Saw my first caravan today, does this mean that spring is here?
'Twas on the M55 dir Blackpool - gale force winds, but did not blow over.
X-mas stuff in the shops soon ??????????????????
|
But was it being towed behind a Ford Cargo truck painted yellow with orange lights on the top and 'motorway maintenenace' on the back? It could be the block paving road repair gang. (The reason why no one ever appears to be working on any road works is becaus they're all block paving someone's driveway on the taxpayer's time.)
HJ
|
|
|
you what?
we were out with our "land-going yacht" over christmas in minus five and 45knot crosswinds (when parked).
rg
|
Absolutely right! Dawdlers drive us mad.
rg
|
HJ,
It' s just like "mainstream" motoring..
..the minority spoil it for the majority..
..so don't "tar us with the same brush"...
(I made sure that I bought something that could hurl my "adult wendy house" along at 80mph...)
It's a bit like judging all motorists on the basis of one Pug 206 pilot with the foglamps on and no roadsense...it ain't quite that simple...
rg
|
|
|
|
Global warming does mean that caravanners have a shorter winter break. In a few years, you'll have to winge all year about being held up by caravans.
Don't forget though, that it's usually an even slower car in front who's holding up the caravan that's holding you up.
|
Roger, Not so. Global warming is a politically inspired myth.
Stay cool
|
|
|
|
Several seen already, Alex - and holiday types, not road menders.
Personally, I think they're mad - we don't take ours out until the spring, but they seem to enjoy it.
Ian
|
|
|
Rob - Number Two makes the queue!
Ronnie
|
|
|
In todays Telegraph Motoring (www.motoring.telegraph.co.uk) Peter Dron refers back to a competition he once ran for a new name for caravans. The very weak 'bungarola' won and consequently was not adopted by anyone. At the risk of offending the estimable Andy Bairsto, surely the Backroomers can come up with a better name for these untaxed mobile disaster zones that cause us all so much grief.
HJ
|
They are taxed, HJ - via the extra fuel needed to pull them.
Example: my holiday in Scotland last year meant towing 1200 miles (return), using an extra 14.7 gallons of diesel (the difference between 50mpg and 31mpg). Now work that out at whatever the tax is on a gallon of diesel (£3?) and that's an extra tax of about £44. That works out at 3.7 pence per mile.
You may not like caravans, but we pay our fair share of motoring dues
Ian
|
|
|
HJ,
It' s just like "mainstream" motoring..
..the minority spoil it for the majority..
..so don't "tar us with the same brush"...
(I made sure that I bought something that could hurl my "adult wendy house" along at 80mph...)
It's a bit like judging all motorists on the basis of one Pug 206 pilot with the foglamps on and no roadsense...it ain't quite that simple...
rg
|
|
|
|
Alwyn, so the repeated temperatures higher than the seasonal norm are a political myth, are they? I doubt that any government or industry, anywhere in the world, wants to do anything about it, but global warming is a reality, now, not just in the future.
HJ, caravans aren't untaxed. Most of the tax that motorists pay is through fuel tax. Since caravanning increases fuel consumption significantly, we pay significantly more tax.
|
Roger
Yes, climate has always changed, but global warming is entirely political, as an IPCC scientist has e-mailed me to confirm.
If you have an open mind I can show you the proof; otherwise we will agree to differ.
Time will tell
cheers
|
|
|
|
But the vehicles themselves are not taxed for taking up more than twice as much road-space as a car and for the huge tailbacks they cause when they blow a tyre and jackknife spreading their kitchen sinks, Elsan toilets, cans of baked beans and everything else all over the carriageways.
HJ
|
|
|
|
VED is not based on space taken up on the road, it's based on fuel consumption, expressed as CO2. Caravans don't take up any parking spaces on the public highway. Most people fly on holiday using fuel which is lightly taxed but HJ seems to object to my taking holidays using heavily taxed vehicle fuel. Perhaps it upsets you that most caravanners abide by the speed limits while many motorists try to justify exceeding them. The number of caravan accidents is so small that car insurers don't impose any loading for using a caravan; and we all know how insurers love to increase their charges at every opportunity.
|
|
Just shows that it has not occurred to insurers that caravanning - or yurting! - could be fun. I do not blame them, for once. I know how annoying it is following a caravan, but ask yourselves, would you prefer to be towing the b****y thing?
|
|
|
|
Caravanners rob me of 15 - 20 hours a year stuck in traffic jams caused by them jack-knifing their rigs on the road. That's why I've got no time for them.
HJ
|
You've made your point HJ - we could all stand here watering each others trousers all day,and nothing will change.
Ian
|
|
|
|
Caravaners are week-end gipsies and some can be boring pests.
|
|
|
|
Alwyn, It isn't politicians that evaluate the effect of CO2 but scientists. So the effect of CO2 on world climate is incorrectly stated by scientists, is it? US industry and US power stations are the main producers of CO2. It's frustratingly significant that the world's main polluter, USA, didn't sign up to the Kyoto agreement.
Where the politicians got it totally wrong was trying to cure CO2 pollution by only cleaning up the motor car. Transport as a whole, which includes air travel, only accounts for a quarter of CO2 pollution. So even if the whole world could drive zero emission vehicles, we would only cut current CO2 pollution by 25%.
Just how much do you require average temperatures to increase before you accept that global warming is happening now? Never mind the argument, look at the evidence.
|
|
|
Living in Cornwall and making a daily commute of 32 miles that can take up to 2 hours on summer evenings (and you thought congestion was city based?) I see more than my fair share of these time-wasters down here.
What I really cannot get my head around is why some prat (who after all is supposed to be on holiday) wants to join in with our rush hour whilst towing on narrow A & B roads????
There should be a bloody curfew!!!
See.... you've got me going now.
|
|
|
