The Night Mail

[polybear]

9 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I think that there are now satnavs that talk to each other and if a driver reports a hold up of any sort all the machines on the system know about it and re-route as necessary. Presumably they must get to know when the hold up is cleared, though, or there would be hundreds of drivers making unnecessary detours. 

 

I suspect that such a system would be spoiled by Trolls putting in fake reports just to screw others up.

 

9 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I was once in a friend's car when he was using his satnav for a journey of just a few miles. Shortly after starting off we took a turning that I knew was wrong and said so. He assured me that the satnav knew what it was doing but when it had taken another turning that was obviously taking us away from our destination I said that I didn't care how good a track record it had, this time it was completely wrong. We stopped to examine the machine and he discovered that he had set it to go via its last destination, which was something like 150 miles in the wrong direction. I wonder how far he would have gone had I not doubted the magic machine's veracity.

 

Dave

 

Bear once used the Sat Nav to go cross country rather a long way; it seemed to be taking rather a long time so I checked the SN and I forgotten to remove the "Avoid Motorways" that I'd added for the previous journey.  Fortunately I was on a work trip, so getting paid anyway.

 

8 hours ago, Tony_S said:

On mine you don’t have to report it, speed and location data (via cellular data) are sent back to wherever the servers are and other vehicles with the same system get updates. So in my case it would get more data if there are other modern Jaguars and Land Rovers on the road . The suggested alternate route on my earlier satnavs was dubious at best but the present system is pretty reliable. 

 

Bear's SN (Garmin) has "Traffic", which is rather good at reporting traffic conditions and suggesting alternative routes.

 

4 hours ago, AndyID said:

I'm glad I don't have a job at Mar-a-Lago.

 

I see the Orange One's Rap Sheet is growing by the day.  Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.  Oh how I'd love to see him wearing leg irons, dressed in a pink jump suit and being dragged off to be some Gorilla's b1tch in some notorious penitentiary somewhere.....

[pH]

4 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I was the navigator for my dad on trips from Paisley to Dover before there were any motorways. He would not drive through London. I'd sit in the passenger seat reading the route chart he got from the AA while mum was in the back.

 

"In two miles bear right at The Green Man" etc. 😆

Snap! (Our route description was from the RAC.) Our longest trip was Gourock to Lyme Regis over 2 days in 1963. Only one mistake that I remember - we counted the exits from a roundabout wrongly, realized as we went past the exit we should have taken, and had to go round again. 

[SM42]

Relatives who " know the way"are a bloomin nuisance. 

 

Some years ago, my cousin ( who lives in that London ) had a operation  and it was decided that my aunity and mum would go down there and look after her whilst she recuperated. 

 

I volunteered to drive  them down as then I could spend some time with the yet to be Mrs SM42 who at the time lived a few miles  from my cousin. 

 

Now I had only visited my cousin once and she had picked me up from  Finsbury Park, so although I knew the address and vaguley where it was, I was flying blind. 

 

 No matter, aunty knew the way.

 

Not long after leaving the North Circular  Aunty's Nav kicked in with such helpful suggestion as "you need  to go up Seven Sisters Rd and turn by the pub. "

 

 

Just exactly where Seven Sisters Rd was in relation to our location, which i estimated to be somewhere round Tottenham, was a mystery, except for the helpful direction of " It's near the Duke of York pub, so turn by there" and " this doesn't look right at all"

 

Luckily I had my trusty A to Z and once I'd worked out where we were we eventually arrived 2 hours later than planned. 

 

The plan was to drop their luggage off. Check on cousin and then head to pre Mrs SM42 for dinner. 

 

Out came the A to Z and a route planned. 

 

This was all going well until I found that asking mum to keep a look out for the road I needed to turn down resulted in such useful instructions as " that road you needed, we passed it"

 

Dinner was a little overcooked by the time we arrived. 

 

It was only a 5 mile trip but took over an hour due to mum nav and traffic. 

 

Going back, heading in the wrong direction, out to the North Circular and diving back in towards  Highgate, was a much longer route, but only took 20 minutes. 

 

It was a route i I did often that weekend, map and relative guidance free. 

 

Andy

[SM42]

23 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I suspect that such a system would be spoiled by Trolls putting in fake reports just to screw others up.

 

 

The Tom Tom map error function I believe was used like this by those who wanted a lower speed limit on their road, but the council wouldn't play ball. 

 

40 limits would suddenly show up as 30 overnight with no physical or legal change to the road network.

 

22 minutes ago, pH said:

Snap! (Our route description was from the RAC.) Our longest trip was Gourock to Lyme Regis over 2 days in 1963. Only one mistake that I remember - we counted the exits from a roundabout wrongly, realized as we went past the exit we should have taken, and had to go round again. 

 

We did our first road trip to Poznan, via John Frost Bridge and an overnight stop somewhere near Oberhausen, with a set of pace notes ( Towns to head towards, road numbers and junction numbers) that I prepared the week before using a map, referring to Google to make sure I'd got the right Bridge in Arnhem.

