On Fri, 19 Mar 2004 00:26:25 +0000, Parish wrote:


There's *two of them*? I thought Swindon was the only place afflicted by
one.

Oh not at all. The Magic ('who dares wins') roundabout is the major
feature and the largest such thing in the UK. Indeed it has just
been "improved" by opening the previously unused road to the 6th mini
roundabout so that buses can join the action.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A381089
http://www.hemelweb.demon.co.uk/history.htm
http://www.hemelhempsteadtoday.co.uk...px?pageID=4045

Locals all love it. Even in times of peak traffic it keeps moving
because they adopt a local unwritten but well known and effective
kamikaze approach which utterly ignores anything in the Highway Code.
Unfortunately the price is paid by visitors who, if they ever leave
it, are never quite the same again.

During the building of the A41 bypass all traffic on the A41 was
routed via the magic roundabout and people trying to go from London
to Oxford via a scenic route ended up on the M1, the M25, the
industrial estate and the river. The Texaco garage located between
two exits on the roundabout took to supplying chairs and hot tea to
survivors.

--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/