When did you last give up, turn off, or back and do something else? Were you philosophical?
We set of in the old suck, gasp, but no blow - diesel this morning heading for the east coast - Bridlington.
Wheezed up onto the motorway sucking and gasping and putting out smoke (to enable a future for black winged moths) and got up to 50mph on entering the carriageway.
You really long for the blower at this point - BOOST. But too late you remember just how slow up to cruising speed the 1.9 D actually is.
Came off the Motorway at Howden and behind two much more powerful cars who were in turn following two caravans, who in turn were following an old truck.
Mile after mile the two caravan and the truck stuck together like glue, doing 40 mph - on 60 limited but `naturally` much faster roads. Long straight roads..
Twenty miles later and no change.. caravans stuck together like copulating snails glued on the bumper of the old truck. Two powerful cars playing close tag on the convoy.
Plenty of places for these guys to pull over - but no. No.
Possibly I might have got through them with the turbo job - but I have never missed the old bike more - for that slight twist of the grip and the rocket ride past.
Turned off. Gave up. Pub lunch instead.
Came back - want a bike.
Then a tropical downpour... mmm
And you?
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My sympathies. Having got my new Golf on Tuesday (did I tell you I got a new Golf? did I?) I wanted to take it around some of the local twisty, winding lanes and give it a bit of a blatting. Don't you know it, every single Suzuki R Wagon ever purchased by a man called Albert was out with wife Ethel in the passenger seat, tartan blanket and pork pie hat on parcel shelf (I am sure a tartan patterned flask must have been somewhere in the car). 29.99999 MPH from where I happened to be to wherever I wanted to go. Doh!, double Doh! as Homer would say (Homer as in American working class hero, not the Greek poet). Went home, had a cup'o'tea and a handful of gingernuts.
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This happens to me often. I am generally pretty laid-back and relaxed but I do like to maintain a half-decent speed. Travelling at NSL +5mph at least feels like you are getting somewhere.
Then you get stuck behind a bimbler in a perfectly capable car who is doing 35 on a lovely stretch of fast, swooping A or B road. I have been known to shout sometimes - 'WHY ARE YOU GOING SO SLOWLY FOR FOX SAKE CAN'T YOU SEE THE ROAD IS DEAD STRAIGHT FOR THE NEXT MILE YOU EFFIN' MORON........'
I swear I was once 50 miles from home and thought seriously about going back to get the bike.
Even worse, I once got stuck, in the Volvo, behind a Jap litre sportsbike. Full leathers, knee sliders, the lot. That time I really wanted to go back and get the Triumph out........
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Would have been a bit dull and grey at Brid today Oilrag. Now yesterday!! Had a blat on the bike last Wed evening ending up in Brid at dusk for a taste of fish and chips. Day trippers gone home and the roads quiet.
Edited by Fullchat on 03/07/2009 at 20:34
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Must admit the deteriorating weather helped the decision to turn back Fullchat. The M62 was more like November with rain, mist and spray as we approached the M1.
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Almost went to Brid today - missed the A19 turnoff for York and was tempted to carry on!
Huge rainstorm in York at about 11am, lasted over half an hour.
For Brid we go A64, A166 to Fridaythorpe then B1251 via Sledmere, Rudston. You may get some caravans on the A166, but the B1251 offers the opportunity to make progress even in a non turbo Punto van. B road, but light traffic and plenty of long straights.
If you saw the programme about Hockney the other night this area of East Yorkshire is his new stomping ground for insipration as he's bored of Hollywood!
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Hi Dave, The van`s not so bad with the turbo, it`s the other, the car that`s the problem. Must swap them over next time ;-)
We usually pick up the M62 at the M1 junction, so your route is further North for us. That said we sometimes return that way for some reason and had a great pub lunch a few months back in..(not sure) Rudston? perhaps. there`s a tall memorial on a small green just around the corner from the pub in the direction of York.
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Pub in Rudston is the Boswell Arms - there is a neolithic monolith in the churchyard said to one of the tallest in the UK.
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Mile after mile the two caravan and the truck stuck together like glue doing 40 mph - on 60 limited but `naturally` much faster roads. Long straight roads.. Twenty miles later and no change.. caravans stuck together like copulating snails glued on the bumper of the old truck. Two powerful cars playing close tag on the convoy. Plenty of places for these guys to pull over - but no. No.
The above is SELFISH,SELFISH,SELFISH and typical of the attitude of many nowadays in this once nice country. There is no reason on earth why a decent small gap couldn't have been maintained, to allow faster traffic to overtake. It is what a good driver would and should do.
On the odd occasion i've ever driven something really slow or towed something, I go out of my way to do leave gaps and facilitate others' progress. Anything other than that leaves you being a selfish pink fluffy dice.
