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

I'll have to remember all of this for when I (undoubtedly) get into my first wreck.


Only 105 class periods left until I get out of school for the Summer.

Morning all. Saturday.

I can report that the biggest hazard on the - mainly two-lane - NZ roads are the American and European tourists who insist on driving on the wrong (right) side of the road.

Luckily, the livestock who escape from paddocks - the gates of which have often been left open by these same tourists - tend to graze on the left.

So if I turn up in godzone then I'll be used to driving on the right (left) side of the road

I shall simply walk or ride a bicycle and take care of the whole mess.

G7

*swings in on a vine*

Hullo!!! Well, I tell ya, the other side the mountain known as my presentation is much nicer! It went well...so well, in fact, I got a standing ovation from a few of my fellow classmates. So that's over. Now all that's in front of me are a test, three finals, two of which I don't have to study for, and the paper for the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Conference (which sounds a lot more high falutin' than it really is!). So I am breathing again!

backlog was well, busy. I just hope that all of you talking about DSL and ADSL and blah, blah blah realize just how lucky you are...in Montana, having a dial-up number that isn't long distance is something of a coup. Really. Sometimes I think the pony express was faster.
I must say the new message (at the bottom of each 20) is much friendlier. Not so much legalese and all that.
And as for vehicular derring do, B17, I am glad you are okay. I once was saved by a sapling from going over a cliff on the alcan somewhere in the Yukon Territory. We swerved to avoid a bear, and all of the sudden the road was slick and oops. The tree was springy enough that it just bent and popped us back on the road like a slingshot. I think about then is when I began to breathe again. Frankly, I can't wait til they invent cars that just go on their own and steer themselves....less human stupidity that way!

It's a bit late for me, but for some of you there are still a few hours left to celebrate "Jedi Day"

May the 4th be with you

LOL Loony that was *just* what I needed to hear today. I will wish everyone I know a Happy Jedi day!

Does anyone else have an image in their head of Montana Redhead's car being driven by a coyote who stands in mid-air for a moment before realizing that there is nothing beneath him?

My most spectacular brush with death in a car was on the A420 coming out of Oxford. A concrete-mixer lorry hit my car in the nearside rear corner causing my car to roll... and roll... and roll. My car at the time was a hatchback and the entire contents of the boot sailed passed my left ear in stately slow motion. If I shut my eyes I can still see the car jack and the wheel brace gliding past and leaving the car via the windscreen.

When everything eventually stopped the car was upside down and I was hanging from my seatbelt. I could hear something dripping and then I could smell petrol. That brought the world back into focus and I pushed myself upwards to release the belt and dropped to my knees on the roof of the car. The door wouldn't budge so I crawled out through the tail gate that had sprung open.

The police and ambulance arrived seconds later. The police went and talked to the lorry driver while I was checked over. I wasn't badly hurt, just a few cuts from crawling on broken glass, so I refused hospital treatment and signed the disclaimer. Then the police put me in the back of their car, read me my rights, charged me with dangerous driving and breathalysed me on the grounds that (1) the lorry driver had said it was my fault and (2) they could smell alcohol on me and (3) I was not crying (!).

I was livid. LIVID. I got another wet-wipe sachet out of my handbag and waved it in their faces to demonstrate where the smell of alcohol was coming from (I had been wiping the blood off my knees). Then the wreckers arrived and confirmed the point of impact to the police. What was I suppose to have done? Reversed into the lorry before switching direction and accelerating up the road? They dropped the charges.

Amy, a distressing story but, alas, a fairly typical report on the braindead type of people police forces worldwide are now attracting.

Did the police apologise? Did they charge the driver? Did you threaten to sue? Who paid to repair your vehicle? Did you send a tape of the song "Big Girls Don't Cry" to the head dude at the police station.

Are you quite certain, Amy, that your mishap did not happen in South Salt Lake Utah? It sounds like the kind of crap they do all the time. In Salt Lake valley there are no less than ten police forces and of them South Salt Lake is the worst. They cause me no end of grief. Of all teh piddly little things they could harrass me for they pull me over regularly for the lack of a light on my licence plate. My truck has never had one but it is the law aI guess. One day I will see if I can get the records of the number of traffic tickets they write in a year as compared to the rest of the valley. I love the FOI Act! (freedom of information) One day they will make it searchable and it will be even easier to see how the cops in SSL are the worst in the state.

Sorry Just got me going after a beer or two

Marv

You have to have a light on your licence plate everywhere, Marv. It's so that if you commit an offence, or someone nicks your truck and goes on a crime spree, passers-by can have half a chance of remembering your number. Be a good boy and get it fixed.

To answer Loony's questions: no the police didn't apologise but they did put it in writing that they were dropping the charges. As far as I know they didn't charge the driver either. I have put a curse on all concrete-mixer lorries - it's very effective, just a week after applying the curse I saw one topple over as it tried to circumnavigate a mini-roundabout too fast.

The car was written off by my insurance company on the grounds that it was all elevations were now more parallelogram in shape than rectangular. However, the scrap yard it was taken to straightened it out, unrolled the roof that had done a sort of sardine-can trick, and tried to sell it. Very naughty.

[OP]

Thanks for the well-wishes and similar horror stories, guys.
I am fine. I have had my 'warning' and so now it will be caution, caution, caution from now on. Much as i love my car, it has always had a tendancy to slide in wet weather, when application of the brakes is required. I am just thankfull that the other people on the road were ok, and no damage was done. (might have to get a new pair of trousers though ) I fully expected to get a visit from some form of constabulary during the day, but it would seem that my mishap was not reported by anyone, to which i am very grateful. I would hate to try and explain that one. Oh well, live and learn.

So another Bank holiday weekend, and guess who is working Sat/Sun, yep, yours truly. Backshift But it is sunny, and I think I shall get some of the garden dug, since my partner has taken herself off for the long weekend with her parents, and headed up north for a couple of nights. I'll be back later.

Hope you have a good weekend, B-17.

Ooh, I'm a Muse now! Muse of Infinity and Dimensional Theory!

As of tomorrow (sunday) evening I'm going to be doing the horror that is being on call

Think on this, Phil. It might not be for much longer in this current position.

Have a good weekend yourself Chris, and congrats on the Musedom.

Cheers B-17.

And don't you worry, Phil - you'll get through.

[Kasia]

will be back after reading this lot, you all 'produced'

Babel, happy to hear, you are more or less ok

Kasia!
Is it me, or have you not been here in a while??