WCMUT....what cheered me up today

My car needed new front tyres, so a couple of days ago, I made a booking online ordering a couple of tyres and a 4 wheel alignment as there was some very odd tears in the tread towards the outside edge of the tyres. New tyres fitted, car then put on the ramp for alignment while I sat outside enjoying the sun and kept an eye on my car at the same time.
When all done, I was told only the front had needed adjusting as rear wheels were fine, so they only charged me for the front. Saved me £30. :)
 
nilagin said:
as there was some very odd tears in the tread
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Sorry to hear that :D
tears plural an act of crying ... I burst into tears
 
Cobra said:
Sorry to hear that :D
tears plural an act of crying ... I burst into tears
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It nearly made me cry, I reckon the tyre tread depth were good for at least another 5k miles before it even got close to 2mm. :(
 
nilagin said:
It nearly made me cry, I reckon the tyre tread depth were good for at least another 5k miles before it even got close to 2mm. :(
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Always better to err on the side of caution as far as tyres are concerned, especially if you have a fast set of wheels.
 
Just booked both my vaccinations at the Brighton Centre, next Friday and 21st May. :banana:

Over 60s are now allowed to book, although the NHS site says not eligible yet!
 
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The trail camera caught the first hedgehog of this year in the back garden last night.

It would be good if it is the same one that disappeared last November but, if not, then it is still good to see one.

Dave
 
I assembled a wooden clock a couple of weeks ago but despite careful sanding and assembly of the gears, it hasn't been as reliable as I'd like, stopping at the same point but not every time it hit the same spot. Removing the pendulum and letting it run unregulated seems to have smoothed off the rough/jamming spot so it now runs continuously (well, for as long as the spring lasts!) Just need to get it relatively accurate now - not too worried about ultimate accuracy since it's only the countdown timer that's clockwork but it would be nice to know how long an indicated 10 minutes really is!
 
A big problem where I live is school run mums parking their cars dangerously when taking their little darlings to school. The diagram below shows what it's typically like, the red blocks are the cars (no, the cars aren't all red :p) and the grey block is an alley that leads to the school.

parking copy.jpg

The WCMUT bit? On her way home this morning, Mrs F saw this sign attached to a lamppost. It's only a proposal but it's a start. :)

IMG_8194 copy.jpg
 
Excellent. It's ridiculous the way all parents expect to be able to drop their kids off at school nowadays.

Walking to school (providing it's safe to do so) should be encouraged - lazy kids grow into lazy adults . . .
 
Sky said:
Excellent. It's ridiculous the way all parents expect to be able to drop their kids off at school nowadays.

Walking to school (providing it's safe to do so) should be encouraged - lazy kids grow into lazy adults . . .
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The problem is exacerbated because they're not just dropping them off, they're then walking them around the corner and down the alley to the school. Then, when they get back to their cars, they stop for a natter, having probably done so at the school gates as well.
 
Marc said:
The problem is exacerbated because they're not just dropping them off, they're then walking them around the corner and down the alley to the school. Then, when they get back to their cars, they stop for a natter, having probably done so at the school gates as well.
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Same problem everywhere I think. I used to walk to my primary school (about a mile) at least from around 7 years old, can‘t remember what age I started that, I have no memory of going with my mother from age of nearly 5 when I started, maybe with older children.
 
My mum took me for a walk to the school a few times before I started to show me the way - I was five. From then on I walked on my own from day one until the final year I left - all the kids of my generation did.
 
I'd bet that the double yellows simply get ignored and the parents will keep doing what they currently do. Plod might enforce it for a couple of days - if you're lucky.
 
We were lucky in that the local primary school was half a mile walk from home. Back then, most families only had one car per household and it was typically the man of the house. Secondary school was a two-bus affair.

WCMUT - missus is at work and the gorgeous weather meant I got round to taking the winter wheels off, putting the summer wheels on and giving the car a reasonable clean (snowfoam, 2BM wash, QD). In need of decontamination and very light machine polish but that can wait until one of the bank holiday weekends.
 
For weeks now my news feed was full of stories from the express, no that's not what cheered me up but working out how to stop them appearing, now that's cheered me up.
 
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Server Hamster said:
Had the guy from early shift left them on the floor 'til now?
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If he'd had anything to do with it, he'd have burnt the windmill to the ground.
He originally worked in a different test cell to me on an engine codenamed Dragon He had two that put conrods through the side wall of the block and another caught fire. He was quite proud of the fact too. He earned himself the title Dragon Slayer.
He is also known as FCP. F referring to his body shape, P, the first letter of his surname and the C? That refers to what most people think of him.
 
