T’under
Posted: Tue 29 July, 2008 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Driving Leave a comment »Last night, as blogged about elsewhere, we had a heavy dollop of thunder and lightning (plus rain) at about 3am.
Now, where Hound is concerned, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” this weather described perfectly.
Thunder and lightning
Very very fright’ning
So at 3am, we were both awake with a Hound lying under the bed, terrified, and attempting to burrow through the skirting board and escape that way. The fact that if she ever did get through the wall, she’d be outside and stuck in all the thunder and rain has never quite sunk in. Every single flash of lightning that came, whang, she’s burrowing again.
Bizarrely, we have found one thing that seems to work with the idiot furbag, and that’s having me keep on talking to her, reassuring her that we’re there, not going anywhere, and that (despite her insistence otherwise) everything is actually OK, and she doesn’t need to worry. Or burrow. So long as I keep on talking to the four-legged bollock-brain, she’s OK, and doesn’t scratch/burrow.
Of course, that also means that I have to stay awake through the duration of the storm, and through the other side ’til she comes down from her orbital plane. So I finally got back to semi-decent sleep somewhere south of 4am.
When the alarm went off at 5.15, I just ended up deciding I wasn’t safe to walk, let alone drive the two hour journey to Essex. So I re-set the alarm for an hour later, and shifted myself when it went off again. It means that right now I look like someone’s beaten me up, the under-eye luggage is so serious, and I’ve still got another two-hour journey home to go.
Should be interesting.
F/O
Posted: Mon 21 July, 2008 Filed under: Driving, Thoughts 6 Comments »Over the last few weeks, while driving on the A127 I’ve kept seeing a sign with this mysterious message…
Gallows Corner F/O closed [date]
The date’s irrelevant, but that “F/O” has had me befuddled each time. What the fuck is an F/O ?
I found out today (they’d finally put in the full text on one warning sign) so I know what it is.
But can you work it out? I’d be interested to know whether it’s just me being a twat, or whether it really relied on local knowledge…
[Updated : OK, it looks like it was just me being a twat, as the first two commenters both got it right. F/O somehow equates to ‘Flyover’.]
Dual Carriageways
Posted: Mon 14 July, 2008 Filed under: Driving, Thoughts 4 Comments »I know, I’m writing a lot about driving standards at the moment – it’s mainly because I seem to be doing one hell of a lot of driving at the moment on some of the poxier roads in the region, namely the A14, A127, M11 and M25.
The great majority of those roads are dual-carriageway. Obviously the M25 isn’t, and a small section of the M11 isn’t – but the great majority is dual-carriageway.
And the more I drive on them, the more I’m convinced that if there were one new law/rule that would improve traffic flow and reduce road congestion (and, not coincidentally, driver frustration) it would be to insist that truck drivers can’t overtake on dual carriageways.
I’ve lost count of the number of times over the last few weeks where the entire road has been held up because two or three fuckwit bastard truck drivers have been playing leapfrog down the M11. All it does is lead to jammed up traffic – not stationary, but jammed up and queueing behind the trucks for miles, which just then leads to people being stupid and making stupid manoeuvres any time they see a gap. God knows, it’s tempted me on occasion to drive past the shit-for-brains twats on the hard shoulder. I never have – but dear Lord, it’s been a temptation.
So yes, to sort out a lot of driver frustration and traffic hassle, that’s the law that should be made. No overtaking for truck drivers. And if they don’t like it, well, they shouldn’t have driven like arseholes in the first place.
Something Wrong…
Posted: Thu 10 July, 2008 Filed under: Charm School, Customer Services, Driving 4 Comments »There’s got to be something wrong with the picture, when you see a BSM Driving School Instructor (In his BSM-logoed car) making a total mess of a roundabout, being in the wrong lane, and then cutting up another driver (to whit, me) in order to get to the correct place.
It does make you wonder how many of that instructor’s pupils fail though…