Stating the bleedin’ obvious. 20 MPH zones cut road deaths.
“20 MPH zones cut road deaths”.
Of course they would, the chances of dying after being hit by a 30 tonne artic at 20 mph are drastically reduced to, ooh I dunno have a guess.
“The BMJ’s report said that the greatest reduction in deaths and injuries was in young children.”
Better education would be more useful. Running into the road in front of moving traffic can best be described as bloody stupid.
When I were a lad it was drummed into us from primary school onwards, look right, look left, look right again and if the road is clear WALK across.
Unfortunately some meddling bureaucrat decided that was a waste of time.
As a driver I see people wandering about in the road every day, and not just children, apparently either oblivious to the danger or in the misguided belief they own the bloody road. They don’t, I do as a road fund licence holder.
Oh wait, that’s not true, I probably own a bit of Afghanistan now, but you get the point.
Of course an accident at low speed is likely to be less fatal, but it would be totally un-fatal if the stupid pedestrians stayed on the pavement until the road was clear.
And pity the poor residents of 20mph streets having to put up with the increased CO2 emissions from all the vehicles grinding past in low gear, using up even more petrol and diesel.
And traffic lights controlled pedestrian crossings? What a complete waste of money, what’s wrong with a good old zebra crossing and Belisha beacons? I’ll tell you, we’re all complete morons who can’t be trusted not to hurt ourselves.
And don’t get me started on cyclists.
We Live in Interesting Times
I was struck by what I thought was just plain over indulgence and quite barmy thinking when I first visited Dubai a couple of years ago. That didn’t change much when we went back there last year.
I just could not figure out where they expected all the people to come from that would fill all the hotel rooms, apartment blocks, villas and offices that were being built with, it must be said, impressive speed.
The crazyness of the traffic jams on Sheik Zaeed Road, a multi lane super highway that runs the length of Dubai from the old city up to and beyond the Marina complex to the site of the new, under construction, airport. It’s actually one of the few roads in Dubai that has a name.
The Burj Dubai, the worlds tallest building. Why bother?
The Atlantis Hotel sitting out on a man made sandbank which, according to some reports, is already sinking, and so expensive to even walk into for a cup of coffee. What were they thinking?
The taxi drivers who generally speaking don’t speak much English and have no idea where you want to go anyway if it’s not a famous landmark.
And the sewage system. Well actually more the lack of a proper sewage system for all the new buildings that have shot up in last few years.
Dubai trucks it’s sewage out of the city to the one and only sewage farm on the outskirts of town in a huge fleet of tankers.
When we were there last year there was a huge stink over the tanker drivers, fed up with up 15 hours queuing in the boiling desert heat to dump their loads, driving out to a deserted beach and off loading it there. Beaches were closed as a result.
These are just a few of the examples of why in my opinion they got it all arse about face.
The banking system is a farce even against western standards, the telephone system is creaking at the seams and very expensive. The internet is ADSL, very expensive and slow even by UK standards. Mobile coverage is all there but overloaded. Calls generally drop within a few seconds.
And all this in a place that has expectations of becoming not only the major tourist destination in the Middle East, but also the economic and business hub of the region.
There is much work to do if they wish to achieve this.
When you see it in the flesh it’s like a cross between Las Vegas and Disneyland, but both those places are built better and actually work.
On the plus side the food is good and relatively cheap.
So what’s all this got to do with us? Quite a lot actually. Dubai has no real money of its own, most of what you see there is financed by debt, much of it from Abu Dhabi.
Both of these Emirates own considerable portfolios of property overseas. Abu Dhabi owns a considerable amount of Jolly Old England for a start.
The worry is that in order to save Dubai they will have “bring the money home” by offloading these investments.
What that will do to an already depressed world market is what makes these ‘Interesting Times’.
KwikFit and the very expensive brake bits.
Prompted by an odd noise from the front end of my car and short on
time I cruised into the local KwikFit and asked them to check over the
brakes etc. Luckily they were not busy and looked at it there and then.
I went for a stroll while they did. Came back to find that all four
brake discs are “Totally shot mate” and all the pads will need replacing
too.
OK so how much is that?
“Blimey” he says, “they’re a bit expensive. £1250.00.”
I’m not paying that put it back together and I’ll think about it. To
their credit there was no charge for the inspection.
Slightly bothered by this I contacted my usual garage, although short on
time I made the effort to drive over to Moulton Chapel so they could have a look.
Yes the discs and pads all need replacing but the car is safe to drive,
which is good news as I need it this week.
OK how much.
£350.00.
Booked in for the job later this month.
I’m not suggesting KwikFit are ripoff merchants, I think he just made a
mistake. But mistakes like that don’t inspire confidence, do they.
Hotmail and Google email scam.
So Hotmail and Google email accounts, among others, have been compromised by a series of phishing attacks, and login details including passwords published on the internet.
Here’s a quote from a “security consultant”
“This should be a wake-up call to Google and Microsoft to educate their users”
Carole Theriault, Security consultant
I’m sorry but it’s quite clear from this incident that the users in question are blithering idiots and further education isn’t going to change that any time soon.
It’s not only Google and Microsoft either, what about the banks, the social networks, any number of other secure websites. All are being targeted on a daily basis by cyber criminals after users login details. And despite persistent warnings in all the media, both traditional and digital, stupid people still fall for it.
A wake up call to Google and Microsoft?
No. It’s the somnambulistic users who need a damn good shaking.
And if you are one of them, wake up, change your passwords, and please do not fall for this blindingly obvious scam again. None of these services will ever ask you for your login name and password by email.
If you get an email that looks genuine and contains a link to a website that looks genuine and asks for your password and user name, leave. And then go to the website through the usual url or your bookmarks, not the link in the email, to be sure you are actually on the genuine site. And then see if they still want your details for any other reason than to log in to your account.
Flying Face-To-Face: The New Economy Class
Flying Face-To-Face: The New Economy Class: “
I’ll say this right now, this is bonkers. If this illustration is anything to go by will the unfortunates in the window seats pay less for not having a padded seat back?
Note to airlines thinking about this, count me out.
If you can’t give me a proper seat, facing the front, with a backrest and an armrest, you’re not having my money.
Unbelievable nonsense.
Muffins!: Teen Girls Accused Of “Food Contamination” After Squeezing Muffins
Muffins!: Teen Girls Accused Of “Food Contamination” After Squeezing Muffins: “
Some of the comments under this post are obviously from morons with no conceptions of basic food hygiene.
You do not touch foodstuffs openly on display in shops. Period.
Grow up.
TV schedules. A bit of a rant
Someone mentioned video recorders to me the other night when I complained about overlapping TV shows. You know, when there is something interesting on one of the plethora of minority cable and satellite channels that clashes with something else reasonably worthwhile on the Beeb. And what is worse, some of these minority channels schedule programs to start 10 or 15 minutes past the hour. What’s all that about? You finish watching something, look for something else and find it started 20 minutes ago.
Anyway video recorders. How quaint I said, I think we have one of those gathering dust somewhere. I’ve even got a DVD player that dear old Allen got for me, gathering fly droppings in the conservatory, where there isn’t even television these days.
What with iPlayer and 4more or whatever it’s called, not forgetting whatever the ITV one is called, plus all the plus channels that repeat everything one hour later, what do I need a VCR for? I’ve got a hard drive full of movies and some TV series to watch (trying to get the wife interested in Battlestar Galactica without much success), so if the evening schedule is just plain rubbish I don’t really mind.
But I watched Wuthering Heights last night, It’s rare to find anything remotely good or interesting on ITV never mind in HD but this is really good. Get to the end of the show, wait to hear when the final part is going out, only to be told, nothing, nada, not a bloody sausage as to when we can see the concluding part.
I see from tvguide.co.uk it’s on tonight, but it clashes with Wallander on BBC4 and I don’t know if that will be on the iPlayer, it’s foreign for a start, and you only get one shot with HD stuff on ITV. The playitagain is SD only. ITV’s HD output is dismal compared to the BBC, it’s mostly bloody football and who’s interested in that these days?
By the way if anyone is interested in Vampires, and i can, surprisingly, recommend Twilight as a movie worth watching, you might want to catch Moonlight on Virgin 1. It’s a damn shame they didn’t commission a second season, what with the aforementioned Twilight reinvigorating the genre.
Costa Rica Rain! – The itchy foot & wheely case
Costa Rica Rain! – The itchy foot & wheely case
Another chapter in the travels of an almost 30 something with itchy feet and a thirst for adventure.
This time she’s in Costa Rica on a volunteer project building houses.
See also The Write Site professional writer with words for sale.
Local police advocate breaking the law to thwart criminals?
Local police are advising South Holland car owners to be more careful when leaving cars parked. Don’t leave any valuables in the car. Remove handbags,briefcases,wallets and sat navs.
They then go on to advise removing the tax disc as well.
“Crime reduction officer Pete Tyrrel, of Spalding Police, is warning people not to leave their keys in the car – even if it’s just for a minute or two.
He said: “People have lost their keys and then a couple of weeks later their car is taken.
“Don’t leave anything in the car that thieves might want, such as sat navs, handbags, wallets, tax discs and CDs.”
Now, as I understand it, it is a legal requirement to display a current tax disc on the windscreen of all vehicles.
Are Spalding Police advising motorists to break the law in order to thwart the law breakers?
Warning issued after spate of vehicle thefts – Spalding Today