Re: i wanna look cute today...

On 2007-06-03, Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2007-05-29, Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[...]

The "Docklands Light Railway" is in effect a tram system,

Ish, ish - given that it's got dedicated tracks the whole way, it's just
another light railway, surely? And it's also got computer autopilots,
hasn't it? Very nice. Never travelled on it, mind - always meant to,
but... <heh>

I've ridden on it twice; both times there was a human being using manual
controls and a walkie-talkie to control the vehicle because the automatic
system was 'down again'. There isn't a seperate driver's compartment, and
I don't think there are any conventional visual signals, but manual
control is certainly possible and does happen.

[...]

I *used* to use buses a lot - then they privatised 'em and most bus
services are *** these days - it's nigh on impossible to find out what
bus you need to catch to get somewhere, and as for finding out *when*
the buses are running, well, forget it.

London buses are still as (un)reliable as ever, but finding out which one
to use is easy enough <http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/default.aspx>.

Certainly the buses I've tried
to catch in recent years haven't often just turned up with a frequency
that suggests either a fraudulent or changed timetable - and the buses
are a lot more cramped, dirtier, and slower than they were in my youth.
No, the `crampedness' is not 'cos I'm bigger - I had thought that was
the case until I travelled as an adult on one of the bus models I used
to catch home from school back in early 80s London - plenty of leg room,
plenty of shoulder room, plenty of luggage room - utterly unlike the
tiny area one gets to sit on in modern buses up north at least. If
you're over 5'8", you can forget fitting your knees in, put it like
that, and there's not room for two people with my shoulders to sit side
by side

I concur; the pressure is to increase the number of passengers the thing
can carry, without making the outer dimensions too big to get through the
streets. The 1950s designed 'Routemaster' London bus (now sadly used only
on a few tourist routes) was popular not only for the open platform
allowing the agile to get on and off anywhere, but also for having seats
that grown-ups could sit on without getting cramp or bruises. Some London
buses now have almost no seats at all ...

and while I'm 5'10" and medium-heavy frame (in the old-fashioned
sense, not by the modern fat *** measures - I'm a bit scrawny right
now, but the skeleton doesn't change size a lot), I'm hardly large as
people go. Compared to the width of *some* people these days, I look
like a different species...

I could afford to let you have a little flab ;))

These vehicles are essentially just the same as
motor-buses apart from relying on the power line (and there were tales of
trolleybuses running off their trolleys - ie moving too far away from the
power line for the pick-up to reach, thus losing all power).

I'd be amazed if it weren't fairly frequent.

Mostly only happened if the driver took a wrong turn onto a road with no
power line. The pick-up mechanism was long and flexible enough to
accomodate lateral movement on the road - and I think there was a warning
system to tell the driver he was at the end of his leeway.

Ah! Yes - that'd be easy enough. You could have some sort of angle
detector and suchlike, I expect.

[...]

(I think someone puts something
in the air-fresheners or paintwork in commercial vans; possibly extracted
from the fumes inside 4x4s full of kids on the school run, as those
drivers exhibit similar stupidity).

Recent research has shown that women white van drivers are worse
rule-breakers than the men of the same species - at least in Spain.

I once stopped alongside one of those huge people carriers that had
stopped bang in the middle of its lane of the narrow rural two lane road
passing the middle school the driver was picking up her kids from.

Now, I thought this was rather inconsiderate parking and made things a
bit iffy for me on my bike, what with the narrowness of the road and the
proximity of the school, in the process of chucking out the kids, so I
stopped and suggested that it might be an idea not to block the road
when she's picking up the kids, because it's dangerous and also
inconvenient for others. `I'm quite happy with it' is all the response
I got.

A recent local news report in London said that ther has been a recent rise
in the number of cyclists getting trapped by large vehicles turning left -
almsot all female. When asked why they had ridden up into such a
dangerous position, female cyclists interviewed seemed to have similar
disregard for common sense or safety. Perhaps all the male cyclists who
did such crazy things didn't survive long enough to pass their experience
on to the new wave of urban female cyclists?

And having met my mother's driving (who is claimed by my father to be a
better driver than him - except he passed his driving test first time,
has hardly ever had any accidents and they've all been trivial), I do
sometimes wonder if women should have to pass a special psychological
test before they're allowed to drive.

I think an aptitude test should be used for all aplicants for any sort of
motor-vehicle licence.

Mind you, if one is going to suggest that, he might as well suggest
automatic imprisonment for any lad under 21 who gets near the controls
of a motor vehicle, especially a motorcycle of above 3hp.

I think I've had cars with less power than that.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
.