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Odds And Ends And Anything You Fancy

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twonines said:
I believe there is some Stilton actually produced in Derbyshire as well.
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There was, and very nice it was too - from Hartington in the White Peak, the limestone grassland gave it a distinctive taste. But the monopoly that owns the Melton Mowbray factory bought it up and closed it down :(
 
old slave said:
Near the start there were 3-lane roads; did any other country in the world build such dangerous things? The middle lane was for overtaking in BOTH directions. Nobody had priority, possession and a big vehicle were all that mattered. Most, but certainly not all, have been removed, sometimes just by allowing one direction to overtake using painted lines.
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My father dropped out of law school in 1935 for financial reasons (it was the depth of the Depression) because he could get a job in the Pennsylvania Department of Highways at $120 a week. He worked there for three years before marrying my beautiful mother (a spitting image of Princess Elizabeth) and going back to law school.

Twenty-five years later, he would tell tales of how Pennsylvania in the 30's was the world leader in three-lane roads - so efficient! Unfortunately, they carried the highest accident rates, by far, in the country. By the fifties most had been widened to four lanes. However, when I was a youngster, there were no medians not even barriers - just two feet of inner shoulder. Head-ons - the most deadly, were so much more common then!
 
Praefectus Praetorio said:
My father dropped out of law school in 1935 for financial reasons (it was the depth of the Depression) because he could get a job in the Pennsylvania Department of Highways at $120 a week. He worked there for three years before marrying my beautiful mother (a spitting image of Princess Elizabeth) and going back to law school.

Twenty-five years later, he would tell tales of how Pennsylvania in the 30's was the world leader in three-lane roads - so efficient! Unfortunately, they carried the highest accident rates, by far, in the country. By the fifties most had been widened to four lanes. However, when I was a youngster, there were no medians not even barriers - just two feet of inner shoulder. Head-ons - the most deadly, were so much more common then!
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I well remember, when I first started driving myself (Austin A35) using the A4 road to Bristol. A lot of it was 3 lane and the number of really badly smashed up vehicles that I saw in roadside garages made me respect that road. The authorities did introduce the 2 lane one way, one the other way (and then alternate).
A guy followed me for some miles, ignoring several chances where he could safely (ish) and legally overtake, to finally zoom past when it was one lane for us. He had a much more powerful car than my 35 bhp vehicle.
 
phlebas said:
I wonder what the death toll per vehicle/vehicle mile was then compared to now?
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According to a UK Parliament library post: 'In 1938 there were 314 casualties for every 100 million kilometres travelled while in 2012 there were 41 casualties per 100 million kilometres travelled.'
 
old slave said:
It's not so easy to have a bad smash when crawling at 10mph (15kph)

View attachment 916990
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That's what Barb said, till they let her get behind the wheel of a truck......

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Migoz2 said:
That's what Barb said, till they let her get behind the wheel of a truck......

2_hetc2.jpg
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Well, don’t blame me. Blame those that let me get behind the wheel. And, furthermoore, you people should really learn to drive on the right side of the road! :confused:
 
Barbaria1 said:
Well, don’t blame me. Blame those that let me get behind the wheel. And, furthermoore, you people should really learn to drive on the right side of the road! :confused:
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In Britain we drive on the Correct side of the road. As do the Japanese and as did the Austrians (who used to until the Nazis took over) the Swedes until the 1950's and of course lots of places like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, etc, etc still do.

How the drive on the right came about is not too clear, it seems to have something to do with the French revolution, Napoleon and so on.
Some say that in the days of the French monarchy the aristocrats kept to the left and everyone else had to use the right. Come the revolution it was no longer healthy to be thought an "Aristo", might have to "kiss" Madame Guillotine.

Keep left made sense if you were on horseback and wore your sword on your left hip, easier to mount, easier to engage any opponent hand-to-hand. See a film showing jousting, they keep to the left of the "fence" thing, couch the lance under right arm, shield in the left hand (or so I think).
(I am sure Eulalia can correct me if wrong.)

Incidently I understand that the earliest reference in England to this matter was a ruling about old London Bridge. Traffic from Southwark bound northwards into the City had to keep to the West side of the bridge and South bound traffic to the East. Thus keep left. My guess is maybe no general rule, just custom applied elsewhere.
 
cruxlover said:
In Britain we drive on the Correct side of the road. As do the Japanese and as did the Austrians (who used to until the Nazis took over) the Swedes until the 1950's and of course lots of places like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, etc, etc still do.

