The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

It rains a lot everywhere doesn't it... except in advert-land where everybody's perpetually in the dry.

I just looked up averages.

London: 23 inches/year
My county: 28-30 inches/year
Your county: 130 inches/year

Blimey! No wonder they call it the Lake District!
Even Ireland doesn't seem to get that much!

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

It rains a lot everywhere doesn't it... except in advert-land where everybody's perpetually in the dry.

I just looked up averages.

London: 23 inches/year
My county: 28-30 inches/year
Your county: 130 inches/year

Indeedy - but we do have a lot of lakes that need to be kept topped up

It's not actually too bad where I am down on the south coast of the county but only 20 miles north is Seathwaite Fell which, with an average annual precipitation of 3552mm/140" is the wettest place in England.

Seathwaite Fell used to hold the 24 hour precipitation record of 316.4mm, until Storm Desmond dumped 341mm on Honister Pass on
December 5th 2015. It also held the 48 hour record of 395.6mm until the Thirlmere area took it with 405mm the following day.

That was a particularly bad storm, with several villages, towns and, even, a city being severely flooded, many bridges being damaged or completely destroyed and the two main roads north-south through the county also being destroyed in several places. The A591 running past Thirlmere wasn't reopened until six months later because it had been washed away in one location, undercut due to culvert damage and and buried in places due to landslips over a length of several miles. They also had to do a lot of stabilisation work on the fellside above the road - the County Surveyor summarised that by saying that most of the lower slopes of western face of Helvellyn had shifted downwards :eek:

I was keeping a very close eye on the news at that time, since it occurred in between my offer on this house being accepted and the transaction completing.

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

Blimey! No wonder they call it the Lake District!

When I said I was moving up here my sister said "why do you want to go there? It always rains.", to which I replied, "If it didn't rain a fair bit, it'd only be called the Puddle District" :rotfl:

michaels

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think electric scooters might suit more people than bikes would.

Yesterday morning I was parked outside the launderette "waiting" ... and a bloke went past riding one of those - with his daughter on it in front of him - doing the "school run". Man, daughter, lots of luggage/bags ... on the road. No helmets, just for the record (not that you need them).

It was a quiet/side road, but there's still a bit where they'd have had to cross both sides of the road at a junction, where cars turning in at that point wouldn't have expected such a vehicle to be crossing right over...

I like the idea of an electric/foldable scooter. It's "less faff" than a bike, especially storage requirements and portability.

There are scooter schemes in a lot of places internationally but I think we fail to have traffic laws that cover electric scooters, segways, electric bikes that are not pedal assisted etc. basically they are illegal to use on the pavement and illegal to use on the road (without an mot and licence plate and insurance).

I think the untethered bikes are supposedly much cheaper than the tethered ones to run because there is no paying for the land they are parked on and the infrastructure to support them and they are serviced/repositoned if needed by a few uber type employees in rented vans.

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

There are scooter schemes in a lot of places internationally but I think we fail to have traffic laws that cover electric scooters, segways, electric bikes that are not pedal assisted etc. basically they are illegal to use on the pavement and illegal to use on the road (without an mot and licence plate and insurance).

I think the untethered bikes are supposedly much cheaper than the tethered ones to run because there is no paying for the land they are parked on and the infrastructure to support them and they are serviced/repositoned if needed by a few uber type employees in rented vans.

Electric scooters/law do seem complex... it'd help if the manufacturers/retailers had to put a stamp on them so you could look up the law/requirements for that item... or even if there were a simple lookup database online where you chose the manufacturer/model and it told you.

I looked at the law/options earlier and quickly became overwhelmed by what's right/wrong and how you'd ever know you'd got the right thing etc.

Clear lookups, comparables, would open the market up - I think people just don't really understand what they're buying and "assume", or try to work it out and back off confused. I backed off/confused.

PasturesNew

Reading this, just one, Q/A about scooters, it would appear the bloke I saw this morning was illegal.

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q361.htm

subject to all the usual legal requirements that apply to cars or motorcycles e.g. tax, insurance, registration and driver licensing. They cannot therefore be used on a road unless they conform to the law and many such vehicles will never be 'road legal' as their design fails to meet UK or EC road vehicle standards

Dunno what sort he had, but on the basis he also had a passenger.... and no helmets, chances are the plod would find something to pin on him.

Some might be road legal - and you need a license/helmet etc.

So, in short: If you see anybody riding one anywhere that's not their garden... it's 99.99% likely to be illegal.

Here's another one, after the High Court ruling 18 years ago

will need a driving licence and third party insurance to use them on public highways. But as no insurance company is prepared to cover them for road use because of their inadequate braking system and lack of lights or proper steering, driving them on the public highway is liable to prosecution.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/oct/27/keithperry

And here's the first death on a rented electric scooter, yesterday's date.
Lime rent them out in the US, like the boris bikes/London.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6201799/Man-20-person-die-electric-scooter-crash-DC.html

ivyleaf

silvercar wrote: »

Boris Bike's seem to be replaced correctly in docking stations most of the time, so I don't understand why these yellow bikes are being dumped.

I have also seen vehicles moving Boris Bike's around London to free up docking stands etc

I can't ride a bike, nor can DS1. OH can ride properly, DS2 could if he hadn't given up on learning, he at least has some co-ordination. DS2-GF had some injury as a child so has a doctor's ban on cycling. Pretty hopeless lot here. Any other NPs can't ride?

Me! Terrible sense of balance

PasturesNew

I think a market's been missed on a lot of items... 3-wheelers.

They don't have to be "granny styled". I think if more mopeds, bicycles and e-bikes and scooters were designed with 3 wheels more people would buy/use them. The twin set don't have to be far apart, just wide enough apart for stability and their ability to stand up unaided. With a bike it's a nuisance having to find somewhere to "prop it up" or, in my case, being able to reach the kerb so I can touch it with my toes when I'm stopped.

Tasteful/simple 3 wheelers remove a lot of riding obstacles and fears for people.

Jackmydad

Never mind 3 wheel mopeds!
Anyone remember the "Ariel 3 from the early 70s that never really took off? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_3_(moped)
I want one of these
https://www.morgan-motor.co.uk/3-wheeler/

Jackmydad

I rode motorbikes for many years, and I haven't long stopped riding bicycles.
Main reason for stopping both was a strong sense of preservation because of the abysmal road awareness, of the [STRIKE]mobile telephonists and social media updaters[/STRIKE] car, lorry and tractor drivers around here.
Narrow lanes, poor visibility, people in a hurry. . . :mad: