt to ask!

 

....   but would you really WANT them to ?    :)

 

 

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1 hour ago, Miko said:

 

The Met Office in the UK uses percentages of probability of any weather phenomena, so, unless it's zero or 100% it can never be entirely right or wrong!

I have a weather pebble in the garden. If it’s wet then it’s raining, but if dry, it’s not.

 

Trevor 

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2 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

I have a weather pebble in the garden. If it’s wet then it’s raining, but if dry, it’s not.

 

Trevor 

Have one of these too. Also have a large pine cone hung on the fence and this is the best indicator for the weather - if its open the weather will be nice and if its closed then the weather will be not so nice. It hasn't let me down yet! 

 

Regards,

 

Steve

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33 minutes ago, fatfingers said:

Have one of these too. Also have a large pine cone hung on the fence and this is the best indicator for the weather - if its open the weather will be nice and if its closed then the weather will be not so nice. It hasn't let me down yet! 

 

Regards,

 

Steve

Does it turn white when snowing?

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