craigowl

Reading rants like this makes me glad I haven't had to face the ever increasing madness of the daily commuter drive for the last ten years. I drove in the Edinburgh "rushhour" for 17 years up to 1995, but worked "flexitime". The growth in traffic 1978-1995 was staggering. Initially the M9 was nearly empty at 0730, latterly people were heading in for work in droves before 0700. The queue at the roundabout at the end of the motorway into Edinburgh soon extended to about a mile in length. I was mostly laid back about traffic problems, tending to regard delays as a good chance to listen to my favourite music a bit longer. In fact, when I had to use the train for the last six years of full time work, I fell behind in my music listening (hate earphone music) but managed to get in a good read. These cameras seem to do peoples' heads in. As if the working life wasn't hectic enough already. I was flashed once. so my wife tells me. Not, unfortunately, by an attractive blonde lady. As always, guys, try and reap the positive out of the situation rather than focus on the negative. Sometimes that is well nigh impossible, but do your best.

H8RRA said Didn't really, H8RRA. Having been personally involved in the aftermath of ice-related accidents, I only wanted to get my oar in again about how we as drivers should not expect to be immune to disaster brought about by natural processes. IMO our nanny society has bred a generation of people who expect to be protected from all manner of harm leaving the individual with no responsibility whatsoever. Cannot relate to constantly looking for speed cameras - one of the advantages of living up here, I guess. Can relate to keeping an eye on speedo in VR6, though, its speed is deceptive. However, the speed and course of the car/aircraft/ship is ultimately the responsibility of the captain and he has to accept the consequences of setting it wrong. By the way, my belief in the above philosophies does not imply that I am not guilty of being a pr@t on the road. :dorky:

I've got them on mine - see avatar. Very subtle - not obtrusive. I think I got them for about £25 from Eurocarparts. When you get to my age you will have learned how silly it is not to protect overpriced items like Corrado headlamps. :wink: The ones on our other car have been on for 15 years.

Personally, I hate VW cabriolets. Their styling just never seems to work - seems to spoil an otherwise good car.

Council roads authority cleared of blame here when two 20-year olds from our town were involved in fatal head on crash on black ice. Gritting had been done, but steady rain washed much of it away. There is only so much the authorities can do. At the end of the day it has to be down to the vigilance and experience of the driver. As I have said before, always be aware of the possibility of ice you cannot see when the conditions might favour it.

.Rich. said: Those started in 60s - I saw my first girl in miniskirt in, I reckon, 1964 at a party in Berkshire. She was the only one wearing one and, believe me, you could not take your eyes off the phenomenon. By the 70s some guys were probably mincin' down to the Y..M..C..A..wearing the above and the obligatory 'tache. :silly: PS Socks were knitted by mother-in-law. You had to wear 'em, didn't you?

Forgive veering off topic, but I thought you might like to see a tasteful 'tache. Taken in 1971. The Roberto Rivelino (Brazil World Cup team 1970) look was regarded as kinda cool. ! The seventies "the decade that taste forgot" What gave someone that idea?

It figures. Guys with 'taches today do have very dubious taste. :wink:

New car sales down last year, too. It's a buyers market. IMO, cars have never been better value for money. No wonder everything often seems to be verging on gridlock when you go out.

Dr Forinor - "You and yours" means you and your family! Not necessarily "another half"! Anyway, who knows.... in 2006?

JIm said: You bet there was! IMO, at the end of the day, the blame really lay with the, by now, suicidal, runty Austrian and failed art student with the funny moustache who had wanted to rule the world by force of arms.

Good link, Dr Forinor. A Happy New Year to you and yours. Dresden - a name synonymous with total destruction and the slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians and refugees in one day by state-of-the-art aerial bombing 61 years ago. Funny people, the human race.

Blair is correct. On a clear, still night or morning, the difference in temperature bewtween tarmac and the air at a few feet above the ground is often about 2 or 3 degrees. Grass can be up to 6 C or more colder than the air. A fatal crash involving two local 20-year old girls occurred on black ice with positive air temperatures. It appeared, at first glance, to be merely a rainy morning. The judge found that the council had gritted, but they could not be held responsible for an accident if rain partly washes the salt away. I have attended court as a witness in several cases involving injuries or worse to drivers and pedestrians Please never just leap into your car at this time of year and bat along if there is any possibility whatsoever of sub-zero road temperatures. One must never assume that an accident cannot happen because "they" (our nanny society) would not allow it. Ultimately, the driver is responsible for his/others safety IMO. The two graphs show temperature profiles yesterday and on a warm day in July. The air temperature (at 4ft above ground - the worldwide standard) is in red and the tarmac temperature (on the ground) is in blue. Today, it is particularly icy here. A section of the M9 motorway was closed this morning after a spate of accidents, to allow resalting. I saw them salting yesterday afternoon, but the dry conditions saw much of the chemical being swept off the carriageway by vehicles as they sped along the stuff.

Ic3 (from Canada) said Our problem in most of the UK is that it is not cold enough! Much of our snow and ice problems happen with temperatures of, say, plus 2 down to only zero, or so. This means any ice or snow is usually well lubricated with a skin of water and there is "black" ice, too, which is difficult to see. Snow conditions with temperatures of minus 3 or below are far more preferable for driving on than what we get most of the time.

chubz said; Don't worry, Roy, I'll always remember you were a man that was there and that your brakes froze! 8) Cool, or what?! Bet the folks out in the wilds are glad to see you and your truck at this time of year. Know I would be.

Andi said I can assure you as an older person that the media in the UK for the last few years have really got on the bandwagon when it comes to generating negativity and hysteria about bad weather, health problems, etc, compared with years ago. IMO they are succeeding in making us believe we are a nation of losers who cannot cope with anything whatsoever and that the next armageddon is approaching scarcely before the current one subsides. Freedom of the press, I agree with to some degree, but our media are allowed to brainwash anyone who listens/reads into believing we are a nation of no-hopers. I believe there should be government action to control their extreme negativity - it can wear a people down like water dripping on a stone. You have to be really well-informed and judicious to keep things in proper perspective these days in the face of such an onslaught from, even the so-called responsible/quality media like the BBC.

Andy said Competent winter road maintenance authorities help a lot up here, too. :wink: Its not as if there wasn't plenty of warning for these last two snowy occasions in England. Up to a week's notice, perhaps. However, the Met Office is only right about 85% of the time, so there is always the chance you can waste money by acting early. A truckload of salt used to cost £10k. Presalting can be three times more effective than trying to do it after the snow has fallen, though. Some authorities will try and save money by waiting to see if the warnings are really justified. Especially early in the season if a hard winter seems likely :roll: By then it may be too late and the gritters can't get out onto the roads because of the roads not having been presalted and everything is now snarled up. Even gritter drivers cannot get to work then! IMO dealing with snow in England seems not much better than when I worked down there forty years ago. We do have rumpuses up here every two or three years when it snows during the rush hour around Glasgow, but things do seem to be better organised or easier to deal with.

TomB said Related A Dyane - Orange, would you believe? :oops: Bought new in 1975 for £1250 on road. Sold in 1978 for £800. 47mpg. Wouldnt start in -8C or less. First time this happened was when I came off night shift at Glasgow Airport. AA man sneered that "these cars were not made for our climate". He then removed the 2 plugs, put them on the ground, poured some petrol on them and set them on fire. On replacing them, car fired first time. Never forgot that and impressed my mate's wife one day by using same trick on their car to start it. PS Railways, TomB. Funny how a little bad (or hot!) weather causes problems. However, on the other side of the coin, was impressed the day I went to work in Glasgow from here on one of the coldest mornings of the century in late December 1995. Air temperature here (a third of the way along the Edinburgh-Glasgow line) was about minus 14C. Train arrived OK and got to Glasgow no problem. No heating, though!. In Glasgow city centre it was like being in Moscow or Warsaw. The snow on the ground was so cold on the pavements it was like walking through dry, grey flour. A record temperature of minus 20C was recorded at the city's airport that morning. Some trains had to be cancelled because the automatic doors would not work in the low temperatures. Always impressed that my trains made the run, though.

If you have to do a hill start (uphill) after reversing out of your drive, try going up backwards to a place you can turn. I found it never failed with the front wheel drive cars I had in 17 Scottish winters. I think the drive, now at the rear, with the weight of the engine over it did the trick. Trying to go uphill from a standing start meant wheel spin from the front wheels in first or stalling, if in second. Also as the car has its nose up, the weight/centre of gravity is in the wrong place. The appliance of science can work.

Skinny tyres are best. Ive said this before, but years ago on the M8 in 4 inches of slush I sailed past everything, including a Triumph Stag. in a 602cc front wheel drive Citroen*. Horses for courses. (*Mind you, that is not a proper car, is it guys?!) :roll:

Blimey, they sound good. I do like quality components if I can afford them. I would go for a red top if price is right. I dont have hifi in car - and you could get about 3 Boschs for the price of a redtop, would it be worth it for me guys?

What a fuss our media are making about comparatively modest snowfalls in the UK. They will probably all swallow their laptops when/if we get some like in the following pics. This nanny society gets more mollycoddled every year. Blizzards giving drifts so deep people could walk level with the tops of the telegraph poles were prevalent in England as far south as Cornwall when the Beatles were in vogue (winter 1962-63). Many of your parents will remember that one. Deep snow and ice were a problem in many places from Boxing Day 1962 until well into March 1963. Was a record-breaker, though.

PhatVR6 said My son had a nice looking black MX-5 for a while. I am not a mental driver but if that is what a true sports car feels like, you can keep it. After having had a shot I wondered what all the fuss was about. I hated the very low driving position and the suspension was like that of a haycart. Possibly it was a bad example - it was an import with a low mileage, but had had the suspension, etc adjusted by a reputable company. Funnily enough my son tried to make out it was really wonderful, but took the first good offer he got for it and bought a Lupo GTI. :wink:

Ronan said Beautifully-performing RX rotary engined Mazdas around in the early 1970s were known to go pop due to rotor tip wear and sank without trace until recently. What are the alleged miracle improvements to the rotor tips they are trying to relaunch these engines with now, does anyone know? Perhaps they are hoping that everyone who knew of the early flops is now dead? A bit optimistic really.

Not a car, I know, but I bought a Honda 50 scooter in 1968. Halfords sold them - they just sat on display in the store like mountain bikes do today. I think it cost £120 The tin of touch up paint said on the label "Be stirred. Be thinned"! I've still got some of the tools that came with it. Theyve come a long way since then. Saw that item about the new Civic on 5th gear (?). Seems impressive apart from triangular exhaust pipes. Any views on that car guys?