 

We did turn towards Ostende by mistake, but soon got back on  track ( not as easy as it sounds in Europe) and looking for our overnight stop, I'm pretty sure we drove through the garden of a very posh house  (red gravel, not tarmac and a fountain in the middle of the roundabout, stern  looking man heading in our direction,)

 

We were on  the right road, ( maybe not the roundabout bit) just not convinced we had to go so far along it.

 

It all worked well. 

 

Using the satnav now, after 30 odd trips I think I could find Kraus Keiserburg ( near Duisburg) unaided now.

 

Satnav use seems to have created a blind spot for me there. 

 

Andy

[Hroth]

Currently on holiday in an area infested with "white" roads.  The satnav (a TomTom) insists on directing down these from classified roads probably because they are national speed limit roads and therefore offer a quicker shortcut. Windy narrow roads at 60? I think not!

 

The game is to ignore it and make it sulk....

 

[Happy Hippo]

10 hours ago, br2975 said:

.

I'm sure you can find something remotely  useful to your hobby somewhere within the yellow and blue tin shed ?

.

I do, whether I need it, or not.

At least if I were to visit the Cardiff Ikea, I could sit in the cafe and look over to the house I was born in.  

 

And bore Nyda by telling here that between the house and the b/y shed used to be the ex TVR Penarth Harbour Branch.

 

8 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Footballer eaten by crocodile.

https://www.indy100.com/sport/footballer-eaten-crocodile-chucho?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1690924140

Sad, but at least it proves that soccer players do have a purpose in life.

[skipepsi]

I stopped using a sat nav when it insisted I should perform a U-turn on the M6... It got quite agitated until it was switched off and summarily dismissed to the back seat. 

[Dave Hunt]

One of the best car navigation stories I heard was of a couple who were supposed to be going onto the M25 for one junction but got onto the wrong carriageway. Realising their mistake they considered exiting at the next junction but since the only directions they had been given were based on leaving at the planned junction and knowing that the M25 was a circular road they concluded that the best thing to do was to carry on until they came to the planned junction from the other side. They were a bit late arriving at their destination.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

A modelling friend is visiting this morning so I’m going to have to put up with several hours of railway and modelling chat, playing trains and consuming coffee and cake. I’m sure I will have the fortitude to see it though 😁.

 

Dave

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

knowing that the M25 was a circular road they concluded that the best thing to do was to carry on until they came to the planned junction from the other side.

 

I hope someone has since pointed out to them that it is circular in both directions!

 

(Why on earth not turn round at the next junction?)*

 

*Excepting those many not laid out as a roundabout.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

Currently on holiday in an area infested with "white" roads.  The satnav (a TomTom) insists on directing down these from classified roads probably because they are national speed limit roads and therefore offer a quicker shortcut. Windy narrow roads at 60? I think not!

 

The game is to ignore it and make it sulk....

 

 

A gobby Sat Nav could be good fun....

 

SN:  "I told you to turn right there, you tw@t"

Driver:  "Shut yer gob, there's a muddle shop just down here I want a look in"

SN:  "Has SWMBO given permission for that?"

Driver:  "Nope, but she'll know nothing about it"

SN:  "I'm gonna grass you up!"

Driver:  "If you do that I'll bin you for a Tom Tom!"

SN:  "But they're cr@p"

Driver:  "Get stuffed"

etc.

 

 

 

[SteveyDee68]

7 minutes ago, polybear said:

A gobby Sat Nav could be good fun....

If you use the phone app Waze it give’s you a choice of voices and, in fact, personas!

 

Mine is currently set on one called “Headspace” … she’s quite a calming influence…

 

”At the roundabout, take the second exit and take a moment to breathe”

 

”Turn right. What three things do you notice on the road in front of you?”

 

”You’ve reached your destination and, when you think about it, wasn’t the journey the best part of your day?”

 

All in a soothing voice…

 

Santa Claus (loaded for Xmas) got booted after about half a dozen instructions…

 

”Turn right. Ho Ho Hoooooo!”

 

”At the roundabout, take the second exit. Ho Ho Hoooooo!”

 

”When possible, do a U turn. SEASON’S GREETINGS!!!!!”

 

🤬 you, Santa!

 

HOURS OF DRIVING FUN!

[PhilJ W]

A few years ago when the Chatham show was in the dockyard itself one of the MRC members gave some of us a lift to the show in his brand new car. The car had all the flutes and whistles including satnav. We arrived via the Medway Tunnel from where access to the site was simple, first roundabout out of the tunnel turn right, next roundabout turn right and your there. I was surprised when we went past the entrance and told the driver that we'd passed it but he said the satnav said the entrance was further along. When we got to that entrance we found that it had been bricked up many years before.

[iL Dottore]

Re SatNavs, didn't John Cleese voice one once, as his Basil Fawlty character?

 

Other possibilities:

> Victor Meldrew (One Foot in the Grave) "I don't bloody believe it, didn't I say turn left?

> Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Full Metal Jacket) "When I say right, you WILL turn right, do you maggots understand?"