Edited by Webmaster on 04/07/2009 at 03:40
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Ive seen some pretty desperate double and triple overtakes on these roads in East Yorkshire, due to bunching and traveling at well below the 60 limit, Westpig.
On the long straight stretches you get those teeth clenching moments where stuff is coming straight at you and where you cringe when a `convoy` comes into view approaching on a long straight. Even with headlights on there are always chancers..
A couple of years back I was forced to emergency brake, from 60mph to a virtual standstill and stuff the van completely onto the (fortunately wide and un kerbed grass verge. Two abreast HGV`s then thundered past side by side with the driver of the one in my lane holding a hand up.
It`s a relief to get back into the traffic density of West Yorkshire.
Edited by oilrag on 03/07/2009 at 21:48
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Am at a bit of a loss here.
Why should a truck pull over when it is travelling at the maximum speed permitted on a single carriageway road?
40 miles per hour.
It is in the Highway Code. Like lots of other stuff.
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John, There`s a fast undulating single carriageway road. I was confronted by two HGV`s coming straight towards me side by side from the opposite direction.
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I usually drive an asthmatic (should that be atmospheric?) diesel Peugeot van at work.
Today I was given an old Toyota Picnic 2.0 litre petrol picnic.
Wow! I could overtake stuff. Its soft suspension wasn't a patch on the Peugeot though.
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Just re-read the original post. Chundering along? Had your head out the car window bringing up pavement pizzas did ya? long technicolour yawn, was it? Bring up the rivet?
Sorry, I'll get me coat.
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Just re-read the original post. Chundering along? Had your head out the car window bringing up pavement pizzas did ya? long technicolour yawn was it? Bring up the rivet? Sorry I'll get me coat.
You forgot 'talking to the man on the big white telephone'. ;>)
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I drove a LHD 2 litre V6 Capri for a year once-upon-a-time. Swiss plates. Nice motor - Cologne built. My mad,alcoholic, then wife was violently sick out of the window as we drove down the high street at dusk.
Lord knows what the convoy of caravans coming the other way must have thought........
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I thought you were a Northerner Tack ;-)
Origin:
1920?25; orig. variously explained; perh. ult. an expressive formation akin to dial. (mainly N England) chunder grumble, complain; cf. chunter
Dictionary.com Unabridged
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"You forgot 'talking to the man on the big white telephone'. ;>) "
I`ve hung the `white coat` up... ;-)
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Oilrag,
You say: Mile after mile the two caravans and the truck stuck together like glue doing 40 mph.
Westpig says: SELFISH, SELFISH, SELFISH.
I say: 40 mph is the maximum speed permitted by law for an HGV on a single carriageway road.
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Went to a christening in Keswick in the 70s. Took a freind and our 2 SWMBOs and I drove....MG 1100 as I remember.
Pal felt sick on way back, (whiskey induced ) wound the window down and honked his guts up.
Trouble was, his aim was poor...hit the window slot and left me with a fricasse of diced carrot in the door pocket and in the door itself....and we hadn't even had carrots !
Happy daze...shouting for Huey !
Went out with bride today to buy a garden bench from a shop recommended to us in Denton...they didn't sell them and never had ! Got on the M60 at the A5103 and it was desparate...like a monsoon and really quite scary to see just how many idiots were saving electricity, especially grey cars, by not having lights on. Was glad to get home, have a coffee and do the crossword in the dry.
Ted
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Coming back from a sanctioned works booze-up. Boss was violently ill out of the people carrier we'd hired.
'The car in front is a Toyota'. Only because the driver behind didn't like what was hitting his windscreen.
The designated driver thought he'd better hose it down before returning it. By the time he got the hosepipe out he found the local birds were delightedly pecking the lumpy bits.
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Westpig says: SELFISH SELFISH SELFISH.
yes....for wilfully failing to leave gaps
it doesn't matter how slow a speed someone travels at (within reason), as long as they are mindful of others (and that is in the Highway Code as well)
so if a lorry is travelling at its' speed limit, a caravan, a tourist, a non confident driver etc are at a speed they're comfortable at, then perfectly fair enough...but if another vehicle is up behind that vehicle..and for whatever reason cannot or will not overtake when it is safe...then drop back a bit and leave a gap, so that others that wish to can overtake
great chunks of Scotland have signs to that effect, telling you that is how you should behave
most roads in England, there will be a big queue of people right up the 'arris of the vehicle in front
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In some states of the USA, a "slow-moving vehicle" on a single carriageway holding up several other vehicles is legally obliged to pull over at a designated area to let them pass. Seems eminently sensible to me.