How the drive on the right came about is not too clear, it seems to have something to do with the French revolution, Napoleon and so on.
Some say that in the days of the French monarchy the aristocrats kept to the left and everyone else had to use the right. Come the revolution it was no longer healthy to be thought an "Aristo", might have to "kiss" Madame Guillotine.

Keep left made sense if you were on horseback and wore your sword on your left hip, easier to mount, easier to engage any opponent hand-to-hand. See a film showing jousting, they keep to the left of the "fence" thing, couch the lance under right arm, shield in the left hand (or so I think).
(I am sure Eulalia can correct me if wrong.)

Incidently I understand that the earliest reference in England to this matter was a ruling about old London Bridge. Traffic from Southwark bound northwards into the City had to keep to the West side of the bridge and South bound traffic to the East. Thus keep left. My guess is maybe no general rule, just custom applied elsewhere.
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So, are you telling me none of my ancestors had anything to do with it???

seriously .... very educational post, cruxlover
 
cruxlover said:
In Britain we drive on the Correct side of the road. As do the Japanese and as did the Austrians (who used to until the Nazis took over) the Swedes until the 1950's and of course lots of places like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, etc, etc still do.

How the drive on the right came about is not too clear, it seems to have something to do with the French revolution, Napoleon and so on.
Some say that in the days of the French monarchy the aristocrats kept to the left and everyone else had to use the right. Come the revolution it was no longer healthy to be thought an "Aristo", might have to "kiss" Madame Guillotine.

Keep left made sense if you were on horseback and wore your sword on your left hip, easier to mount, easier to engage any opponent hand-to-hand. See a film showing jousting, they keep to the left of the "fence" thing, couch the lance under right arm, shield in the left hand (or so I think).
(I am sure Eulalia can correct me if wrong.)

Incidently I understand that the earliest reference in England to this matter was a ruling about old London Bridge. Traffic from Southwark bound northwards into the City had to keep to the West side of the bridge and South bound traffic to the East. Thus keep left. My guess is maybe no general rule, just custom applied elsewhere.
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It stems from the fact that the majority of people are right handed and for safety`s sake it was expedient to pass each other sword arm to sword arm,this being commonplace from at least Roman times.
 
cruxlover said:
Keep left made sense if you were on horseback and wore your sword on your left hip, easier to mount, easier to engage any opponent hand-to-hand. See a film showing jousting, they keep to the left of the "fence" thing, couch the lance under right arm, shield in the left hand (or so I think).
(I am sure Eulalia can correct me if wrong.)
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During jousting, the lance is worn in the right hand, so a left-side approach seems logic. But when not jousting, it is more practical to keep at the right, with a lance in the right hand, hence originates the continental habit to drive right, since knights were more used to carry a lance.

With a sword worn at the left hip, it is rather logic to march on the left side. But, I have been told, when marching through dangerous area, it is more practical to march on the right side nevertheless. If the ambush comes from the right, the sword is easily drawn before facing the attacker.

In case the attack comes from the left, an extra step has to be made to face the enemy after drawing swords. So marching left, with a sword on the left hip, would give the attacker one crucial step advantage. Hence, Roman legions always marched on the right hand side of the road.
 
Loxuru said:
Right! Since their uncivilised oppenents mostly could not discern left from right!:D
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But the left-driving Anglo-Saxons got the spoils.

My God, Sir, these foreigners even pass the port the wrong way round the table.
At least after Brexit we'll have none of that nonsense!

 
cruxlover said:
In Britain we drive on the Correct side of the road. As do the Japanese and as did the Austrians (who used to until the Nazis took over) the Swedes until the 1950's and of course lots of places like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, etc, etc still do.

How the drive on the right came about is not too clear, it seems to have something to do with the French revolution, Napoleon and so on.
Some say that in the days of the French monarchy the aristocrats kept to the left and everyone else had to use the right. Come the revolution it was no longer healthy to be thought an "Aristo", might have to "kiss" Madame Guillotine.

Keep left made sense if you were on horseback and wore your sword on your left hip, easier to mount, easier to engage any opponent hand-to-hand. See a film showing jousting, they keep to the left of the "fence" thing, couch the lance under right arm, shield in the left hand (or so I think).
(I am sure Eulalia can correct me if wrong.)

Incidently I understand that the earliest reference in England to this matter was a ruling about old London Bridge. Traffic from Southwark bound northwards into the City had to keep to the West side of the bridge and South bound traffic to the East. Thus keep left. My guess is maybe no general rule, just custom applied elsewhere.
Click to expand...
You are right, the first time I picked up a rental car (with right-hand drive) in Ireland, there was a huge sticker under the speedometer: "drive on the right side, drive left".
 
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