Early Risers.

[Horsetan]

..... It wil come as no surprise to some that I write many letters to magazine editors and even less of a surprise that by no means all of them make it into print....

Yes, but you don't live in North Wales.

[tomparryharry]

I've owned cars that talk to you for some years now it's just like having a second SWMBO it doesn't listen or come up for air when the Sat Nav is engaged.

 

An excellent diversion:-

 

"Quiet dear, the SatNav is talking".

 

Brownie points all round!

 

Ian.

[New Haven Neil]

I've owned cars that talk to you for some years now it's just like having a second SWMBO it doesn't listen or come up for air when the Sat Nav is engaged.

 

Agreed...and I can't turn either SWMBO or the car off!

[jamie92208]

Agreed...and I can't turn either SWMBO or the car off!

 

At yesterday's funeral one of my nieces was looking a bit upset at one point so I went to talk to her.   It was her Ka that she had brought her parents and sister in.   Apparently both her sister and mother had been back seat driving all the way from the church to the funeral tea a mile away.   I empathised with her.

 

Jamie

[81C]

An excellent diversion:-

 

"Quiet dear, the SatNav is talking".  

 

Brownie points all round!   Black eyes all round  

 

AKA  I have a death wise Ian.

[Judge Dread]

 

An excellent diversion:-

 

"Quiet dear, the SatNav is talking".  

 

Brownie points all round!   Black eyes all round  

 

AKA  I have a death wise Ian.

 

I suppose I should tell you how to escape in situations such as above. The trick is "get in close, under the overhang, they cannot see you". I will admit that you can take damage doing this but................

[TheQ]

 

An excellent diversion:-

 

"Quiet dear, the SatNav is talking".  

 

Brownie points all round!   Black eyes all round  

 

AKA  I have a death wise Ian.

 

I think Ian wishes he was wise.,...

[tomparryharry]

On occasion, I need to travel to Southampton, from South Wales. Mrs Smith will come along. The normal route is M4-A34-M3-M27. ...

 

So.... I'll use the A36 route. For over half of the journey, the request is "Please turn around where possible".  Mrs Smith doesn't really like it, but she's got wise to it finally.

 

I do like a screwed-up Sat Nav.

 

Ian.

[Tony_S]

Sitting in Southend Airport.

Our flight to Dublin is delayed, 65 minutes at the moment. I have never seen the airport this busy. A couple,of the "stag party" flights to Prague and Amsterdam were also,delayed. They have just gone. It is quite quiet now.

Tony

[Tony_S]

At yesterday's funeral one of my nieces was looking a bit upset at one point so I went to talk to her. It was her Ka that she had brought her parents and sister in. Apparently both her sister and mother had been back seat driving all the way from the church to the funeral tea a mile away. I empathised with her.

 

Jamie

Tell her next time anyone complains she should drop down a gear and yell" yee ha...". Edited March 9, 2018 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

On occasion, I need to travel to Southampton, from South Wales. Mrs Smith will come along. The normal route is M4-A34-M3-M27. ...

 

So.... I'll use the A36 route. For over half of the journey, the request is "Please turn around where possible".  Mrs Smith doesn't really like it, but she's got wise to it finally.

 

I do like a screwed-up Sat Nav.

 

Ian.

Experience has taught me that the best way to get to Southampton in a stress free manner is to set off a day early.

My sat nav does respond to live traffic updates and I have learned that the suggested diversions are worth obeying.

[The Stationmaster]

Experience has taught me that the best way to get to Southampton in a stress free manner is to set off a day early.

My sat nav does respond to live traffic updates and I have learned that the suggested diversions are worth obeying.

 

I've found the best way to get to Southampton is by train.  However some of these particular modes of transport also have a tendency to talk to you and while it is, I suppose, pleasant to be repeatedly welcomed aboard every stop it is a bit boring to be reminded to take my luggage with me when the d*mned thing ought to be able to see that I haven't got any blasted luggage.  

 

GWR's new Class 800 trains do however provide much better sport judging by one where the metal mickette repeatedly inform us passengers that the train would be calling at Didcot only to be immediately followed by a real human voice telling us that the train would not be stopping at Didcot.  The human was absolutely right, even if the machine not only told those intending to alight to make sure they had all their bags with them but also then proceeded to welcome all those who had joined the train which had passed through said station at a speed some way in excess of 100mph.

[tomparryharry]

Newport-Southampton is a real eye-opener. I booked my ticket, and my seat. No less than 12 people tried to 'claim' my seat, included others who 'supposedly' had tickets & reservations. I pity the poor bu66er who tried to take my seat on the return, it had been a long meeting & trying day. "You! Out of my seat!"

 

For little old ladies, I'll always make the exception, but seat dodgers (for which there are numerous between Soton & BTM) get my goat. Grrr.

 

Rant over.

 

Ian.

[Ian Abel]

A warning not to drive over fallen power lines (about 20 miles from me):

 

http://abc7ny.com/man-dies-after-driving-around-barricade-and-onto-live-wires/3190220/

 

 

Best, Pete.

Whilst I feel sorry for the family etc., it continues to amaze me that folks do this sort of thing. Unless he was living under a rock, the warnings of avoiding downed power lines over here are continual during/after EVERY major storm in every part of the country here(as I know Pete will attest to!!), so there's not much more you can do for folks who lack common sense

 

 

POETS - will give it a shot.

 

Yesterday, SUCCESS, the excess BINs were dutifully hauled away.

We took Whitney for a short walk during my lunch break, nothing else to report.

