h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Living with No traffic lights, roundabouts or parking restrictions - A2777493
Author: Deeety - U767438

Traffic manegement in a small hilltop town in Tuscany. I have lived here for 10 years and although it might sound strange, traffic here does flow rather well and there are very few accidents.

Hi Deeety!

I think I will be among other people when I say that I want to live where you live!

I think you need to be a bit more specific in your title, as it is too vague. It should be something like "A motorists guide to Tuscan hilltop towns", or something.

Also "Reefs" - do you mean wreaths?

You also badly need a comma between "abundant" and "small hilltop towns" in your first paragraph, and I would suggest that "some towns" should be replaced by "most towns".

Just check punctuation in general, as you are missing full stops in a number of places.

Good stuff!

Woodpigeon

I like it!

I think it could go into the EG as a tongue in cheek piece - you forgot to mention that as the streets are so steep, twisty, narrow and cobbled, it's impossible to drive at more than 20 MPH anyway...

And that none of your rules apply to scooters...

sprout

Thanks Woodpigeon and Sprout as you can see I have included your suggestions in the post.

I am sorry about my grammar, it's not my forte and I will never be able to get it to 100% (any help would be apreciated)

You can find out more about my Tuscan hilltop town by visiting www.barganews.com

I grew up in Swindon, where roundabouts and traffic lights are abundant. On my last visit I noticed that they are now putting traffic lights on the actual roundabouts... so when I moved here, it was a plesant surprise to find out that the nearest roundabout was over 30km and for a real traffic light I needed to go to Lucca (about 40km).

Also, the blocking one side of the road technique has officially been adopted by swindon planners, but instead of using badly parked cars to block one side of the road, they have opted for a cement road barrier.

Hi there! Sorry it's been a little while since someone has come around!

I think this entry is quite interesting, but I have a few suggestions for you:

* When using GuideML for Edited Guide entries, we try to get people to use at the beginning of a paragraph and at the end, rather than using to format the entry.

* I think this entry would be easier to use if you divided it up a bit with some headers. For example, Parking might be its own section, with a header like this:

Parking


Mikey

Thanks for the advice Mikey.

I have changed all BR to P's and added a few headings like you suggested.

..... and you are right it is easier to read this way... although I may need to change a couple of the headings to something more meaningfull..

Thanks again
Deety.


ps: what would you suggest I do next to help get this into the edited guide (someone mentioned tongue in cheek section)...

Yup, the headers definitely help!

One thing that I think would help a lot would be some links -- especially if you can find links that give some good pictures, as that would be a great help to an entry like this.


Mikey

Hi Deety,

There is a possibility for me to visit such a hill top town this autumn, so found this very informative.

Just a few typos I've noticed:-

In Parking ---
knowing what fiesta's are on in the town, and more importantly in which large open space venue they are taking place, > knowing what fiestas are on in the town, and more importantly, in which large open space venue they are taking place,

fiestas is just a plural and needs a comma after importantly

In the "Old Town" areas of these hilltop towns > In the 'Old Town' areas of these hilltop towns

They seem to like single quotes round everything needing quotes!
Ditto next one --

Again a copy of the local "What?s on Guide" is a must > Again a copy of the local 'What?s on Guide' is a must

In Environmentally Slow:-
a three wheeled car like means of transport, > a three wheeled car-like means of transport,

each individual Ape from it?s characteristic markings > each individual Ape from its characteristic markings


Watermusic

Arghhhh!

Some of the ' s have become ? due to copy/paste in different thingies

Hey Watermusic, thanks for the help on the typos, just what I needed, I will update ASAP.

I see the House of Bragança in your journal, which for some coincidence (although not quite a hitchhikers telephone number probability) is nearly an anagram of that very hilltop village.

So take away the last three letters nça and use the remaining five letters to spell out the Hilltop town.


Ps: if you are anywhere near here in the autumn then it’s well worth a visit - www.barganews.com

Glad to have been of use!

We should be going somewhere in Lazio, but will not have much time for 'visits' elsewhere as have relatives to see in the Milan area as well.

Lazio: - In that case I forgot to mention that as you move further south these rules are exponential..

Hey, how about carrying out a North/South Holiday survey and report back your findings... it would be fun including them in the Entry.


Thanks again and buon viaggio.


ps: I think that in Lazio they have separate carparks based on the colour of your car (Roma or Lazio).

Hi Deety,

How is it going with this? Are you still working on it?

I think this is great in its latest version - a useful yet tongue-in-cheek article.

Please could we find space in the EG for this?

The one thing I'd like to see is a slightly better description of an Ape. Some of it could probably be crammed into a footnote.

Apes (Ape meaning 'bee' and pronounced 'ar-pay') are made by Piaggio, the same company that make the Vespa (Vespa meaning 'wasp' - the name comes from the buzzing noise of the Piaggio two-stroke engine) are essentially a Vespa with a cab over the seat and a two-wheeled cart attached in place of the back wheel.

I think the pronunciation thing is crucial, otherwise the reader will be thinking of simian life-forms, which is quite the wrong thing

The other thing with Apes, of course, is that they are about than half as wide as a normal car and get can down all those miniscule Tuscan alleyways in the hilltop towns

And they *do* act as a very efficient speed restriction if you get stuck behind one going up a hill full of twisty bends

Yes, thanks, some good ideas. Maybe we could colaborate and create a proper entry for the APE and link to it from this story... I searched the h2g2 database and didn't find anything...


Ps: Just for fun check these two Ape links out..
http://www.barganews.com/people/ape/howto.html

http://www.barganews.com/people/ape/


The Ferarri APE is my favorite.

I don't have any suggestions but just wanted to let you know I've read your piece and found it quirky and interesting..I've only ever visited Italy for half an hour in a coach en route between Austria and the former Yugoslavia. It was many years ago and I swore I would return because that half an hour was filled with exciting smells and I swear the sun was brighter .

I must say if I ever visit Tuscany in a car I would find your piece very helpful.....

Look forward to reading any more stuff you may write about your village

I like this.

I fit it could fit right into the Guide. There's already several entries on driving etiquette, and I think this could slot right in. I mean, look at this lot:

A412895 Driving Etiquette - Spain
A412912 Driving Etiquette - Switzerland
A412769 Driving Etiquette - Canada
A412840 Driving Etiquette - Israel
A412813 Driving Etiquette - India
A412958 Driving Etiquette - USA
A412831 Driving Etiquette - Ireland
A412859 Driving Etiquette - Italy
A412877 Driving Etiquette - Norway
A412787 Driving Etiquette - Egypt
A412796 Driving Etiquette - France
A412886 Driving Etiquette - Portugal
A412921 Driving Etiquette - Taiwan
A412868 Driving Etiquette - New Zealand
A412804 Driving Etiquette - Germany
A412750 Driving Etiquette - Australia
A139501 International Driving Etiquette
A412930 Driving Etiquette - UK

It just cries out for an entry relating to Tuscan hilltop towns, doesn't it?


Geggs

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Congratters!

Watermusic

(P.S. We went to near Orvieto and 'Bognor Regis' - sorry, Bagnareggio!)