The Night Mail

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I do love the irony of the extended 50mph speed restriction through Port Talbot and Baglan on the M4.  Originally it was in place through PT because:

 

The entry slip roads are not long enough to allow safe acceleration to 70 mph.

 

Then it became a noise abatement measure for the properties either side of the elevated section of the motorway.

 

Now it's to improve air quality.....

To be fair, that whole stretch of the M4 wasn't built to motorway standard; it was the A48 through PT (the M4 wasn't continuous motorway to Pont Abraham until the 1990s I think) and there were roundabouts at either end of the river bridge (I remember the queues).

The noise abatement may have been introduced as general legal limits on acceptable levels of noise around residential areas, were lowered.  The same then happened for air quality standards; although individual vehicle emissions are much lower than 50 years ago, the volume of traffic has increased to more than compensate and again, acceptable standards of air quality have also become more restrictive.  With good reason IMO.

As for the contribution of the steelworks, I can't comment, but major industries are very strictly monitored by the Environment Agency so if they're exceeding their legal limits, we'd be hearing about the court cases.

[AndyID]

8 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

'Ng' takes some beating. 

 

An engineer by that name was recruited in the UK around the same time that they recruited me to work in "The Valley of the Sun" (Phoenix, Arizona). When he tried to obtain permanent residency (a Green Card) he ran into a problem.

 

There is a quota system based on place of birth, not current nationality. He believed he had been born in Hong Kong but that quota was full. When he told his parents in the UK about the problem they told him he had actually been born in China and they could prove it.

 

The China quota was not full 

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

That's a bizarre one - I get it all the time on the A4 between Maidenhead and Reading and the A10 between Foxton and Cambridge, both roads where the speed limit does change between 30, 40, 50, and 60 quite a lot. Are these drivers completely insensible of their surroundings?

They've been around for years. The main road that I grew up near, the A65 from Sipton to the Lakes and Morecambe attracted them like bees to a honeypot. In those days it was 30 or derestricted yet they stuck at 40 all the way.  Last time I drove that road, most of which can sFely be done at 60, soecinens of 40 mph man were still around nearly 50 years later.

 

However one night coming back from ScotGOG I knocked 20 minutes off the satnag time from the M6 to Leecs without exceeding the limits.  A great road to drive when empty.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

My mother gave me a vacuum cleaner that would not work properly.

 

'Your brother has stripped it down and couldn't get it to work', she said.

 

Well hold my beer!

 

So I stripped it down when I got home this afternoon, and when I reassembled it albeit after a little bit of tlc, it now works again so I have acquired another working cleaner.

 

I am now the superior sibling in more ways than one. (Said he with a just a hint of modesty.)

[DenysW]

"Are these drivers completely insensible of their surroundings?"

 

Every now and then in winter you see a driver who has not defrosted the rear or side windows, and only a part of the front screen. Clearly believing that side and rear views are never, ever, needed. Unfortunately you can only detect the blighters under frosty conditions, but they are there year-round.

 

Be very, very, scared.

[SM42]

Here in the Motherland I have come to the conclusion that posted speed limits are only a suggestion and must only be observed in the presence of either a speed camera or a police officer holding a radar gun

 

Likewise one should not use indicators on roundabouts until you have actually got the front of the car into the exit you want. ( actually the same rule applies on every junction)

It should be obvious to all drivers what your intentions are and you wouldn't  want to wear the lamps out now. Would you?

 

Overtaking is compulsory, regardless of how far you travel

 

Keeps it interesting 

 

Andy

 

 

[Compound2632]

16 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Here in the Motherland I have come to the conclusion that posted speed limits are only a suggestion and must only be observed in the presence of either a speed camera or a police officer holding a radar gun

 

Likewise one should not use indicators on roundabouts until you have actually got the front of the car into the exit you want. ( actually the same rule applies on every junction)

It should be obvious to all drivers what your intentions are and you wouldn't  want to wear the lamps out now. Would you?

