9 car pileiup M6..

[Nightjar]

I can't claim to be an expert on fun fairs. I only know about Dreamland because, back in the 1970s, I had to compile a list of non-standard electricity supplies in the South East and they were the last taking DC. They used DC motors in their rides for the smooth speed control they gave.

I imagine that the same consideration applies to mobile fun fair rides as well and, if they are generating their own electricity, there is no reason why it should not be DC. They don't need to worry about transmitting it. OTOH, these days, as DC motors are widely used in CNC machines, heavy duty DC motor controllers that accept AC input are much more common than they were 40 years ago.

Colin Bignell

[polygonum]

What an odd way of getting to Watford Gap! Yes - about 67 miles north of Watford.

I'd choose the M1 rather than the M40.

[Nightjar]

I once missed a turning on a French Autoroute because I expected them to signpost a turn to Charleroi, which is a fairly large city. However, it is in Belgium and the French decided to signpost a small town on the French border that I had never heard of instead.

Colin Bignell

[polygonum]

Would they not have been "Autobahn häufen sich" or some such?

[whisky-dave]

As far as I know the North pole is about 2,600 miles from london and travel= ing towards it means going North, and when I say up north I mean anything f= rom watford onwards, but when refering to peoplem those from Stoke on trent= are Northern to me but southern to the scottish. :)

[S Viemeister]

:) No, about 30-40 miles west of there.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And neither is the A1.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Wonder what people living in Brighton think? I assume they do think - sometimes.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Friday night after the pubs closed, some apprentice or other would say "lets drive up to Rugby." So we did! You could join at the start of the M10 (now deceased) just back of St. Albans.

>

[The Natural Philosopher]

I have seen little evidence of it..

[John Williamson]

Not that I've noticed. I'm usually too busy heaving sighs of relief at being on the way home while extracting the last bit of speed that the limiter will let me, though.

[Steve Firth]

"Oh look at that bijou little restaurant, it's CHARMING! I must pop down to the Lanes later to buy a lime waxed Victorian corner cupboard for an inflated price. Ooh Jemima and Pippa will be over later get more Bolly for the fridge and poss. a case of Chardonnay."

Big, unfounded, assumption.

[Steve Firth]

writes

The North starts where the terraced houses and asthmatic pigeons first show themselves. Whitchurch in Hampshire. Anywhere north of that is The North, including the grimy metropolis.

[Apellation Controlee]

------------8><

Ah yes, La France, where a sign pointing left means "straight ahead".

[djc]

Always confusing in Italy: straight ahead at a cross-roads indicated by two signs, in the right corner pointing left, in the left corner pointing right.

My satnav (there had to be a reason it was £50 in a sale) has europe mapping but each separate country map stops at the national border, so you have to set the route to an obscure town on the border rather than the large city on the other side. Change map to destination country before the border and it cannot find a route at all.

[djc]

Why would I need to go to Watford Gap! When I regularly travelled between London and Coventry there was only a couple of miles difference between the M1 and M40 routes, the extra distance on the M40 was compensated by easier access to the motorway and a clear route with less "slow lorry overtaking slightly slower lorry".

>

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And if it is possible, the M40 is a less boring motorway than the M1.

[Jules Richardson]

Indeed (with apologies to Robin, who I'm sure isn't, but once it was stuck in my head it needed out :-)

[polygonum]

[Jules Richardson]

:-)

For me it was an imaginary line across the country just south of Sheffield, I think. As a kid I lived in Reading, then Wolverhampton, then Leamington, but we had relatives up around Leeds so on visits would take the M6 for the first two (then M62 past Manchester) and the M1 for the latter.

That line was around the point when the housing and climate seemed to change significantly - and to a kid it even seemed a little other- worldly, particularly Sheffield in the dark where the road was elevated above the buildings and there was a factory with a chimney that had a burning flame on the top.

cheers

Jules