[David9694]

A new catch-all Tea Shop thread for those miscellaneous new stories that don’t quite fit with parking, crashing into buildings or trapped/prisoners in their homes. 

Topic

[Rendel Harris]

David9694 wrote:

Gosh, Maida Vale into the centre – a real toughie. 

One suspects it’s not even that, the nearest running track to Maida Vale and the only decent track north of the river that can be described as central London is at Paddington Sports Club, so odds are she lives a maximum of 2km away. As for “my Olympic dream will be shattered if I can’t drive and so can’t work,” well you could always sell the Tesla…

[David9694]

Gosh, Maida Vale into the

Gosh, Maida Vale into the centre – a real toughie. 

[Hirsute]

Banned with 29 points on her

Banned with 29 points on her licence

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67613292

The sprinter, who lives in the Maida Vale area of west London with her partner, said it was “massively inconvenient” to get to the central London athletics track where she trains using public transport and “really hard” to get to her tennis coaching sessions in north London without a car.

I dunno, maybe she could cycle – I’m guessing she is fit enough. And it would be the quickest way !

[OnYerBike]

A learner driver who failed

A learner driver who failed the theory test 59 times before passing has been praised for their “amazing” commitment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67610152

Why is this person being “praised”? They clearly have either no ability or no desire to learn the rules of the road, and will be a liability behind the wheel. I only hope they never pass their practical (and with current waiting lists, if it takes them 59 attempts to do that then maybe they never will).

(ETA – didn’t spot this story had also been picked up in the comments on today’s live blog)

[Jogle]

OnYerBike wrote:

OnYerBike wrote:

A learner driver who failed the theory test 59 times before passing has been praised for their “amazing” commitment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67610152

Why is this person being “praised”? They clearly have either no ability or no desire to learn the rules of the road, and will be a liability behind the wheel. I only hope they never pass their practical (and with current waiting lists, if it takes them 59 attempts to do that then maybe they never will).

I was surprised that you only have to wait three days between tests (although I imagine that it’s hard to book one that quickly).

While I think people should be able to retake tests, maybe there should be a better control than three days. I propose that each time you fail, the length of time to the next test doubles. So three days after the first test, six days after the second and so on. By ten tests you have to wait 8.4 years and by the fifteenth it’s only 269 years.

[chrisonabike]

(A hobby-horse of mine) We

(A hobby-horse of mine) We have set ourselves up for quibbles like this.  In fact – for total mess and visually noisy streets in the UK.  This is the product of our mindset (and policies) favouring the motor vehicle.

In the UK parking is mostly “everywhere except when marked AND signed (and there are further caveats / get-outs like ‘loading’ and ‘dropping off’…)”

In NL it’s generally “parking is ONLY allowed where marked”.

As excellently spelled out by Robert Wheetman in this article (see the “Parking is handled completely differently” section):

Robert Wheetman wrote:

[in NL]…parking feels like it is off the carriageway. There is usually a different surface material, or at the very least a change in the pattern of the street bricks. There’s commonly a broken dividing white line along the carriageway edge – helping to mark the narrow width of the carriageway even when there are empty parking spaces.

But what’s also worth noticing is that it is assumed that parking is not allowed unless a space is provided for it. That means that there are no yellow lines along road edges marking where parking is prohibited.

Let me emphasise that last point, because not many people notice this…. There are no yellow lines marked along the edges of Dutch streets for controlling parking.

[David9694]

On the second day of

On the second day of Christmas… 

Reynolds mouse mat.

[David9694]

Pavement parker of 2 years’

Pavement parker of 2 years’ standing fined 

However, the 42-year-old says this is misleading and that the council “cannot expect people to check every sign”

The data scientist explained: “The parking zone says I shouldn’t be able to park there but the sign doesn’t reflect that. The signs contradict each other. The signs are also so far apart that you only really see the one you’re parked next to.”

Council spokes: “It should also be noted that no other cars in the vicinity were parked in this way, which is a strong indication drivers understand the rules and are willing to use the multitude of car parks on the Wincheap estate.”

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourne/news/driver-caught-out-by-misleading-parking-sign-297916/

(wouldn’t the lorry sign be simpler if it said 7pm to 7 am?)

[David9694]

Children’s lives ‘at risk’ on

Children’s lives ‘at risk’ on zebra crossing ‘too dangerous’ for a lollipop lady or man

‘In Banwell it is normal to be clipped by vehicles and almost run over on the zebra crossing while doing a school run’
 

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/childrens-lives-at-risk-zebra-8946844

[David9694]

oh, Mr Facebook!

oh, Mr Facebook!

[David9694]

The narrow Essex street where

The narrow Essex street where angry motorists get caught up in ‘Mexican standoffs’

The road has almost no room for motorists to pass each other

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/narrow-essex-street-angry-motorists-8942993

[David9694]

Driver ‘notices road sign’

Driver ‘notices road sign’ shock

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/road-sign-confusion-drivers-asked-8945492

[David9694]

New Forest couple win parking

New Forest couple win parking fine battle with Tesco

Having vowed never to shop at the store again after being regular customers for five years, they are among a raft of others who have criticised the parking enforcement in recent months.

“I told the Tesco CEO, ‘£40 might not seem like much to you, but to people like me and my husband on a state pension, that’s a meal on the table’,” Mrs Thompson continued.”

https://www.advertiserandtimes.co.uk/news/couple-win-parking-fine-battle-with-supermarket-9342464/

[David9694]

I guess sleeping in the car

I guess sleeping in the car would make sense in his case. 

[essexian]

Re: the Air Balloon…. my

Re: the Air Balloon…. my father in law got some funny looks when he just said that he was sad about the loss of the pub as it was: “A nice place to stop before a dogging session...”

Based on the look of my MIL face, I feel he may be sleeping in the car tonight!

[Author]

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