Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

zagubov

michaels wrote: »

When is the best time of year for Scotland, when it is cold, wet and miserable or when it is cool, wet and full of biting midges?

I once almost got stuck in the Trossachs and not surprisingly haven't been back since.

Well in the west, thanks to the gulf stream, we know it's the summer when the rain gets lovely and warm.

You'll get eaten alive by insects if you visit any temperate rainforest- oine of the reasons most Scots don't "do" the countryside.:cool:

neverdespairgirl

I did "Europe" with no errors in 161 seconds. Not going to try the Pacific Islands, I'll be crap (-:

zagubov

michaels wrote: »

I once almost got stuck in the Trossachs and not surprisingly haven't been back since.

You gave me a flashback to the summer before I went to uni.
Me and a pal went hitch-hiking and hostelling in the trossachs. Felt we were in the middle of nowhere, going boating on lochs and getting a good drenching as we walked through forests.

Got a lift from an American family in a campervan. We chatted to the parents in the back and they introduced their kids, the oldest being 15. To our shock, he was in the driving seat and turned and gave us a cheery wave as we were negotiating bends in the mountain roads. As the blood drained from our faces, the parents cheerily explained that at 15 he had a driving licence back home, and because they never saw any police, they let him do the driving for a while for the experience of driving on the “wrong” side of the road!

We made our excuses and left, and took out chances with the rain.:p

michaels

So something else we have in common - a real interest in maps and the geography they represent. Elsewhere on one of Lemon's threads there is discussion about the 20% of young people who are NEETs. I wonder if there was a survey of geographical knowledge whether the 20% would score lower than the 80% who are employed or in education - I suspect yes.

On the maps subject I really feel nervous if I 'don't know where I am' - whether that is on arriving in a new city and not having the basic geography in my head or even sometimes when am in a tube station and the train seems to come from the 'wrong' direction (this always used to happen to me at Blackfriars where the Westbounfd cirle lines always felt like they arrived in the wrong direction).

Nowadays it is so easy to travel using satnav in the car but I always find it very surreal following directions without having any feeling of which way I am travelling or even where I am.

sss555s

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I did "Europe" with no errors in 161 seconds. Not going to try the Pacific Islands, I'll be crap (-:

Seeing your competitive, this is what i did this morning...




Course, if you get quicker i may have to try harder

vivatifosi

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I did "Europe" with no errors in 161 seconds. Not going to try the Pacific Islands, I'll be crap (-:

Crikey that's quick. Are you using a proper mouse? I can get them all correct but in 282 seconds. Please try the Pacific Islands. You can't possibly be as crap as me.

vivatifosi

sss555s wrote: »

Seeing your competitive, this is what i did this morning...

Seriously, how can you do it that quickly. Please tell me that wasn't your first go:o:eek::(

michaels

I'm impressed - I didn't know my 'stans and some of those little islands in the indian/pacific ocean had me scratching my head, I also had to stop and think about it even in the 'easy' ones like Europe.

I had a look at the Carribean and South Pacific but beyond Fuji, Haiti and the Dominican Repulic I didn't have a scooby.

I would really like to get the kids a nice globe - anyone know where to find one for reasonable money?

sss555s

michaels wrote: »

So something else we have in common - a real interest in maps and the geography they represent. Elsewhere on one of Lemon's threads there is discussion about the 20% of young people who are NEETs. I wonder if there was a survey of geographical knowledge whether the 20% would score lower than the 80% who are employed or in education - I suspect yes.

On the maps subject I really feel nervous if I 'don't know where I am' - whether that is on arriving in a new city and not having the basic geography in my head or even sometimes when am in a tube station and the train seems to come from the 'wrong' direction (this always used to happen to me at Blackfriars where the Westbounfd cirle lines always felt like they arrived in the wrong direction).

Nowadays it is so easy to travel using satnav in the car but I always find it very surreal following directions without having any feeling of which way I am travelling or even where I am.

I totally rely on sat-navs when out of area.

The thing i always find myself conscious of is the North, South, East and West.

Malta was funny for driving. First thing is the maps don't show all the roundabouts and they are quite out of date. It's very busy and fast and the road sign is usually right on the junction and often just round a bend. If you miss a junction you usually have to back track.

It was eventful

vivatifosi

Just finished the US states one with no errors. Not as quick as you lot though. When I was little I had one of those wooden jigsaws with all of the US states cut to shape. You could say therefore I've been practicing for that "test" since I was about 5 years old.