I'd be keen to see how it handles the ridiculous situation of going to the left lane to turn right because of the trams, that one's a blinder....
HH.
Printable View
I'd be keen to see how it handles the ridiculous situation of going to the left lane to turn right because of the trams, that one's a blinder....
HH.
Many years ago I bought this little Chevy Vega for a long commute. It was necessary until the house was sold and a new one could be purchased close to the new job. I got the Vega with about every handling option available and wide tyres on wide rims. After about 6 months I got some rather good radial tyres for the Vega.
SWMBO never really liked the Vega as it was not as quiet as the station wagon, no A/C and she didn't like the manual shift four speed. She really didn't like anything about the car.
During the first gas shortage, we decided to take the Vega to visit her parents. We were taking a route to her parents' home that I had never taken before. SWMBO was the navigator.
Everything was fine until we were within about five miles of the old homestead. SWMBO was looking out the window, "Oh, they changed...", "Oh, they have a new car...", "Oh, there's whats-her-name <WHATS-HER-NAME>with the new baby..." and yada, yada, yada.
Mean while I'm just blipping along at a a fair pace when suddenly SWMBO shouts, "Ahhhhhhh, TURN HERE!"
Brakes, very HARD, clutch, grab second gear, turn, slide a little, clutch, throttle, spin tyres slightly, straighten out and continue blipping along. SWMBO starts into me with "Are you crazy?" etc. still white knuckled attached to the pasenger sissy bar. I countered with, "Look! I made the turn and I stayed within the appropriate lanes." "But you were sideways and you screeched the tyres." "Nothing illegal and next time GIVE ME MORE WARNING ahead of turns."
Now, almost 40 years later, as long as SWMBO orients the map to the direction we are going she is an excellent navigator.
On another trip...
When you are in Hawaii, there are two things that you can do.
1) Clockwise
2) Counter Clockwise
On the Big Island there is a third option, called The Saddle Road. This road runs between the two dormant volcanos Mauna Loa and Moana Kea. The road is at about 2,150M in elevation and has two right angle turns about 500M apart. The rental car companies say the road is forbidden and claim to take the car away if they catch you on the road. The saddle part is not that bad but the switch backs on either end of the road usually require driving through the clouds (a.k.a. Fog) to get up and down from the saddle. The advantage to The Saddle Road is a 90 minute to two hour time saving on the trip from Kona to Hilo.
I'm not sure exactly when, but our car was a Ford Escort. (Something we call a sub-compact.) The car was a bit under powered and had an automatic transmission. It was our third or fourth trip from Kona to Hilo and by this time I had gotten to "know" the road. The county was working on the road on the Hilo end of The Saddle Road. The raod was well graded through the lava and was almost ready for asphalt. Due to traffic, the lava was breaking up slightly creating, for lack of better words, marbles on the surface.
Enter Rich, SWMBO and the Ford Escort. The transmission was a three speed and maybe had an over drive gear. Leaving The Saddle Road and decending into Hilo, I had the Ford Escort in second gear. I was using the engine to break or reduce my speed for the decent. I'm sure you blokes understand, it was just a leisurely drive on the decent. I rarely needed to use the break at all.
After a few miles, SWMBO reaches over and really hits me on the arm saying, "Slow Down, you're on vacation." I immediately put on the brake, slowed way down and looked at SWMBO saying, "But I'm not pushing it." SWMBO responded, "You're sliding through every curve!" She was right, but I was having a REALLY good time.
Rrich, didnt you stop to pick some orchids?
I think that one difference between men and women, driving , is that Men seem to see a car as some sort of alter ego accessory.
Why do some men drive like Brock, when they on a mountain road despite the sometimes obvious fear of the light of their lives.
I notice they dont drive like this when their Mum is in the car.
Women on the other hand tend only to drive like this when they're on their own (in a Good car).
I know when Im driving the kids or HWMNBO, I drive like an instructor.