Getting my monthly account in from my Energy Supplier - SOEnergy

Was dreading the bill for Jan- Feb as that was the time of SNOW :(

As an oldie I had kept the place nice and warm, since I wasn't able to get out and do my usual Garden Laps. It's a 2 bedroom house with 2 very large reception rooms. I've been hit in the past for bills of £99/month during very cold times - this time it was £89 !! To my utter joy I'm still in Credit to them and I'm happy that way - pay them a fixed sum monthly and then I know exactly what goes to them each month. I do my own meter readings , am on a Normal and Off-peak Electricity Meter and of course a Gas meter.
 
Mrs WW's latest batch of ice cream is Oreo, and it's lovely :D
 
Oh and from the other day...

We watched Inside the factory, they were making Cider and it made us want to try some but I couldn't find the featured brand (Bulmers) in any of our local shops then when out I called into Morrisons (don't normally go there) for something else and they had some so I bought two bottles. We drank it is wine quantities, one glass each, and everyone thought it was very nice. I remember when I was a teenager and in my early 20's I drank Woodpecker and Strongbow but this Bulmers is IMO much nicer.
 
Sky said:
Excellent. It's ridiculous the way all parents expect to be able to drop their kids off at school nowadays.

Walking to school (providing it's safe to do so) should be encouraged - lazy kids grow into lazy adults . . .
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It's not 'nowadays', Trevor. The unthinking, selfish ones have been doing it for years. The introduction of yellow zig-zags stopped many but not all. To protect their vehicle they also park half of it on the footpath. There's a large notice on the gates to one entrance of a local primary/junior school.."Even if you're running late PLEASE don't park infront of the gates"
 
I used to live in a cul -de-sac that had a local school down one bit.
Parents used to block the entire estate and park across drives, despite many complaints from residents.
They had end of week assemblies of Fridays afternoons and that was the worst, along with sports day.
One day I came back from shopping with a load of frozen stuff in the car and no parking, drive blocked, so parked in the school gates, went in and told the the secretary, who said no you can't. so I said I can until the person who owns the car moves it
Gave her the make and registration, told her I was going to take the frozen stuff up to the house and hopefully the car would be gone by the time I got back, yes it was I got a phone call from the headmaster later in the day to apologise and ask me not to do it again, I suggested that he tell the parents not to block drives, we were all fed up with it.
We still had a local policeman at the time and I was surprised to here that he had been to the next assembly and gave a talk
to the parents
 
JohnC6 said:
It's not 'nowadays', Trevor. The unthinking, selfish ones have been doing it for years. The introduction of yellow zig-zags stopped many but not all. To protect their vehicle they also park half of it on the footpath. There's a large notice on the gates to one entrance of a local primary/junior school.."Even if you're running late PLEASE don't park infront of the gates"
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I hate this. It often makes getting passed with a wheelchair impossible and that can mean backtracking 20 or 50 yards or more and then proceeding on the road passed parked cars.

Anyone blocking the pavement should have their licence confiscated and set fire to and their car crushed. IMVHO. It's endemic here.
 
woof woof said:
Anyone blocking the pavement should have their licence confiscated and set fire to and their car crushed. IMVHO. It's endemic here.
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You have my sympathy but perhaps just a £100 fine for each 5 minutes it's present would be more effective? :naughty:

In the meantime, Amazon are doing their best to encourage "sensible" parking...

Amazon Prime delivery van on pavement outside school TZ70 TZ70 P1030510.JPG
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
You have my sympathy but perhaps just a £100 fine for each 5 minutes it's present would be more effective? :naughty:
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We'd need either wardens or police for that and as there aren't any maybe direct public action could be allowed after documenting the evidence.

This week I had to pass a house with a car half in half out of the driveway completely blocking the pavement and a flat bed truck parked half on the pavement too. The flat bed is a regular outside that house (Gosh knows when they use it) but the car blocking the pavement too was a nice new FY with a wheelchair touch.
 
woof woof said:
I hate this. It often makes getting passed with a wheelchair impossible and that can mean backtracking 20 or 50 yards or more and then proceeding on the road passed parked cars.

