Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

SingleSue

I need to be going out but it is so foggy I can't see the houses across the road....or for that matter, the road itself from my window!

zagubov

One of my first posts on this forum was about finding my way round London. The biggest problem was the street signs on main roads. They were either repetitive (ie High Street) or missing (having been taken down during the war).

I'd read that satellite dishes always pointed south by south-east, which got me out of a jam quite a few times when I'd gone round a few one-way systems.

There used to be two separate transport passes; Travelcards covered the tube and the bus, and CapitalCards covered the trains as well. They didn't have exactly the same zone boundaries which got a bit confusing.

Pyxis

One thing that always infuriates me is the number of houses that don't have their street number on their doors or gates.
Drives me mad when you're trying to find a house and are driving along slowly.


What's worse is that on shopping streets there are virtually no numbers on the shops at all. If you're lucky, there might be a door in between two shops for the flat above and that might have its number on it, otherwise you have no idea of their numbers. If it's a long road, you don't know which end you should be looking either!

Some street maps indicate numbers at intervals, but most don't.

I pity the poor postmen.

chris_m

The only time I've tried driving in London I was going from Alton to Duxford, just south of Cambridge. As it was early on a Sunday morning we decided to go straight through London. We did OK coming off the A3M as far as (IIRC) Waterloo Bridge. At the end of the bridge we saw a sign for the M11 at the base of a building so we followed it. That was the last blasted sign we saw until, having gone through several housing estates and a very orthodox Jewish area (judging by the attire) we spotted an overhead gantry sign the other side of another housing estate so found a way through to it and finally got onto the M11. I reckon we had been going in the right direction but one or two roads east of the one we should have been on. We came back using the M11, M25 and A3M

Actually, there was an advantage to having got lost and, hence delayed. It meant that we got to the airshow just before everything started, which meant we were very close to the car park exit - extremely handy when the show finished and tens of thousands of people were all trying to get out at once

silvercar

There used to be two separate transport passes; Travelcards covered the tube and the bus, and CapitalCards covered the trains as well. They didn't have exactly the same zone boundaries which got a bit confusing.

I remember that around the late eighties. I used to live near cricklewood British Rail Station and "treat myself" to getting a capital card in the winter months. That was zones 1-3.
In Summer months I would walk for 5 minutes and then get a bus to Kilburn tube. A double saving as it was zones 1-2 that I needed and the travelcard was cheaper than the capitalcard.

One thing that always infuriates me is the number of houses that don't have their street number on their doors or gates.
Drives me mad when you're trying to find a house and are driving along slowly.

Wheelie bins usually have larger numbers than the house itself.

DS2 is working in the big town that is about 5-6 miles from home, he doesn't even need to go on the town's ring road. I have made that journey many many times, yet his sat nav showed up a route that I have never taken and misses out all traffic.

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

One thing that always infuriates me is the number of houses that don't have their street number on their doors or gates.
Drives me mad when you're trying to find a house and are driving along slowly.
What's worse is that on shopping streets there are virtually no numbers on the shops at all. If you're lucky, there might be a door in between two shops for the flat above and that might have its number on it, otherwise you have no idea of their numbers. If it's a long road, you don't know which end you should be looking either!
Some street maps indicate numbers at intervals, but most don't.
I pity the poor postmen.

At least they (usually) follow a logical order, unlike Iqaluit in Nunavat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-38132001

As a newcomer, Mike found it hard to find his way around the city; businesses often convert houses into offices without putting lighted signage outside and the city operates a confusing house number system too. "Whatever sense it makes, 1425 is between 1412 and 1416," he says in bemusement.

zagubov

chris_m wrote: »

At least they (usually) follow a logical order, unlike Iqaluit in Nunavat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-38132001

Maybe they need the "three word address" system.

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

One thing that always infuriates me is the number of houses that don't have their street number on their doors or gates.
Drives me mad when you're trying to find a house and are driving along slowly.

There is an ancient law about this. It's supposed to be illegal to not have a house number that's visible from the public footway. I think the fine is a shilling.

Pyxis wrote: »

... no numbers on the shops ..

If you're looking from home you can find the right one by googling as the shop websites/google results will give you the door number. Not useful if you're standing in the road wondering whether to try left or right.

PasturesNew

I think I've just joined the middle classes

It's a bit of a posh alert (those earning more than £50k/year in their household need to titter quietly as I explain why)...

I've just bought some outdoor footwear. Northwest Territory Ladies Waterproof Leather Walking/Treking Boots. Purchasable online for about £35.

I was walking through the market and one of the stalls was footwear - and there was a sign that caught my eye "Last pair £15". So I peeked, size 3. "They might fit" I thought..... so I tried them on. Feet get inside them, I wasn't entirely sure if 7 miles along a route they might hurt a bit as I've got wide feet... so I was putting them back and said so and the fella said "they're leather". Well, I know leather stretches, so I was in.

I stood and hesitated and he said "That's less than I paid for them" - I can believe that. I hesitated a bit more and he said "If you take them now £12". So I did.

They're pink, but beggars/choosers and all that. I expect these to last me "for life". Pink as in top left of this photo
http://www.jadoregroup.net/hosting/New%20Pics%2002.07.14/Trek%20-%20Dark%20Red/Online%20Avenue.jpg

PasturesNew

Just to prove I didn't really join the middle classes, but am culturally and style-wise relegated permanently to the swamp dwellers:

I also had a bit of a grotto-fest luck. Chap on the market flogging off Asda £1 4metre lengths of tinsel for 20p. I really wanted green, but he had silver, gold, red ... and as I could find a place/use for any tinsel I thought I'd be mad not to buy at that price, so I got all three.

Another stall was flogging some tinsel snowmen hanging decorations; seen these for the last 2-3 years at £1, but this place wanted 25p each for their last two, so I got them both. They are like this
http://www.temptationgifts.com/product/pms-tinsel-snowman-wall-plaque-2-asstd

I do LOVE a grotto. But it takes a lot of "buying random tat" until you've got enough to dot it around and make it look good. For now my house looks like a bargain bin remnants sale explosion.