On my own, in The old prelude it's more like Toad (with very loud system and fluffy dice)
Astrid
:)
PS i don't really have the fluffy dice
The Minister for War & Directions drives me to Distraction whenever she navigates. I can never find it in the street directory but we've been there plenty of times. :)
Perhaps if she left the street directory right way up we'd get to our original destination with less diversion. :)
To be fair, to be sure, she hates it when I navigate. :)
Some years ago (OK Lots o' years ago) I had a casual job as a courier driver. Zig-zagging twice a day from out near the airport over too Dandenang and back dropping packages off at obscure locations. Only did it for a week- got really good at "making good time". I didn't realise how fast I was driving thinking it was normal speed until I drove boyfriend of the time to a movie on Friday night. Made pretty good time. Got a good park. Look over to boyfriend sitting white knuckled in passenger seat- holding sissy bar (is that what they are called?)and dashboard and whatever else was handy. Opens one eye to cautiously assess situation. Are we there yet?
No moral to the story, but I can understand courier and trucks not feeling like stopping at another %#$@&* traffic light and change another %&$#@* gear!!! And driving can certainly be fun sometimes.:D But not tailgating in the fast lane of the Burnly tunnel like some daft blond was doing to me once. And quit a lot of men driving black cars. What is it with black cars? Seems its the national sign for A$$#@!!, keep clear. Better still vanish.:(
Must be black and white
with me its those black, not quite 4 wheel drive, expensive things or white vans.
Astrid:U
With me it's anyone who drives too close to my rear. I don't drive slowly so there is no need for it, they often get more than they bargain for if they persist. They're often but not always P platers and mostly young women for some reason.
HH.
Because its fun to drive fast on winding roads?Quote:
Originally Posted by astrid
:2tsup::2tsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by Bleedin Thumb
HH.
Because they can :2tsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by astrid
But your right for some its an ego thing they need a big flashy car to compensate for their small .......whatever, but for real men its not how big or flashy the car its how fast you can go in it on a mountain road that counts :doh:
Gotta love that feeling in the pit of your stomach and back of your throat when you hit a bit of loose stuff on a bend...:U
Then turn to an ashen SWMBO and say "I was in control the whole time...":;
HH.
Once set up a nice sting.
Coming down from Falls Ck doing a fair clip. Know the road well. And then a young prat in a muscle car starts sitting on my tail. There are few places to overtake so we got into a rhythm and he stopped anticipating.
I didn't; I knew there was a tight decreasing radius bend coming up and prepared for it. He didn't, sh*t himself and ran wide.
Small thrill I know. But experience has to count for something once in a while.
Yes, funny those muscle cars. Even in the Toyota Echo (Dubbed the wizzo car in this house) can usually keep a faster overall speed on the windy roads around here. Small pleasures.:cool:
The wizo may get around the corners faster but do you get the same G forces that come from breaking late in a 2 tonne beast then throwing it into the bend?:cool::D
Yoiks.
Sounds, ah, awesome.
G forces on a Honda Fireblade are good too :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyHammer
Drive a ute, with a big metal rear end,
when you stop- they stop too, it's great.
or if you want to have a little fun with them keep your constant speed but flick your parkers ( during the day) on it makes the tail light go on and they think its the brakes and hit the picks. :U
Sometimes if your really in a playfull mood just slow down to a crawl everytime they get to close, they'll stop doing it, or they'll finally use the other lane or they might just freak out and try and kill you but hey, it's all fun and games.
From experience I've found that even my sluggish auld '45 Harley is nippier on corners and can brake harder than most cars. (I say most, 'cos I haven't had every model up my clacker.)Quote:
Originally Posted by rsser
I've never understood why car drivers think they can keep up with a bike, let alone tailgate it, on windy roads without brown pants. :no:
Yeah well mostly they're trying in both senses of the term.
Though I did once have a Nissan Skyline give me a run for my money between Whittlesea and Kinglake W.
I was impressed.
heh heh.Quote:
Originally Posted by bricks
Here's another, though I don't do it since it's a bit over the line for me:
Busy morning traffic, you're behind the car stopped at the line at traffic lights. Driver is fiddling: checking the mobile, or putting on mascara, or reading an SMS, whatever.
So you rev up making like you're taking off, driver in front automatically starts to take off too without having checked the lights.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rsser
So that was you!:D its usually the car in the lane besides me that does that to me:doh:
LoL.