Anyone blocking the pavement should have their licence confiscated and set fire to and their car crushed. IMVHO. It's endemic here.
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Thing is that the roads, in many instances, are not wide enough to allow cars to be parked both sides allowing the unhindered flow of traffic in both directions. The houses on a nearby estate are much more modern than ours (Georgian-style) which were built in the early 70's and have , for the most part, wide roads,even with grass verges and those newer ones are a third more expensive and so close you could lean out of a side (bathroom ?) window and touch the neighbour's side wall and the cars have to park half on the footpath otherwise it would be gridlock. Most have a garage but it's too small for many cars not to mention that many people use their garage for other purposes. Footpath-parking annoys the hell out of me too..A real hazard for wheelchair users, those with sight impairment (not just the blind), moms with pushchairs or just with their children walking. In addition,cyclists both young and old. I don't understand why the planners don't insist of minimum road widths..well, I suppose I do.. money and the ability to build as many houses as possible not only maximising profits but doing the government's bidding by building more homes. Someone mentioned a population of 70 million yesterday (on Five Live). I questioned that. I thought we were up to 64 million..UK latest.. 2021 68.126,057 million.https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/uk-population/

That person wasn't far out. For England 56 million. It must be great to live in a country the size of France/Germany/US/Canada/Russia etc.. ..Australia too not that I'd want to live there..most of the population confined to the coast as the interior is dessert..arid and very hot.
 
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woof woof said:
I hate this. It often makes getting passed with a wheelchair impossible and that can mean backtracking 20 or 50 yards or more and then proceeding on the road passed parked cars.

Anyone blocking the pavement should have their licence confiscated and set fire to and their car crushed. IMVHO. It's endemic here.
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There are no parking restrictions on my road (despite being A class) and pavement on one side only (grass on the other) but vehicles still park half on the pavement, presumably out of consideration for other vehicles :(, blocking even pedestrians as well as wheelchairs/prams :mad: .
 
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woof woof said:
We'd need either wardens or police for that and as there aren't any maybe direct public action could be allowed after documenting the evidence.

This week I had to pass a house with a car half in half out of the driveway completely blocking the pavement and a flat bed truck parked half on the pavement too. The flat bed is a regular outside that house (Gosh knows when they use it) but the car blocking the pavement too was a nice new FY with a wheelchair touch.
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That kind of parking..out of a drive across the footpathg, is particularly bad and totally unthinking. At least with half on the footpath a pedestrian can get by it most times but when it's out across the footpath the only way round is by going into the road. Any police passing should make the driver move it..and give him/her a ticket and you know what ? The driver would be very annoyed at getting a ticket because he/she is moving it. I would never do it,of course but when I come across a vehicle..car or truck parked like that, I feel like kicking it.:D
 
woof woof said:
maybe direct public action could be allowed after documenting the evidence.
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Volunteer traffic wardens? Sounds like a good idea to me. ;)
 
As a wheelchair user myself, pavement parking is a serious and daily threat to my life. It seems to me that most drivers always consider giving traffic a much higher priority over that of pavement users.

Not a day goes past where I don't have to put myself and my Assistance Dog in the road to get round a car/van/lorry that has blocked the pavement. If I'm really lucky, there will be a drop kerb nearby, but in most cases I have to backtrack quite a distance to be able to get into the road, and then I have to run the gauntlet with the traffic in order to get past. Then it could be half a mile before I can get back on the pavement again due to lack of a drop kerb.

I would like every offender to have to spend a week in a wheelchair so they can see how it feels. If they were killed in the process, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
 
sphexx said:
There are no Parkin restrictions on my road (despite being A class) and pavement on one side only (grass on the other) but vehicles still park half on the pavement, presumably out of consideration for other vehicles :(, blocking even pedestrians as well as wheelchairs/prams :mad: .
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You're right,Richard. They think they're being helpful to motorists but if they think about it, it would be better to partk fully on the road and not encourage a vehicle to squeeze by as an oncomingh vehicle passes at that point. Also, if you spoke to the driver he/she would say that it was ok as there as enough room for people to get by. They NEVER think of those categories I've mentioned above,the blind, poorly-sighted, moms (it's usually moms isn't it..lol) with children and pushchairs, wheelchair users. Often, it's a case for a couple of going single file too. I get annoyed when people who visit neighbours and put two wheels on the grass verge (1.5m wide) at any time but especially when it's wet so we end up with tyre ruts. The local council were recently nearby trimming large branches off trees and they parked their truck with two wheels on the verge and now we have 2-3 " deep ruts which will take a while to re-grass. We had a chap who was living nearby as a lodger and when he came home from work he drove onto the verge..all four wheels and 35m (I measured it) before the spot he parked at opposite the house. Deep, deep ruts. It's not even illegal. I saw him one day and quickly weighed him up and asked him and he said he just hadn't thought. .He still parked there but drove onto the verge only 10m before stopping..lol. He's since moved and the grass looks lovely :)
 