 

Overtaking is compulsory, regardless of how far you travel

 

Keeps it interesting 

 

Andy

 

 

 

Yes, I very much agree that that's the case. 

 

What are driving standards like in Poland?

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Yes, I very much agree that that's the case. 

 

What are driving standards like in Poland?

In Egypt they drive without headlights on to save petrol then switch them on if they thi k a car is coming towards them.  

 

Jamie

[Dave Hunt]

The other day I was driving to Shrewsbury and on a longish stretch of road with a 60 mph restriction the numbnuts at the front of the line was doing between 40 and 45 but traffic coming the other way was annoyingly sufficient to prevent safe overtaking. When we got to a 40 mph restricted stretch he accelerated to about 50! 

 

Dave

[PhilJ W]

You can tell a driver is not paying attention sometimes by the way their speed goes up and down like a yo-yo. I was behind such a driver several years ago and her speed was going between 22 and 28 mph making it difficult for me to keep a safe distance. She then suddenly stopped and then got out of her car and accused me of travelling to close behind her. My answer was I must have been far enough behind her as I stopped without hitting her. 

[SM42]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Yes, I very much agree that that's the case. 

 

What are driving standards like in Poland?

 Exactly that.

 Poland is known as the motherland in SM42 Towers 

 

Once you get used to not having a scooby what anyone else is going to do and expect to be overtaken by that car that was a mile back 30 second ago, you're fine 

 

Andy

[SM42]

Having said that speed limits here are generally ignored, it is not too surprising when they change at the drop of hat

50kph in towns, or 40 for the corner, maybe 30 for the crossing and back to 50 and 10 yards later back to 40 for the crossroads

Or 90 out of town, except where.it is 70 for the junction then back to 90 for 1/2 mile before you get to the bend where it is 60. 

 

I think most people just don't really know what the limit is at any given moment as they change so frequently. They just best guess at between 90 and 100 kph

 

Near here on one road it goes from 50 to 70 to 50 in so short a distance,  only Lewis Hamilton could get up to 70 and back down to 50.

 

If I'm not first in the line, I do what the Poles do,  sort of average it out

 

Kiedy w Polsce, Robi jak polacy, he said in bad Polish 

 

Andy

Edited October 25, 2021 by SM42

[Northmoor]

13 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

You can tell a driver is not paying attention sometimes by the way their speed goes up and down like a yo-yo. I was behind such a driver several years ago and her speed was going between 22 and 28 mph making it difficult for me to keep a safe distance. She then suddenly stopped and then got out of her car and accused me of travelling to close behind her. My answer was I must have been far enough behind her as I stopped without hitting her. 

Around here I have come to the conclusion that a huge proportion of drivers have, to a greater or lesser extent, night blindness.

 

A local road varies from 30 to 40 to 50; in summer the evening rush hour, most people do mid-40s on the 50 stretch, fair enough as there is a junction on a bend and a kink but perfectly safe at 50.  In the winter, it is rare to get above 35 on the same stretch (and often dabbing their brakes), when surely it is the same people driving the same road they commute on for the rest of the year.  Can they not see or remember where the road goes?

[coastalview]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

My mother gave me a vacuum cleaner that would not work properly.

 

'Your brother has stripped it down and couldn't get it to work', she said.

 

Well hold my beer!

 

So I stripped it down when I got home this afternoon, and when I reassembled it albeit after a little bit of tlc, it now works again so I have acquired another working cleaner.

 

I am now the superior sibling in more ways than one. (Said he with a just a hint of modesty.)

That sounds familiar. Julies Dad got a cast off Dyson from her brother as it wasn't working very well and he could use it in his workshop.

 

Well to cut a fairly short story very short we stripped it down removed a blockage inside it and cleaned both the filters.

 

It's now as good as new and not relegated to the workshop.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening all,

 

Work was interesting if a bit frustrating today. (I’ve switched my hours so I now go in on Mondays and Wednesdays after school) I’m beginning my first movement overhaul (German made movement, Howard Miller clock) and it’s a three barrel chime and strike mechanism. So not exactly the simplest of things.