Nah. Possibly my son :-}
'Tis better to roll forward a little and watch the panic as the car beside you starts pumping the brakes because they think they are rolling backwards.
True story. Yesterday, we drove to Toowoomba with a load of furniture for the kids. (They've just moved into a new house). As we hadn't been there before, we had to use a map to find the place.
As I happened to be driving at this stage, LOTO (Leader Of The Opposition) has the map.
"We have to turn from Tor Street at the lights near the hospital into X street." says LOTO.
"OK, so what is the street before that turn?" ask I.
"I just told you. It's X street."
"I know that, but what is the name of the street before x street?"
So she names another main road.
"Good God woman, pay attention. There must be a street before the right turn from Tor Street."
"I don't know what you're talking about. We have to turn LEFT. I've told you twice already."
"Is there a set of bloody lights at this turnoff?"
I actually had a rather vague idea of where we were to end up, but as we have a heavy trailer tailgating us, and we're in heavy traffic, I wasn't inclined to have to try to stop too quickly to make our 'right' turn if it came upon us suddenly.
"Alright forget that conversation. If you see X street on the right, let me know, and if we miss it, we'll take the next street and find our way back."
As luck would have it, we stopped at a set of lights and I took the map, only to find she is reading it, not upside down, but on its side.:o
In the end I followed the map, AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN, and even after turning right at the correct lights, she is still telling me we should have turned left and gone the other way.:doh:
"Well...tell you what. When we get there, I'll go in and see the kids and you can go for a drive and find the right bloody place." :U
She called me a ****** know-all as we arrived at our destination, and I naturally accepted my victory, humbly....for the next hour or so....and a bit today as well. :Irule:
Put her out in the bush with a compass and map and she'll find her way anywhere with ease.
I have a ute and I do all of that and a couple of others depending on my mood at the time.:UQuote:
Originally Posted by bricks
HH.
Give me a map and I'll get us there, eventually..... :rolleyes: HWMNBO has been a real trouper this past week, putting up with me trying to read the map without turning it around, telling him we had to turn down there and it's ok, we'll take the next turn.....
We survived, didn't scrap too much, but best of all, we didn't have to go around a block 3 times to be able to get into the correct lane to get out of that area :D
I don't do that slow-down-on-the-tailgater thing very often, 'cause it drives me nuts when my husband does it. I'm not usually in the fast lane pretending I'm a hoon. He reacons that cause he's going to turn right its OK to be there. I say he's not turning right for another five kms so what's he bloody doing.
Any way, so this one time I'm being tailgated on the freeway- I'm not even in the fast lane, in the second fast lane 'cause its quicker because all these guys who think they drive fast slow the traffic down - so I think "bloody b(&%$@#" and slow down in front of him, and the little truck in front of us blows a tyer. Billowing smoke, bits o' rubber flying everywhere.:oo: And if I hadn't slowed us down we would have been in the middle of it. I saved us all.:cool: But I didn't get to give this guy the s#!^$. He probably just thought I had ESP or something.:( Spoiled the whole effect.:~
Wendy,
I'ts a matter of principles that we turn the map upside down.:U
Astrid
Quote:
Originally Posted by astrid
Ah Ha! That must be why I persevere with not turning the map around :D:D:D
I saw a truck get fooled similar to this once. The turn lane beside them went green and started rolling forward. The guys in the truck, a big souped up thing, thought their light had turned green and made a tire squealing launch and shot right through the intersection on a red. :- Luckily they made it through without being hit or hitting anyone.Quote:
Originally Posted by rsser
Matt88 almost did same thing first year driving route buses sitting in the right lane to turn left (need the swing to get out of the street. A Rolls was sitting in front of me Green arrow came up :doh: I hit the breaks just millimeters from his bumper good job he had thought the gren light was for him he had moved forward too. place icon of sweat rolling off me here
Such a simple solution - Cant understand why it hasnt been done befere:oo:
:q:q:q:q:q:q(chorus line of raspberries)
Haven't got a GPS myself, but if you are reversing (quite common in English country lanes for a mile or so) does the GPS turns its map upside down.:rolleyes: