What's made you grumpy today?

[AndyRKett]

Driving home through north Suffolk tonight, and realising I was being stalked by an apache helicopter, first appeared on my right and then disappeared behind some trees, a little while later it popped up on the right side of the road from behind some other trees, then disappeared again, next time I saw it was in my wing mirror following me up the road, it's a bit scary to see a helicopter gunship following you in your rear view mirror!

Clearly I've upset someone at MI5/6

 

[StevenRB45]

Driving home through north Suffolk tonight, and realising I was being stalked by an apache helicopter, first appeared on my right and then disappeared behind some trees, a little while later it popped up on the right side of the road from behind some other trees, then disappeared again, next time I saw it was in my wing mirror following me up the road, it's a bit scary to see a helicopter gunship following you in your rear view mirror!

Clearly I've upset someone at MI5/6

 

[JCarp16]

Driving home through north Suffolk tonight, and realising I was being stalked by an apache helicopter, first appeared on my right and then disappeared behind some trees, a little while later it popped up on the right side of the road from behind some other trees, then disappeared again, next time I saw it was in my wing mirror following me up the road, it's a bit scary to see a helicopter gunship following you in your rear view mirror!

Clearly I've upset someone at MI5/6

That sounds like something from 'I'm Alan Partridge'. [emoji23]

 

[AndyRKett]

That sounds like something from 'I'm Alan Partridge'. [emoji23]

Bizarrely it's not even the first time it's happened to me !!

 

[JCarp16]

Bizarrely it's not even the first time it's happened to me !!

What were you driving at the time? Maybe your car looks like a security risk?

 

[AndyRKett]

Last time it was my silver punto about 6 years ago, this time it was my golf. Though they have the same reg as it's a private number plate.....

 

[Liquid Knight]

Cycling home from work this morning I was hit again. Orange and reflective back pack, orange shoes, hi-viz yellow shorts, hi-viz yellow t'shirt, hi-viz yellow helmet with rear light on, hi-viz orange and white gloves and a 200 lumen rear light flashing.

So what possible reason was could there be for the vehicle operator not being able to see me?

Her VW Golf was full of Vape smoke/steam and she failed to see me stopped at a junction waiting for a gap.

Minor bumper and mirror scuff, no harm or damage to me or my bike but as she got out to apologise it was like King Willy's limousine from Predator 2 but stank of burned popcorn and magic tree.

If I had thought about it at the time I would have told her that ALL hand held electronic devices are illegal whilst driving and she could have been looking at three points for that and another six to nine for Careless Driving. Plus fines, costs and the subsequent added cost to her insurance premiums for the next five years until the points are off potentially thousands of Pounds.

I was annoyed and calmly managed...

"I'm okay. Thanks for asking. The next person you crash into might not be so lucky".

...that probably worked just as well.

 

[Ulpian]

Doubtless she was an inconsiderate driver with a smoking problem, I mean, how many cars actually look like they are on fire these days, and the vapour can actually cloud the vision of vehicles once it blows out of the windows. Smokers, ugh!

But, sorry to say, you are a cyclist, which means all-too-often an inconsiderate obstruction that gets in the way of traffic, proper traffic, at junctions and lights, and treats traffic rules, pavements, one way streets, night illumination, consideration for others and every aspect of road usage as an irrelevance to be abused at will.

I'll assume you are a very good, considerate, cyclist who doesn't obstruct cars, carries proper non-strobing lights at night, and doesn't wend in and out of cars in queues to get to the front and then obstruct said cars when the lights go green, or amber or red, because so many cyclists are anyway totally indifferent to traffic lights after all. Let's face it, for most cyclists none of this road consideration stuff matters much, does it.

I think bicycles are great, at velodromes, but on the roads, not really.

I'm pleased nobody was hurt.

 

[dtimmins1985]

Bust another tyre on my way home last night - my fault.

Another cost at my expense that I was expecting

 

[SB1500]

Personally I'd love to see 100% of those fat pr*cks sitting in the cars passing cyclists at 70mph in the same lane attempt to ride a bike. Let alone on the road.

I think the problem lays in the fact that drivers don't understand a cycling needs a full lane of space.

Think of it this way.. when you stand at the train station and a train passes at 60mph+ you'd be a fool to stand within a metre of it.. the sheer wind drag would pull you in.

Now imagine that force when you're on a bicycle which by very physics stays up by 'falling' constantly.

Treat a bicycle like a car, overtake it and virtualise it as a car in your head.

That's what the Highway Code suggests.

I used to get annoyed by them too until I read the actual laws and yep, they have a right to be there.

I'd love a world where we all cycled to work up to 15 miles but gave up after a month because of fear of being hit by a car.