 

Today I replaced 2 worn bushings, and then spent the next hour and a half fiddling about with all the various gears attempting to figure out which goes where. This would have been a lot easier had I taken photos, which I did do, just not of the stuff that mattered. In the end I spent 3/4 of my time there just flipping pinions around, but I learned quite a bit so I would call it a success.

 

I would post photos of my work but as it’s customer property I don’t think I can. I’ll keep a running commentary of how the rebuild is going though.

Douglas

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Evening all,

 

Work was interesting if a bit frustrating today. (I’ve switched my hours so I now go in on Mondays and Wednesdays after school) I’m beginning my first movement overhaul (German made movement, Howard Miller clock) and it’s a three barrel chime and strike mechanism. So not exactly the simplest of things.

 

Today I replaced 2 worn bushings, and then spent the next hour and a half fiddling about with all the various gears attempting to figure out which goes where. This would have been a lot easier had I taken photos, which I did do, just not of the stuff that mattered. In the end I spent 3/4 of my time there just flipping pinions around, but I learned quite a bit so I would call it a success.

 

I would post photos of my work but as it’s customer property I don’t think I can. I’ll keep a running commentary of how the rebuild is going though.

Douglas

 

Check out "The Repair Shop" if you can get it. There's a guy on it who really loves to repair old clocks, even apparent basket cases

 

I think he might be willing to help anyone who has a similar passion.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

You can tell a driver is not paying attention sometimes by the way their speed goes up and down like a yo-yo. I was behind such a driver several years ago and her speed was going between 22 and 28 mph making it difficult for me to keep a safe distance. She then suddenly stopped and then got out of her car and accused me of travelling to close behind her. My answer was I must have been far enough behind her as I stopped without hitting her. 

 

On "Motorway Cops" last night they attended an accident (not on a motorway) where a woman had tail-ended some guy at a junction.  The air bags in her car went off, filling it with smoke so she got out; the guy she hit asked if she'd like to sit in his car (not sure I would've - she just crunched his 3 month old motor....).

Anyway, after getting in she then announces that she can't move.....

So the FB arrive and - you guessed it - cut the roof off his brand new car....

It ended well cos' instead of having his new car fixed and sprayed (they're never really the same again) he got a brand new one out of it.

[rockershovel]

9 hours ago, SM42 said:

 Exactly that.

 Poland is known as the motherland in SM42 Towers 

 

Once you get used to not having a scooby what anyone else is going to do and expect to be overtaken by that car that was a mile back 30 second ago, you're fine 

 

Andy

Driving standards in FSU countries generally, tend to be pretty abysmal in my experience. Working in Rugen in 2010, we were only allowed to hire A type Mercs or equivalent for insurance reasons. 

 

Not quite ME or African standards, but definitely towards that end of the sliding scale. 

 

What are Polish main roads like? The drive from Berlin to Rugen involved a lengthy section of the original 1930s Autobahn, and rather scary it was; 2 lanes, no hard shoulder much of the way and very few services. No speed limits either, and possibly the only place in Former East Germany not swarming with police of various descriptions.

[Dave Hunt]

Talking of cutting off car roofs.....

 

When I lived and worked in Singapore back in the dark ages late '60s there was a bloke on the Squadron who used to buy old bangers that were in even worse condition than the old bangers the rest of us had. He'd get one for a few dollars and run it until it failed then flog the scrap and get another one. Anyway, one day he said that he would really like to get a car with a sun roof so when a short time later he went away on leave or detachment or something (can't remember exactly what) we decide to do him a favour and fit a sun roof to his current old wreck. The conversion consisted of simply getting a pneumatic chisel and cutting a large hole in the roof then gaffer taping a sheet of polythene over it. His face when he saw our efforts on his return was a picture.

 

Dave

Edited October 26, 2021 by Dave Hunt
Grammatical schoolboy error

[polybear]

7 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Talking of cutting off car roofs.....

