OT and apropos of nothing

[Bill Wright]

A small motor car came right up my drive this afternoon into my car park and stopped. Ah, visitors! Wonder who it can be! But as I watched no-one got out of the car. After a while it went forward a bit, then back a bit. It seemed to be attempting to turn round, not a difficult manoeuvre in a 25ft vehicle, so why it was proving hard in this little car I don't know. I went out. The driver was a young female, clearly flustered.

"Is this Back Lane?" "No, it's my back yard." "Oh I'm sorry. It's my satnav! It's always doing this!"

After much hand waving from me she managed to turn round, and off she went.

Back Lane is about 400 metres further down the road. I wonder if the satnav really was to blame.

I wonder what her business was on Back Lane. Was she perhaps a nurse, come to administer a dose-critical injection? Or maybe she was a social worker, visiting someone to decide whether to take their children away. Or she could have been from the council, measuring up for a disability ramp with a one metre dressmaker's tape.

The last one actually happened, here at this house, so I'm not exaggerating.

My point, I suppose, is that seems to be too many young women roaming around with no common sense and too much power.

Bill

[Andy Burns]

It's a ruse by Google to take pictures of back yards, we look forward to a glimpse of your motorhome on streetview ...

[Brian Gaff]

Funny you should say that. I was in a car last week where a white van girl came around a corner and almost collided with us. There were obviously cars parked on both sides of the road and she should have been taking care due to all the blind spots, but no, she was whizzing along around a blind corner, luckily the vehicle had good brakes. My feeling is that whatever they are teaching at driving school its not getting into the young heads. I understand re isk taking is a roblem for the young as their brains are undegoing rewiring to become adult, but as this issue has been known about for decades, why don't they really force the point home about taking care? Brian

[Andy Cap]

I watched an item the other day, explaining all the research which has/is going into the surfaces used in kid's playgrounds. When we played in the rec in the 50s, the surface was asphalt and you frequently came home with scratches and bruises. A kaolin poultice was a pretty regular experience. The point being, that unless children hurt themselves occasionally, they don't learn the boundaries. Even the H&S people said recently, that they are being over-protected.

Andy C

[The Natural Philosopher]

As in..

[Nightjar]

On 05/03/2015 09:24, Andy Cap wrote: ...

We had grass, usually with mud, which was messier, but generally more forgiving.

[Roger Mills]

I was kept in short trousers until I was 11 on the basis that grazed knees would heal, but damaged trousers wouldn't mend themselves!

[Robin]

11? My secondary school uniform required short trousers for years 1 and 2. And a cap!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Probably not. It may have said 'turn left' and she did - but not into the road it showed on the screen.

[Chris French]

In message , Bill Wright writes

Is this different from the young men with no common sense?

[fred]

Tongue in cheek swipe? The cheeky f'ckrs are so very doing that exact thing. I have friends who live on one of the more populated Scottish islands and live down a private drive with clearly visible (but open) gates at the top. The streetview f'ckrs have driven down the private drive and photographed the lot. On checking out the local area it appears that they have been down every private drive in the area, snooping on the private property.

The friends can have their private content pulled but no doubt they have no right to ask that other private content in the area be removed, the big G will insist that any complaint come from the landowner concerned.

I do think the UK needs a legal remedy along the lines of a US class action to pull the plug on these kinds of acts.

[harryagain]

Part of the current Bimbo syndrome.

[Bill Wright]

You don't have a satnav then?

Bill

[Bill Wright]

No of course not, but I was talking about women.

Bill

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I do - I'm on my third. Never once had it direct me down the wrong road.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I had a GF a few years ago.

She phoned me up 'I cant find your house, I'm lost' 'Well where are you, then I can give you directions'

'I said I am lost, I dont know where I am'

'So why phone me asking for help then? You know I cant give you directions if I don't know where you are' '

'Men!'

[Mike Barnes]

The factory-fitted satnav in my car has directed me down roads that aren't even roads - they're rural footpaths that nobody could drive down.

I keep a Tom Tom in the glove box for occasions when real navigation is needed.

[Nightjar]

While mine has never directed me down the wrong road, I have occasionally found it difficult to decide exactly which of a choice of roads it wants me to go down. Close attention to the distance countdown is sometimes needed.

[Tim Streater]

We keep these things called "maps" in our car for this purpose. SWMBO is very good, too, at reading them.

[Mike Barnes]

My SWMBO is rubbish at it. I suspect there isn't a paper map in my car any more, a situation I would have found hard to believe when I was a young man.