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There's something subliminal going on in this thread isn't there ?
"Chundering along", "Great chunks". Last tim I chundered along the Queen's highway I was a passenger after a great night (apparently).
Couldn't go anywhere tonight. Stuck in Düsseldorf airport waiting for a flight from the UK which had been delayed due to adverse weather expected in Germany.
Autobahn in and out was closed due to flooding, the arrivals hall was under water and the train station was under about two feet of water. Happy days...
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"I say: 40 mph is the maximum speed permitted by law for an HGV on a single carriageway road."
Jon, The truck and it`s speed is not the issue in this thread. It`s the closely `attached` pair of caravans without an overtaking gap + two powerful cars sitting on their tail.
It would only have needed the caravans to open up a space or drive through one of those long pull ins and out the other end to solve the problem.
There are frequent Army trucks in convoy on these roads, and their driving (spaced gaps) and speed limits are well respected and understood.
Also I think that these day`s there are some drivers who just don`t `do` overtaking despite having powerful cars.
Edited by oilrag on 04/07/2009 at 06:07
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"There's something subliminal going on in this thread isn't there ?"
Always Gmac, always.... ;-)
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Make you jealous now...it did me. Cousin rolled up last night after visiting other cousin who moved to France. Apparently you can ''drive for ages '' and not see another vehicle, imagine that, driving your own style with no hassles.......have been looking at houses in France on the net with swmbo giving me that no chance look. Different to my nightmare up the M6 the other week which took hours.
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"swmbo giving me that no chance look"
Same here Barney...I would be quite happy out at night hunting wild boar...but..
Anyway, I`m about to book a trip to though to Normandy.That`s my treat before we head out to be amongst those giant oriental cockroaches sometime (post flu jab) in the Winter.
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Funny thing about the boar.. my father was a butcher and naturally I helped him out in holidays and at Christmas.
Allegedly you have to befriend the local mayor in France.. Wonder if a fully prepared wild boar would be enough to get me `in` amongst the locals - or whether Henry V would be brought up?
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had mine last Sunday - came up behind an old hose box and two cars - first a woman - 45 on straight then slight bend down to 30 -- and then I saw problem - a year old sit up and beg Focus (Verso thingy) 5 mile later and finally got past Focus thingy and there was Albert and Ethel and Albert had a huge round bandage stuck over his good eye (I assume it was his good eye ) Where are all the unmarked cop cars when you need one - I would target every old person driving slowly as I recon they only drive slow because they can't see. Grrrrrrrrrrr!
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When I saw the title " Chundering along the Queens highway..." I thought that this must be one of those "regurgitated" threads.
Err....I'll get my coat.
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Some words to sing along to:
"I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."
Taken from those one hit wonders Men at Work from 1982.
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In answer to the subject line - there have been a couple of occasions when I've abandoned a journey:
1 dense freezing fog and sheet ice one the roads (couldn't see and couldn't stop)
2 M6 closed due to fatal accident and the alternative routes jammed solid.
Meanwhile regarding "I would be quite happy out at night hunting wild boar...but.."
Perhaps the Forest of Dean is nearest to you..
www.britishwildboar.org.uk/
A bit shy, but probably on the dangerous side with young, very dangerous if injured.
(if you bag one, make a job of it).
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Quote:..."""Theres no pleasure in driving these days if you can remember what it was like 20 or 30 yrs back."""
People said exactly the same thing 20 or 30 years ago. I don't think driving is any more or less enjoyable than it was then. Cars are better, roads are better and driving standards area about the same.
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driving standards area about the same.
No. They're worse. Not that much worse, but a steady decline. Plus official scaremongering, plus more traffic.
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Only 1 abandoned journey: gave up trying to get to Bromsgrove after being stuck on the M6 for 3 hours.
A cow had got onto the southbound side, causing a multiple pileup. The cow avoided being hit by jumping over to the Northbound carriageway, where a truck turned it into tartar and in turn causing another pileup .... entire M6 closed around Stafford for an afternoon :-/
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Last year set off from home in Sussex to go to Croydon at seven in the evening and I live four miles from end of M23 , normal journey time 50 minutes maximum.
Took me five minutes to get to bottom of M23 at Pease Pottage.
M23 was closed due to accident - diverted onto A23 through Crawley, One and a half hours later I had travelled less than two miles and could not get off the A23 even if I had wanted to as it was jammed solid both ways althoough the police and ambulance managed to force a way through ...
I eventually managed to turn off and head back home arriving back at just after nine pm having covered the approx two miles from Pease Pottage to Cheals roundabout on the A23 in two hours .
I should not have had that last cup of tea before leaving home.....it was not chundering that was worrying me....
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