Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

chris_m

The important thing with satnav is to remember that it's only a guide - just because it says to turn left doesn't relieve you of the need to check before doing so, unlike the woman who brought the London-Lewes railway line to a standstill when her satnav told her to turn left as she approached the level crossing. It meant after the crossing but she turned up the railway line instead

I remember seeing an article in the Daily Wail, about a road in the Yorkshire Dales where satnavs sent people up a dirt track and to the top of a 200' cliff so the farmer was rescuing quite a few people every week.
The placename (Crackpot) was familiar so we tried it with my satnav. Sure enough, it told me to go up a lane but I looked for any clues that it wasn't a good idea, which there were - like a gate, cow !!!!!! all over the road and, woohoo, a no through road sign. All pretty good clues IMO.

The satnav was determined though - we went back down to the main road by a different road and ignored the first turning it said because that was the one it had told us before. The second turning it tried took us back to Crackpot, as did the third when we tried ignoring the second. Eventually we had to take the fifth turning to get to a route that didn't go through Crackpot. I never knew there were so many roads down the south side of Swaledale

SingleSue

Masomnia wrote: »

I don't know how anyone navigated London, particularly buses, before Citymapper.

For me, I just jumped on one going in the right direction and got off when I found the station I wanted. It helped I could also understand the little notices in the bus stops which told me which ones to jump on.

I could somehow understand London transport but couldn't work out/cope with Suffolk public transport although much of that may have been frustration at the limited service we have here compared to London.

Edit - Oooh, that sounds a little too sarcastic and iffy. Read it in a jokey voice in your head, my method really was just jumping on any bus that looked like it might vaguely be going the way I wanted it to and jumping off when I knew we were in the vicinity of a station that would get us 'up west'. Nan would go on about bus numbers but that concept was a little too hard for impatient teenagers like us....

SingleSue

Pyxis wrote: »

Ah, but preparation is the key.
I work out the route on the map, then make a list of the key roads and junctions, with roundabouts indicated by a circle and things like "Turn L at A123"
"Turn right at O onto B234"
"Second left to Madagascar Road"
Etc. etc.
That list is then inserted onto a pad attached by suckers to the windscreen just slightly below my main line of sight.
Whenever I need to stop at lights or in traffic queues, I recheck my next turn-off or junction from that list right in front of me.

I still do that! Despite also having a sat nav, I also do my 'list' and pop it up where I can see it.

Pre sat nav days, ex used to laugh at my list (I too would put memorable things) especially as I would have also memorised it, goodness knows what he would say now with me having already memorised it, driven it virtually via google maps, having my list up and still having the sat nav on :rotfl:

The boys say I am good at being prepared....very prepared.

Pyxis

vivatifosi wrote: »

[STRIKE][/STRIKE]

I used to follow taxis as they knew where they were going. Obviously I didn't know where they were going, but knew that it would be the shortest route between two places.

are we talking about taxis?

PasturesNew

LydiaJ wrote: »

What I can't do is both at the same time.

As a solely lone traveller/driver, what is increasingly "the issue" is that if you do spot you've gone a bit wrong or it's not how you expected, there's nowhere to pull over and have a look. Once you're on the roads these days you have to keep going. Any kerb has yellow lines, or other signs indicating no stopping; traffic is urgent and close; there are no free parking spots to pull off into; fewer shops/premises have car parks to pull over into.

You end up knowing you need to check the map ... but you can't as you can't stop... and, in an effort to find somewhere to stop, you have to actively leave what is the known route...



Add in tiny maps and bad reading eyesight and you're doomed.

What I do is memorise the shape of the journey on google maps before I leave home; try to spot/remember 3 specific landmarks ... then set out full of hope and expectation.

I'm a "lucky driver" who seems to mostly always end up precisely where I intended to be if I'm travelling 200 miles.

But the world is a changing place and it's not the driver's friend.

Pyxis

chris_m wrote: »

The important thing with satnav is to remember that it's only a guide - just because it says to turn left doesn't relieve you of the need to check before doing so, unlike the woman who brought the London-Lewes railway line to a standstill when her satnav told her to turn left as she approached the level crossing. It meant after the crossing but she turned up the railway line instead

I remember seeing an article in the Daily Wail, about a road in the Yorkshire Dales where satnavs sent people up a dirt track and to the top of a 200' cliff so the farmer was rescuing quite a few people every week.
The placename (Crackpot) was familiar so we tried it with my satnav. Sure enough, it told me to go up a lane but I looked for any clues that it wasn't a good idea, which there were - like a gate, cow !!!!!! all over the road and, woohoo, a no through road sign. All pretty good clues IMO.

The satnav was determined though - we went back down to the main road by a different road and ignored the first turning it said because that was the one it had told us before. The second turning it tried took us back to Crackpot, as did the third when we tried ignoring the second. Eventually we had to take the fifth turning to get to a route that didn't go through Crackpot. I never knew there were so many roads down the south side of Swaledale

Perhaps the satnav was trying to home back to its birthplace?

SingleSue

vivatifosi wrote: »

I used to follow taxis as they knew where they were going. Obviously I didn't know where they were going, but knew that it would be the shortest route between two places.

So I got to know the main roads first to get my bearings, e.g. Finchley Road, Marylebone Road, then followed taxis thinking,"I want to go east from here, he's going east". Then follow them.

I haven't driven into London for over a year, but know my way around the west end, the city and north west London reasonably well.

I never bought a satnav, but do now have Waze on my phone, which is absolutely brilliant.

When I started working in the center of Ipswich I didn't have a scoobie how to get back out again (blooming one way systems), so I would go down the road from the office, find a car turning right (the direction I needed to go) and then follow that until I found a road that looked familiar.

Amazingly, it worked pretty well!

PasturesNew

Masomnia wrote: »

The signs disappeared

Every area of the country has its nuances. When I moved here I discovered that the signs disappeared. The other thing they do is no longer tell you where you're headed, they make you choose from a list of small/local places.

As the area is full of tourists, there's also the issue that they're directing traffic away from places and round/by passing them.

Having moved here it took me quite a while before I could find my house each time I went out. I'd go out, intending to visit X, Y and Z - then I'd simply follow a couple of signs homewards that mentioned where I lived... then they'd end and so I'd have to choose from what was on the signs; this often lead me away from my house and I'd end up zig-zagging home.... then looking up where I'd been online when I got home.

One day I was expecting a roundabout - and was happily driving along a road knowing there'd be a roundabout. Unfortunately, there wasn't. When there was a sign I must've been overtaking a lorry in the outside lane.... as I missed the sign with the village name on it.

That's an odd junction. If you imagine a roundabout with a main road straight through the middle of it - and instead of turning right you have to come off to the left, then wait as a series of lights took you round half a roundabout, then the main road gets a red light and you cross over it. And if you're not in the right lane god help you as you have to then follow through with the lane you chose.

Here it is: https://goo.gl/maps/atU5n1nyC1q
I come up from the bottom, (7 o'clock) and want to get off at bottom right (5 o'clock)

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

Goat's cheese and broccoli tart.
goat's cheese and spinach one

Funny thing about quiches......originally they were called flans. Then we went all French and they became Quiches. Now it seems we are going back to English, and calling it tart!

Have you noticed how savoury things are being called by names hitherto reserved for sweet things? eg. Savoury 'jams' to have with meat dishes, and now savoury tarts.

Have we had a savoury custard yet?

I used to call them flans or tarts. I was annoyed when I had to start calling them quiche as it wasn't right. They were flans or tarts.

Re goats cheese, spinach, broccoli - they're pretty much the flavours I'd be trying to avoid

I'm sure there were some really exciting sounding ones about 4-8 years ago appearing, that've now disappeared.

They fill things with "the latest fads, superfoods, middle-class must have items" - and my taste buds are happy in the 1980s!!



If I get some ready rolled pastry in, I'll have loads of stuff I can lob into a quick case. I bought my first ever little pack of chorizo/similar slices last night, having discovered a lack of quiches.... it makes me nervous as I've only ever encountered those on top of pizza before, but I think I'll be able to use them in a variety of ways - and they'll freeze. Date's the middle of January so don't have to eat them asap.

PasturesNew

I have no sat nav. Never seen one used, never been in a car with one .... but I doubt I'd be able to see what was going on and drive. I'm long-sighted so it'd be a bit of a blur I bet.

I need to be going out ... going to wander round a (cr4p, but it exists) indoor market about 15 miles away - via that roundabout I posted above.