 

When I lived and worked in Singapore back in the dark ages '60s there was a bloke on the Squadron who used to buy old bangers that were in even worse condition than the old bangers the rest of us had. He'd get one for a few dollars and run it until it failed then flog the scrap and get another one. Anyway, one day he said that he would really like to get a car with a sun roof so when a short time later he went away on leave or detachment or something (can't remember exactly what) we decide to do him a favour and fit a sun roof to his current old wreck. The conversion consisted of simply getting a pneumatic chisel and cutting a large hole in the roof then gaffer taping a sheet of polythene over it. His face when he saw our efforts on his return was a picture.

 

Dave

 

I worked with a guy who was ex. RN FAA, based at Yeovilton.  One of the guys there got p1ssed up one night and took another guy's car (a Rover) without his knowledge over the Harrier ski jump.....which did it a heap of no good, as you would imagine.  He ended up in front of the Station Commander IIRC - not sure what the punishment was now, or if he was kicked out of the service entirely.

Edited October 26, 2021 by polybear

[Dave Hunt]

I vaguely remember that in Germany in the '70s some p!ssed army guys decided it would be a great idea to go down an Olympic ski jump on tea trays with predictable, and fatal, result for the first one to try it. I think that the rest of them sobered up rather quickly.

 

Dave

[SM42]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

 

What are Polish main roads like? The drive from Berlin to Rugen involved a lengthy section of the original 1930s Autobahn, and rather scary it was; 2 lanes, no hard shoulder much of the way and very few services. No speed limits either, and possibly the only place in Former East Germany not swarming with police of various descriptions.

 

My experience of European driving is that is quite relaxing compared to the UK

The French just like to go everywhere quick and don't worry about dents. A car is a tool to be used after all. 

 

The Belgians are just mad and always late for something it seems.

 

The Dutch not much better but more manners

 

The Germans always in a hurry but generally quite good standards

 

Road works are another story. A lot less cones. Maybe 5 or 6,  a couple of warning signs and a brief 80 limit protecting the cherry picker on the outside lane .

 

The Poles, just want to overtake and don't like to hang around. Everyone makes space where they can for overtakers

 

Roads here in Poland are a mixed bag.

 

The Autostradas and S roads are lovely to drive on.

 

The DW roads are a mix of recently relaid to quite rough, with the attendant speed limit. 

It is not unusual to find trees within inches of the edge of the tarmac.

 

Country and urban roads can be a nightmare. Trees as above and  Kolejny are common ( deep ruts caused by HGV traffic). At least you don't have to steer.

Seasickness is common on rural roads.

 

Then there are the cobbled streets and not only on backroads. Some main DW roads are cobbled where they pass through towns.

 

Then there was yesterday's experience.

Turn left said the satnav

I turned into what looked like a driveway, dropped kerb, over the pavement, between two houses and onto a dirt track through a cornfield, past three houses and then right through the pothole at the end 900yds later onto tarmac.

And yes the road did have an official name board at each end

 

Like a certain box of chocolates, you are never sure what you are going to get.

 

Andy

Edited October 26, 2021 by SM42

[SM42]

Several years ago, one foggy October morning, 9 people sadly lost their lives in a road accident in Poland. It made national headlines. 

 

A VW caddy van overtook a bus and collided head on with an HGV. 

 

All 9 fatalities were in the van. 

 

As a result one thing I remember ( especially  when driving here)  is that there is always someone prepared to take an unacceptable risk just to gain 20 seconds.

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

4 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

I would post photos of my work but as it’s customer property I don’t think I can. I’ll keep a running commentary of how the rebuild is going though.

Douglas

You can ask!  It is educational rather than for profit.

[Happy Hippo]

3 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Several years ago, one foggy October morning, 9 people sadly lost their lives in a road accident in Poland. It made national headlines. 

 

A VW caddy van overtook a bus and collided head on with an HGV. 

 

All 9 fatalities were in the van. 

 

As a result one thing I remember ( especially  when driving here)  is that there is always someone prepared to take an unacceptable risk just to gain 20 seconds.

 

Andy

Always better to arrive 20 minutes late at your destination than 20 years early in the hereafter.