I hate the fact car drivers go out of their way to upset cyclists sometimes. Yet when a motorcycle is seen in most people's mirrors they go out of their way to let it past! Madness.

I'm aware some cyclists are c^nts , but if they want to mess around with a 1tonne+ vehicle and get killed, then that's natural selection for you. They certainly don't stand a chance. So I disagree with the cocky ones. But in my experience it's the drivers who are unaccomodating

 

[Liquid Knight]

Doubtless she was an inconsiderate driver with a smoking problem, I mean, how many cars actually look like they are on fire these days, and the vapour can actually cloud the vision of vehicles once it blows out of the windows. Smokers, ugh!

But, sorry to say, you are a cyclist, which means all-too-often an inconsiderate obstruction that gets in the way of traffic, proper traffic, at junctions and lights, and treats traffic rules, pavements, one way streets, night illumination, consideration for others and every aspect of road usage as an irrelevance to be abused at will.

I'll assume you are a very good, considerate, cyclist who doesn't obstruct cars, carries proper non-strobing lights at night, and doesn't wend in and out of cars in queues to get to the front and then obstruct said cars when the lights go green, or amber or red, because so many cyclists are anyway totally indifferent to traffic lights after all. Let's face it, for most cyclists none of this road consideration stuff matters much, does it.

I think bicycles are great, at velodromes, but on the roads, not really.

I'm pleased nobody was hurt.

Commuting from a village to fairly small town I don't have a great amount of traffic to deal with but have been known to filter safely when safe to do so. When it isn't I wait my turn like everyone else.

I've made a pencil blinker for my front light so it doesn't dazzle other road users...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=&t=1632527

...and use my rear light to reflect and refract through my water bottle with a slow flashing (never strobing) auxiliary rear light on whenever I am on the road day or night whatever the weather.

It doesn't matter if I am cycling or driving any vehicle as a road user as far as I am concerned we are all "traffic" and have to stick to the "Road Traffic Act" as diligently.

I have campaigned for mobile phone use to be banned on bicycles and carry the same fine and point structure as motor vehicles.

None of the windows were open and the smoke/steam came out when she opened the door.

 

[portland_bill]

Sadly, we only remember the road users that annoy us. As drivers, we get frequently inconvenienced or annoyed by cyclists, as they stop pedalling just before our left turn, or just as the overtake opportunities disappear, or when they pop out of side roads failing to give way. So we subconsciously remember them, but not the ones who did fine. In our subconscious, we can only remember poor cyclists, so therefore they all are. No matter how well any cyclist rides, it won't encourage the others, or help drivers notice.

But no excuse for hitting one. (Been tempted!)

Electronic cigarettes seem to emit significantly more vapour than the smoke from a normal cigarette. It often looks like a car is on fire. Not allowing it out is madness, she should be facing a dangerous driving charge. If you could find the one police officer in your area.

If knocked off, stay on the ground, keep moaning in pain, until someone calls the police. Whilst nothing is broken, no paramedic can be sure it does not hurt, so play the wimp. Just a thought.

 

[varesecrazy]

Sadly, we only remember the road users that annoy us. As drivers, we get frequently inconvenienced or annoyed by cyclists, as they stop pedalling just before our left turn, or just as the overtake opportunities disappear, or when they pop out of side roads failing to give way. So we subconsciously remember them, but not the ones who did fine. In our subconscious, we can only remember poor cyclists, so therefore they all are. No matter how well any cyclist rides, it won't encourage the others, or help drivers notice.

Just a thought.

in a traffic light queue the other day, saw an older chap an a bike with whitewall tyres..,

over the next 5 mins I discovered that;

1, it had 2 x flat ( no pressure) tyres, :shakehead:

2,whilst riding along on the rims.. he was actually slower than walking pace

3, Keeping out of the way... by turning into all of the sidestreets, then wobbling across the junction in front of cars turning into said side streets:bang:

did NOT aid traffic flow - or do anything for my "1st Aider's Twitch.."

4, traffic volume ( and possibly its speed ) have changed since their last foray on 2 wheels:nutter:

 

[portland_bill]

BT - Again.

Had problems with the broadband connection dropping. Router would change from blue to orange, then flash a lot, eventually reconnecting and going blue again. Meanwhile, no broadband.

First complaint, BT 'help' started talking about Wi-Fi. I pointed out that my connection with their exchange is by their cable, underground, not by any Wi-Fi. I don't think they really understand.

After a while, they sent an engineer to test the house. He declared that my house wiring was fine.
Later BT insisted their exchange and cabling was also fine, so they suspected a router fault. They sent me a new one, arrived last Saturday.
New router set up, spent half a day reconnecting four computers and making them see and talk to each other, as Windows sees this as a new network.
All seemed fine, until Sunday, 6:23 pm, dropped again for a few minutes. Then OK, but dropped twice again, 10:40 and 10:42. It may of course drop at any time 24/7 when I'm not watching.
Today BT called to discuss fault, expecting it to be fixed. There then follows instructions on resetting and amending the Wi-Fi settings of the router. When I demanded that they explain how Wi-Fi between my laptop and router can affect the signal from their exchange, they put me on hold. Then the supervisor explained how Wi-Fi works, and how the 2.4 and 5Ghz might squabble. After a few minutes he at last understood that this was not the issue, ever, and then the connection dropped!
He checked the line and could see that it had dropped, and that it recorded several occasions over the last week.
So at last, again, it has been escalated to the 'level2' team (whatever that means).

I'm guessing that they either have a fault within the local exchange, in the box at the bottom of the road, or the cabling between the box and the house. Any BT engineers like to agree or disagree? ( werdna ?)

 

[werdna]

Is your phone line noisy or crackly ? You probably have a faulty connection somewhere, not really possible to say where my first port of call would be the green box check it stayed in sync there. If that's okay move to the underground joint near your house and test it there, is probably just a little bit of corrosion in one of their crimps. Finding it is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack but anybody with a decent sense of inquisitiveness should be able to find it. Openreach guy that is !
It may be of course that their equipment in the exchange might be faulty or in the green box might be faulty and therefore for it will take a little time to sort it. Once sorted any equipment has been changed then it will take at least a week to 10 days to settle down again. Sorry !

 

[portland_bill]

Phone line is perfect.

I'm expecting it to be the cable from the road to the box at the house. When we moved in, Sept '95, the cable was mostly on the surface of the earth, amongst the small trees and other greenery that the previous owner had planted. BT came along and buried it as it was. I seem to remember then that the outer sheath looked a bit corroded. It has since been covered up with paving slabs, so at least no further damage from roots.
They've been reminded of this, but discounted it.

 

[varesecrazy]

BT - Again.

Had problems with the broadband connection dropping. Router would change from blue to orange, then flash a lot, eventually reconnecting and going blue again. Meanwhile, no broadband.

First complaint, BT 'help' started talking about Wi-Fi. I pointed out that my connection with their exchange is by their cable, underground, not by any Wi-Fi. I don't think they really understand.

After a while, they sent an engineer to test the house. He declared that my house wiring was fine.
Later BT insisted their exchange and cabling was also fine, so they suspected a router fault. They sent me a new one, arrived last Saturday.
New router set up, spent half a day reconnecting four computers and making them see and talk to each other, as Windows sees this as a new network.
All seemed fine, until Sunday, 6:23 pm, dropped again for a few minutes. Then OK, but dropped twice again, 10:40 and 10:42. It may of course drop at any time

Our connection does similar

Perhaps somwhere between Oxford and India is experiencing
the ' wrong kind of rain/ snow/ sun'

As my son would say...its no surprise...he has knwn BT : Bloomin Terrible since 4 yesrs old..

 

[Noxide]

Dear the lady in the White X5 who swerved and used her horn at me while driving like an idiot while I was stationary and probably saw my Fiat Forum sticker, in case you couldn't lip read what I shouted at you;

"Read the road you stupid ****"


Use those two squishy things implanted on your face to observe other things further away than the bonnet of your horrendous car.

 

[JCarp16]

Sadly, we only remember the road users that annoy us. As drivers, we get frequently inconvenienced or annoyed by cyclists, as they stop pedalling just before our left turn, or just as the overtake opportunities disappear, or when they pop out of side roads failing to give way. So we subconsciously remember them, but not the ones who did fine. In our subconscious, we can only remember poor cyclists, so therefore they all are. No matter how well any cyclist rides, it won't encourage the others, or help drivers notice.

But no excuse for hitting one. (Been tempted!)

Electronic cigarettes seem to emit significantly more vapour than the smoke from a normal cigarette. It often looks like a car is on fire. Not allowing it out is madness, she should be facing a dangerous driving charge. If you could find the one police officer in your area.

If knocked off, stay on the ground, keep moaning in pain, until someone calls the police. Whilst nothing is broken, no paramedic can be sure it does not hurt, so play the wimp. Just a thought.

Yes - I'm sure the technology must exist so that they don't have to produce the same amount of steam and smoke as a locomotive powering out of a station. It reminds me of the Chinese indoor fireworks my father used to buy back in the '70s that filled the entire living room with thick white smoke.

 

[StevenRB45]

If knocked off, stay on the ground, keep moaning in pain, until someone calls the police. Whilst nothing is broken, no paramedic can be sure it does not hurt, so play the wimp. Just a thought.

If you do do this make sure you haven't got anywhere to be in the next 6 hours.. as you know people doing **** like this totally helps the ambulance service and A and E departments help those in need.