 

Quiet weekend expected - lovely morning here;

 

-7 and sunny, expected to just go above freezing at +1 later.

 

POE and let's have a good weekend ERs.

[tomparryharry]

Reading-Cardiff. Chatting to a nurse, who had just joined the train. TTI approached. "Do we stop at Didcot"? enquired nurse. "Oh yes love, we stop at Didcot". I knew we stopped at Bristol Parkway.... Whoosh! as we passed Didcot, really getting along now. Here comes the TTI. .. "Why didn't we stop at Didcot?" "Sorry love, but we are stopping at Swindon". By now, I kept quiet...I went to the buffet, and got her a can of pop.

 

Whoosh! Passing Swindon. Our travelling nurse is by now really teed off. Oh look! Here comes the TTI. I didn't know a nurse could swear that much, being such a nice girl as well....

 

Ian.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon from Estuary-Land. The walker will fit in the car with only 2/3 of the back seat folded, result. The last few nights when getting ready for bed I've noticed that my left shin has been swollen, no pain whatsoever but it looked like Popeye the sailors forearm. I do get swollen ankles if I spend a lot of time on my feet hence the need for the walker for tomorrows exhibition. Everything is back to normal in the mornings and as there is no pain I'm not sure I should bother my GP over it.

[AndyB]

Afternoon from Estuary-Land. The walker will fit in the car with only 2/3 of the back seat folded, result. The last few nights when getting ready for bed I've noticed that my left shin has been swollen, no pain whatsoever but it looked like Popeye the sailors forearm. I do get swollen ankles if I spend a lot of time on my feet hence the need for the walker for tomorrows exhibition. Everything is back to normal in the mornings and as there is no pain I'm not sure I should bother my GP over it.

 

Phil, I think it would be wise to see your GP. Really worth getting to the reason for the swelling and getting appropriate treatment. 

[AndyID]

At yesterday's funeral one of my nieces was looking a bit upset at one point so I went to talk to her.   It was her Ka that she had brought her parents and sister in.   Apparently both her sister and mother had been back seat driving all the way from the church to the funeral tea a mile away.   I empathised with her.

 

Jamie

 

Fixed that. Removed the back seat from Lorna's Jeep Wrangler    (Not really true - she just needed the space for all her crap art stuff.

 

The Jeep is about as low-tech as you can get. Manual locks, windows and seats, no sat-nav, no nuthin', although it is an automatic. Probably because it's about as aerodynamic as a brick and not exactly light on it's feet it uses about as much petrol as my Dodge truck, and that has a 5.7L engine. But she likes it.

[The Stationmaster]

Newport-Southampton is a real eye-opener. I booked my ticket, and my seat. No less than 12 people tried to 'claim' my seat, included others who 'supposedly' had tickets & reservations. I pity the poor bu66er who tried to take my seat on the return, it had been a long meeting & trying day. "You! Out of my seat!"

 

For little old ladies, I'll always make the exception, but seat dodgers (for which there are numerous between Soton & BTM) get my goat. Grrr.

 

Rant over.

 

Ian.

 

Some years ago I joined my connecting train for Köln at Frankfurt to find that in an entire 1st Class vehicle here were only two seats occupied - and one of of those seats was my reserved seat!  So summoning up my best, somewhat limited, German vocabulary I duly addressed the two 'gentlemen' of obviously Asian origin sitting there and asked them very politely to move, it took them a while but as I began to mention words like 'kontrol' they duly shifted.   When the Ticket snapper Inspector came round he not only ejected them from that vehicle but very politely informed them that they were on the wrong train; his comments about them became far less polite when he examined my pass.

[trisonic]

Whilst I feel sorry for the family etc., it continues to amaze me that folks do this sort of thing. Unless he was living under a rock, the warnings of avoiding downed power lines over here are continual during/after EVERY major storm in every part of the country here(as I know Pete will attest to!!), so there's not much more you can do for folks who lack common sense

 

 

 

Plenty of D-heads over here............

 

Actually going back to that car;  there was a truly horrible shot of it on one local channel with a pillar of black, greasy looking  smoke coming out the ruins of the windscreen EXACTLY where the driver would be. The Fireman were standing a suitable distance away.

 

Best, Pete.

[NGT6 1315]

Sheesh, yes, that story with the downed power lines made me cringe indeed...

 

A teenaged lass recently climbed a string of stabled wagons at a local station and got electrocuted by getting too close to the OHLE. Why, oh, why, thought I... It’s not like such incidents have never received media coverage before, so I’m at loss by how anyone can be so oblivious to any kind of electrical power lines requiring proper attention to be around.

[NGT6 1315]

Tried editing the photo orientation but hasn't done so on here.

Well, how about that. You even get aerobatics for your money.

[Coombe Barton]

I believe that my skill and expertise is needed today to help with one or two domestic tasks as The Boss doesn't like the Dyson. Noted other comments about these but personally don't find it too bad. They are definitely overpriced but we picked ours up on a special offer with about £100 off a couple of years ago.

 

 

I'm reliably informed that you can hold off the Grim Reaper with one of those vacuum cleaners.

 

It's called Dyson with Death.

[Gwiwer]

I'm reliably informed that you can hold off the Grim Reaper with one of those vacuum cleaners.

 

It's called Dyson with Death.

Proving that this is a machine which defies physics as it really sucks when it blows.

[NGT6 1315]

Proving that this is a machine which defies physics as it really sucks when it blows.

It’s all because of the banshee wail it emits.