On Sat, 30 Nov 2019 09:04:16 +0000, Tim Lamb
wrote:

In message , T i m
writes
On Fri, 29 Nov 2019 11:33:58 +0000, Broadback
wrote:

On 29/11/2019 10:01, Brian Gaff (Sofa 2) wrote:
It plays havoc with assistive tech for the blind as well, as any additional
graphics makes OCR more hit and miss.
Brian

If you think stores are bad just try to get plants from garden centres.

I even try to avoid any retail outlet on the weekend ... and in fact,
I think all retired people should be banned from driving and shopping
on the weekend as they can much easier do that during the week when
all the other poor bast*rds are at work. ;-(

They already do that. Have you not noticed how much slower traffic moves
after the 9.00am threshold?

It can, true, but whilst they obviously stand out (holding up a long
queue of traffic) they aren't generally en-masse during the week.

Plus they aren't 'on a mission' as the commuters generally are (so
possibly not a direct comparison), and you have the school dropoff
drivers just after nine who are often clear from 10 on, so that should
really be your comparison time.

Get past one (doing 25 in a 40 limit) on a weekend and you can be sure
to come up behind another doing the same pretty quickly. On a weekday
it tends to be clearer longer. If you can wait till it turns dark,
that tends to filter a few more out (but not all).

You know when you are driving along merrily, generally keeping up with
the speed limits and all of a sudden you come to a comparative halt.
You look ahead up the queue and see that it's a car. Now, it could
also be a horsebox or HGV or tractor and trailer or some other vehicle
that is legally or physically restricted to less that the speed limit
and whilst that's frustrating, you often feel they are doing the best
with their lot.

The same applies if you see it's a learner, but if they are doing way
less than the limit (under good conditions etc) I question their 1)
readiness to be on such a road or 2) how good their instructor is as
they are supposed to encourage their learner up towards the speed
limit to prevent people following from taking unnecessary risks (in
overtaking etc). [1]

Bit it's often it's *just* a Nissan Micra or Kia something (nothing
wrong with the cars of course), driven by old lady (the older men can
sometimes still 'get on with it') who seems to be completely oblivious
to the queue of vehicles behind them who aren't just going for a
coffee at the garden centre and are trying to gets stuff done. ;-(

I have no issue with people just sticking to or close to the speed
limit (eg not going faster than) as there are often cameras in the
most unexpected places that would be known by the locals but not
everyone else.

But when they slow for *every* corner, *every* oncoming vehicle (even
just a car and in the daylight!) *every* sign and *every* undulation
in the road, it does get frustrating, especially so when you are on a
deadline yourself.

The Mrs isn't as confident driving as she once was and so won't
actually drive at night or in traffic / unknown places if at all
possible because she doesn't want to be one of those people described
above.

And 'getting on with it' isn't just about speed is it, it's about
judging gaps, it's about not being in the way yourself (not stopping
across junctions etc), getting right off the road and *then* deciding
where to park in the garden centre ...

We had one the other day and this time it was what can be another
rolling roadblock, a Mum in an SUV with kids.

They pulled into the very busy trading estate car park and into the
equally busy drive-through lane at McDonalds, only to stop, back up a
bit (trapping the car behind halfway across the road) and sit there
waiting for a car to leave because she saw the owners walking back
towards it (and there were plenty of spaces elsewhere)! Now, if you
are going to do that, at least pull over to let people past so they
can clear what became a logjam in all directions behind her, not stop
in the *middle* of the drive though lane! Even several people hooting
at her didn't seem to make any difference. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[1] Daughter failed her first driving test (in Scotland) for not
getting up to and keeping close to the speed limit, even though
driving conditions weren't very good.

On my first lesson my instructor picked me up from College and at the
end of the lesson we stopped outside my (Mum and Dad's) house. I asked
what we were doing stopped there and he replied, 'This is where you
live' (he worked a few doors along at a local petrol station so we had
known him for years). I replied that my moped was at college and I
needed it for the next morning so he told me to drive us back to
college and 'put my foot down'. ;-)

We kept to the speed limits but a bit of it was an A road so we were
making the most of that. ;-)