> Goldfinger "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to do a U-Turn"

> Michael Caine "then you take the third exit, not many people know that"

> Tommy Cooper "you've arrived at your destination, Aha, Just Like That"

 

Others?

[Sitham Yard]

10 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I was the navigator for my dad on trips from Paisley to Dover before there were any motorways. He would not drive through London. I'd sit in the passenger seat reading the route chart he got from the AA while mum was in the back.

 

"In two miles bear right at The Green Man" etc. 😆

The mention of routes from the AA brings back memories of my parents. Only my Dad drove, having learnt "halfway up the Himalayas" (Royal Signals in India during World War 2) and got his first car in I think 1958. Mum did not like main roads so routes were obtained from the AA avoiding major roads. She navigated while I as a young child was in the back possibly asleep lying on the back seat - pre seat belt days!

 

Roads were classified as A, B C and Mum roads, the latter single track with passing places probably with grass growing in the middle. Fine until you met something large such as the local dustcart coming the other way.  

 

If Dad was left to his own navigation he had a reputation for finishing up in either a trading estate or Kingston-upon-Thames. We lived in the suburbs of north west London! 

Andrew

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

One of the best car navigation stories I heard was of a couple who were supposed to be going onto the M25 for one junction but got onto the wrong carriageway. Realising their mistake they considered exiting at the next junction but since the only directions they had been given were based on leaving at the planned junction and knowing that the M25 was a circular road they concluded that the best thing to do was to carry on until they came to the planned junction from the other side. They were a bit late arriving at their destination.

 

Dave

 

 

Its dangerous to rely on commercial GPS applications in the outback, since they tend to divert  people off paved roads and on to apparently shorter routes which are often impassable dirt or gibber tracks and they become stuck due to being bogged or losing more tyres than they've got spares for, miles from anywhere with no food or water or phone coverage. .  Unless they have informed others of their intended destination often no one knows where to even start looking for them when relatives get worried. Early Apple maps was notorious for it and the police and emergency services begged people to not use it.   Heres the latest of many.

 

https://www.drive.com.au/news/google-maps-blamed-for-family-left-stranded-in-outback/

Edited August 2, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

I see the Orange One's Rap Sheet is growing by the day.  Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.  Oh how I'd love to see him wearing leg irons, dressed in a pink jump suit and being dragged off to be some Gorilla's b1tch in some notorious penitentiary somewhere.....

Having seen Hunter Biden's cosy deal that was cooked up between defence and prosecution being thrown out by the judge, they could well end up as cell mates

[Compound2632]

52 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Its dangerous to rely on commercial GPS applications in the outback,

 

Not sure how we got from the M25 to the Australian outback. Did someone put the wrong destination in the SatNav?

[monkeysarefun]

11 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Not sure how we got from the M25 to the Australian outback. Did someone put the wrong destination in the SatNav?

 

 

Or........perhaps you arent the only country with an M25?

 

Ours has gold creeks  and  wineries on it - does yours?

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Darlington_Shed]

2 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Ours has gold creeks  and  wineries

 

Through some parts of London, the M25 will take you past gold-diggers and winos.

[Compound2632]

3 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Ours has gold creeks  and  wineries on it - does yours?

 

Vinyards, yes - a surprising number near the Surrey section.

[monkeysarefun]

24 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Vinyards, yes - a surprising number near the Surrey section.

 

 

I did some googleresearch based on using the website of the local bottle-o.  Results however are confusing and  inconclusive.

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Oldddudders]

26 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Vinyards, yes - a surprising number near the Surrey section.

Quite so. Come off at the Leatherhead intersection and head for the A24 southbound, in 4 miles you find Denbies Wine Estate, 265 acres with a capacity to fill a million bottles a year. I knew it as Bradley Farm, through which we ran skool cross-countries. 

[J. S. Bach]

53 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

650 somethings? This sign on I-70 just after it begins west of Baltimore tells me that it is a long, long way to:

I have been to Columbus, Ohio via I-70 but now would usea slightly different routing in western MD as 70 veers north and runs concurrently with the PA turnpike (the US' most expensive toll road per mile) so I take I-68 to WV and rejoin I-70 there.

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by J. S. Bach

[monkeysarefun]

35 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

650 somethings? This sign on I-70 just after it begins west of Baltimore tells me that it is a long, long way to:

I have been to Columbus, Ohio via I-70 but now would usea slightly different routing in western MD as 70 veers north and runs concurrently with the PA turnpike (the US' most expensive toll road per mile) so I take I-68 to WV and rejoin I-70 there.

 

 

 

That sign is at Canberra, our Nations  Mighty Capital,  which was meant to be sited halfway between Melbourne and Sydney to stop the fighting about who should be the capital , though the distance Sydney to  Melbourne is around 900km so I think Sydney scored one over the Victorians. 

 

Canberra to Melbourne is certainly not a particularly long distance all things considered, many people drive Sydney to Melbourne in a day withoput thinking much of it , including me,  leave mid-morning you can be there in time for tea. Longer distances do exist though, but the emptiness of the country  means directions don't need to be too detailed.

 

For example, here is Sydney to Perth according to google: