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Early Risers.


Mr.S.corn78
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The 'Chelsea tractor' drivers round here are hilarious in their own peculiar way - unlike the vast majority of white van drivers they don't give a 'thank you' wave if you give way to them where there are parked cars.  And in what I've observed over several years they seem to have a  mortal fear of driving through puddles  :scratchhead:

Having owned two Land Rover Freelanders which served as my office for most of my working days visiting various sites here in rural Devon I thoroughly enjoyed them for their practicality. Usually plastered in mud, muck and anything else the lanes of Devon could throw at it, then, taking a drive into town and try to find a "Chelsea tractor" to park alongside in the supermarket car park ( sorry but it's my sense of humour!) and watch the well dressed, well heeled trying to get into theirs without getting dirty :)

The day after taking early retirement about 17 months ago I sold my Freelander to a more than grateful local and I haven't driven since.

With my Senior Railcard in hand I enjoy the stress less mode of travelling and do not miss all the inherent problems that driving can bring.

I do appreciate that others may not share my views but I for one am happy to lead a better life for it and it means I have to walk too LOL

That said, in respect of the European driving experiences, I took a road trip across Europe about 7 years ago to Austria with two mates, and covered about 2500 miles in 10 days in my Freelander. I did all of the driving and really enjoyed the experience and dare I say, felt safer on the autobans than our motorways!

Enough of that, I hope all who have holidayed here in "sunny Devon " this week have had an enjoyable time and safe journeys home, so really good pictures posted.

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Evening all. I can report that there is some downright scary driving in Bosnia. I went on a tour today and we went up a mountain to see the bobsled track. For most of the journey we were following somebody who was apparently oblivious to the fact that he was about to part company with one of his wheels. Luckily our tour guide was a safe driver in a well maintained vehicle.

This I can definitely vouch for. I spent 6 months up in the mountains where the roads were mainly tracks cut into the sides of the mountains with barely enough room for 2 vehicles to pass. It got very interesting when HGV's had to pass each other. The standard of vehicle maintenance isn't great either.

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Having owned two Land Rover Freelanders which served as my office for most of my working days visiting various sites here in rural Devon I thoroughly enjoyed them for their practicality. Usually plastered in mud, muck and anything else the lanes of Devon could throw at it, then, taking a drive into town and try to find a "Chelsea tractor" to park alongside in the supermarket car park ( sorry but it's my sense of humour!) and watch the well dressed, well heeled trying to get into theirs without getting dirty :)

The day after taking early retirement about 17 months ago I sold my Freelander to a more than grateful local and I haven't driven since.

With my Senior Railcard in hand I enjoy the stress less mode of travelling and do not miss all the inherent problems that driving can bring.

I do appreciate that others may not share my views but I for one am happy to lead a better life for it and it means I have to walk too LOL

That said, in respect of the European driving experiences, I took a road trip across Europe about 7 years ago to Austria with two mates, and covered about 2500 miles in 10 days in my Freelander. I did all of the driving and really enjoyed the experience and dare I say, felt safer on the autobans than our motorways!

Enough of that, I hope all who have holidayed here in "sunny Devon " this week have had an enjoyable time and safe journeys home, so really good pictures posted.

 

While living on the Isle of Wight I only used the car for local ( i.e on the Island transport) and would go by tube boat and train if I wanted to go elsewhere.  Unfortunately although we have a good railway here in Minehead it is of no use to travel any distance. I either drive to Taunton and take the train or we go off in the motor home and take several days over any trip. We could have moved to somewhere with a good rail connection but we wouldn't have had all the walks on our doorstep.

Don

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Matthew commented that the bus part of his recent Balkan journey was "interesting". As was retrieving passports at the Republika Srpska border. Everyone on the bus had their passport taken away and returned by being dumped on a table to find the correct one.

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Having owned two Land Rover Freelanders which served as my office for most of my working days visiting various sites here in rural Devon I thoroughly enjoyed them for their practicality. Usually plastered in mud, muck and anything else the lanes of Devon could throw at it, then, taking a drive into town and try to find a "Chelsea tractor" to park alongside in the supermarket car park ( sorry but it's my sense of humour!) and watch the well dressed, well heeled trying to get into theirs without getting dirty :)

The day after taking early retirement about 17 months ago I sold my Freelander to a more than grateful local and I haven't driven since.

With my Senior Railcard in hand I enjoy the stress less mode of travelling and do not miss all the inherent problems that driving can bring.

I do appreciate that others may not share my views but I for one am happy to lead a better life for it and it means I have to walk too LOL

That said, in respect of the European driving experiences, I took a road trip across Europe about 7 years ago to Austria with two mates, and covered about 2500 miles in 10 days in my Freelander. I did all of the driving and really enjoyed the experience and dare I say, felt safer on the autobans than our motorways!

Enough of that, I hope all who have holidayed here in "sunny Devon " this week have had an enjoyable time and safe journeys home, so really good pictures posted.

We did over 3000 miles on a jaunt to and around Austria over a couple of weeks back in the late 1980s in a 1.3L Ford Escort. Great fun but driving to Austria and back in my Freelander is now much preferred. I like my Freelander as I find I can arrive with less backache than I set off with! Mine is frequently muddy too!
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The 'Chelsea tractor' drivers round here are hilarious in their own peculiar way - unlike the vast majority of white van drivers they don't give a 'thank you' wave if you give way to them where there are parked cars.  And in what I've observed over several years they seem to have a  mortal fear of driving through puddles  :scratchhead:

Mike,

 

I think you'll find that their experience of off roading in a 4x4 Chelsea tractor, is driving on the pavement to avoid such puddles.

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Texting while driving is obviously nuts, but the problems with talking seem to be a bit less obvious. Hands-free mobiles in cars don't prevent people from getting tunnel-vision while they are concentrating on the conversation rather than the traffic around them.

 

You can prove this for yourself. When you are in the passenger seat and someone in the next lane is driving while on the phone, it's almost impossible to make eye contact with them. You can wave your hands around, pull your ears and stick out your tongue, but it won't make any difference. They keep looking straight ahead.

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Texting while driving is obviously nuts, but the problems with talking seem to be a bit less obvious. Hands-free mobiles in cars don't prevent people from getting tunnel-vision while they are concentrating on the conversation rather than the traffic around them.

 

You can prove this for yourself. When you are in the passenger seat and someone in the next lane is driving while on the phone, it's almost impossible to make eye contact with them. You can wave your hands around, pull your ears and stick out your tongue, but it won't make any difference. They keep looking straight ahead.

No,I suspect they are pretending to talk on the phone rather than look at the strange person in the next car. In Germany gesticulating at other drivers can lead to a substantial fine!
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No,I suspect they are pretending to talk on the phone rather than look at the strange person in the next car. In Germany gesticulating at other drivers can lead to a substantial fine!

But  Herr officer, I was just pointing at an aeroplane in the sky with my right hand!

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My pet hate are the drivers who must turn their heads and look at their passenger as they speak. The times I have followed a vehicle which I could see steer to the left in time to the driver's head turn to the left, and then wander back to the centre of the lane.

I blame it on Hollywood movies films where the two actors in a vehicle have long conversations gazing into each other's eyes whilst they are supposed to be driving. Mutter,mutter.

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Currently on holiday at Loch Lomond.  Trip scheduled on the Jacobite tomorrow.  Walking round Balloch today, I was amused by the soup of the day in one of the local restaurants:

 

post-9029-0-17417600-1433102473_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

 

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Back from a weekend doing a demo stand at the DEMU showcase. Managed to make the acquaintance of a couple of fellow ER's Hippo Richard and leopard Andy, (There's a theme going on there...)

 

Lots of talking and very little modelling, so I like to consider that a good demo. My throat is now recovering with a suitable beverage..........

 

Picked up the laser cut baseboards for my new layout (Deadman's Lane - see link in sig) and I may be venturing off to the kitchen baseboard assembly area soon, armed with a tube of PVA glue.

 

Mrs NB and NB junior are both away tonight to Kegworth - going the opposite way from where I've been at Burton all weekend. We did arrange a suitable rendezvous as we passed. Shades of a modern version of "Brief Encounter", but I consider Carnforth station a slightly more romantic location than Sandbach services on the M6..........

 

Cheers,

Mick

Edited by newbryford
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Rain!.. managed a T20 at Shepley the coldest part of the Huddersfield League.. so high up in the Pennines you could touch the clouds!

 

Home team were badly behaved..... my colleague and I were less than impressed and we had to have a genteel discussion with their wicket keeper... he wasn't impressed but he was spoiling a good game!

 

 

Enjoy the rest of Sunday!

 

Off to the Test match tomorrow so ... night night!

 

Baz

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 The reason for linking the post above is that Jock's "Like" on that marked my 10,000th which is a notable milestone rather few of us have achieved.  Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to reach that illustrious mark and I trust that I shall continue in the same manner in times to come.

 

 

Great Scott! After Rick’s comment I just checked mine and have 22,000 likes. Who’d thunk it?     Must be a lot of elderly people on RMWeb.....

 

Just had the usual heavyweight line of T-Storms coming through New Jersey. The USA is really not for anyone fearful of them - and here they really can hurt you, my Mother lied to me, the shame of it....

 

Best, Pete.

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Evening all. Glad newbryford had a good weekend at DEMU. It is just up the A38 from me but a combination of money being tight, a admission price I considered steep and still feeling ill kept me away. Last night was another one of limited sleep as the cough seemed to beat the Vic trick for a while. I didn't feel too bad in the morning but I couldn't manage much of the Sunday lunch at the inlaws. At least there was a chance to play trains. Amber decided she wanted to run Thomas on Grandad's model railway. Her interest lasted less than five minutes, probably because he kept derailing. This left me in the conservatory with controller in hand so I had enjoyable time running a couple of trains. I got his Bachmann GWR 0-6-2 tank running well, at a slow pace, with a very lengthy freight. These always look more appropriate running bunker first. Father in law had "found" a forgotten engine in his office and had that running around the inner circuit at a fair old speed. All good fun and it kept me awake as I was drifting off to sleep before lunch.

 

Tomorrow is an extra day off in exchange for some late night training sessions so hopefully I can get myself right before Tuesday. Worryingly Sarah is starting to report the same symptoms as I had last Thursday.

 

Hope your week begins well.

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Morning all,

Late to bed so a quick catch up and off to sleep!

Simon, it looks like the weather is behaving itself in my homeland! I hope it holds for your trip on the rails - do you know what loco is pulling the Jacobite yet, I love the Black5 45231? Hope you have as good a time as your last visit. If you can spare the time, can you give me an update on the condition of 'Maid of The Loch' ( I've bored everyone with my romantic story about the steamer in the past!)? They thought it would be fit to sail again by now when I visited some years ago.

Sad there weren't any motorbike images from Teignmouth!

Ian(OD), thought of your nickname while watching 'Country File' this evening, they interviewed a farmer's daughter on Sark and I swear that her 'udders' were bigger than those on the cattle behind - not being sexist, Joanna called me through from the kitchen, so remarkable were they! Any one who disbelieved me can catch it on BBC iPlayer. Do you have enough data to place bets for the race now Ian?

Pete(trisonic), just looked at the weather you mentioned on-line - you do seem to need some fairly strong umbrellas! Hope it passes over you and yours without leaving lasting damage. Completely off topic, but it just came to mind for some bizarre reason - I wondered if you have read 'Joseph Wambaugh's book 'The Choir Boys' in view of your job over there?

Hope you all have a relatively incident free week to come,

Kind regards,

Jock.

G'night All!

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Evenin'all. I must be losing it. On Friday when the podiatrist had finished I asked for the "horse shoe". Without batting an eyelid she said "it's in the other room" before we both burst out laughing. Then today twice I found myself driving with my reading glasses on and wondering why I couldn't see properly.

 

Ed

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