JohnC6 said:
That kind of parking..out of a drive across the footpathg, is particularly bad and totally unthinking. At least with half on the footpath a pedestrian can get by it most times but when it's out across the footpath the only way round is by going into the road. Any police passing should make the driver move it..and give him/her a ticket and you know what ? The driver would be very annoyed at getting a ticket because he/she is moving it. I would never do it,of course but when I come across a vehicle..car or truck parked like that, I feel like kicking it.:D
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Parking as they did, half in half out of the drive, they stopped me using the sloping bit of the pavement to reach the road which I'd normally have used to get round the flat bed truck. As this was the last pavement drop before the corner blocking it meant back tacking and then walking to the corner to the main road and turning it on the road and carrying on on the road to the next drop at which I could rejoin the pavement. Not all pavements are gentle enough to allow easy decent and assent with someone in a wheelchair.

JohnC6 said:
Thing is that the roads, in many instances, are not wide enough to allow cars to be parked both sides allowing the unhindered flow of traffic in both directions.
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That is doubtless true but in this residential area everyone has a driveway and the roads are wide enough for three cars, two parked either side and still enough room to drive through. There wouldn't be enough room for three vehicles if one was that flat bed but it's the last house and they could park on the road beyond the house opposite, if you can follow that, they choose not to. Parking on the road or road and pavement just seems to be the norm for many people. I don't know why. Even when we had four cars in the household all were parked off road. It isn't that difficult and one or two car households could easily manage to get their cars off the road if they chose to.

Anyway this is the positive thread so I'll end with positivity, of sorts :D

Every now and again a drunk drives down and bashes a few cars and they're then parked off road until the owners relax and go back to normal and don't bother. Maybe we're overdue a drunk.
 
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We had our VCO (Vehicle Crossover) widened in collaboration with out neighbour................lovely job they have made of it too :) But whilst chatting with the contractors, one of them mentioned that though everyone with such an access has a right of egress (leaving) i.e. cannot be blocked in. The same is not the case for access i.e. to drove onto the private property from the road.....he saying that if someone blocks your driveway when it is empty there is apparently no legal right of access.

I am none too sure if he is 100% correct but in a rather annoyingly odd way I see what he is getting at!!! ?
 
Box Brownie said:
We had our VCO (Vehicle Crossover) widened in collaboration with out neighbour................lovely job they have made of it too :) But whilst chatting with the contractors, one of them mentioned that though everyone with such an access has a right of egress (leaving) i.e. cannot be blocked in. The same is not the case for access i.e. to drove onto the private property from the road.....he saying that if someone blocks your driveway when it is empty there is apparently no legal right of access.

I am none too sure if he is 100% correct but in a rather annoyingly odd way I see what he is getting at!!! ?
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I have heard the same but rule 243 of the Highway Code says

"DO NOT stop or park
  • where the kerb has been lowered to help wheelchair users and powered mobility vehicles
  • in front of an entrance to a property"

Link -https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/parking.html

However, it seems parking on a dropped curb might be a local authority matter.

The following are from Newham and Manchester -

www.newham.gov.uk

Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) – Newham Council

Learn about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) in Newham, including why they are issued, how to pay or challenge them, and what to do if you’ve received one.
www.newham.gov.uk www.newham.gov.uk

Parking at dropped footways | Parking restrictions | Manchester City Council

Parking Restrictions in Manchester
secure.manchester.gov.uk secure.manchester.gov.uk

If these are typical its seems blocking both exit and entry are offences.

Dave
 
Box Brownie said:
We had our VCO (Vehicle Crossover) widened in collaboration with out neighbour................lovely job they have made of it too :) But whilst chatting with the contractors, one of them mentioned that though everyone with such an access has a right of egress (leaving) i.e. cannot be blocked in. The same is not the case for access i.e. to drove onto the private property from the road.....he saying that if someone blocks your driveway when it is empty there is apparently no legal right of access.

I am none too sure if he is 100% correct but in a rather annoyingly odd way I see what he is getting at!!! ?
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It should be an offence but as you say, it isn't. The kind of parking shown in the photo (link) of the car against the steps is very bad..completely blocked the footpath.I've always thought we're too lax in this country re parking offences but that offender would get a ticket...unnecessary obstruction. I'm, surfer that a A Traffic Warden could issue one of those.


www.kentlive.news

What you can LEGALLY do if someone blocks your driveway

More cars and increasing parking restrictions are making people bolder about where they park
www.kentlive.news www.kentlive.news
 
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