The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

Status
Not open for further replies.
When I was leaving the hospital after my heart attack, the discharge nurse warned me not to drive for three months. They don't tell the police, she said if I had a crash and any insurance company involved found out they would invalidate my insurance then inform the Police. Apparently it is common practice for insurance companies to check the health of drivers over a certain age involved in accidents.
 
rascal said:
He has already driven into a ditch on his way home once.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine slid into a ditch in the Norfolk fen country. Six foot deep ditch and slid in driver's side first. It was a two door Ford Mustang and it took him a long time to push open the very heavy door to get out. He finally did but it took a crane and a winch truck to get the car out next morning. Only superficial damage surprisingly.
 
Some people should not have children. Yesterday evening I saw a dodge ram with a sleigh/sled tied to the towbar and two children on it, driving at a pretty regular speed through the snow.. :mad: so many terrible things can happen that way!
Because it was going too fast, I couldn't memorise the number plate..
 
Windigo said:
Some people should not have children. Yesterday evening I saw a dodge ram with a sleigh/sled tied to the towbar and two children on it, driving at a pretty regular speed through the snow.. :mad: so many terrible things can happen that way!
Because it was going too fast, I couldn't memorise the number plate..
Click to expand...
Coming from a farming family, things like this were commonplace when I was a kid. When we'd go to either grandparents' for example (around eight miles in either direction), Dad would open the tailgate of the truck, and we'd sit on that, like a bench, and dangle our feet down onto the road below, so that as we bounced along, our feet would smack the pavement and bounce around like a stuffed doll's legs.

When he'd approach the railroad tracks or a particularly steep dip in the road, he'd speed up, because that would bounce us all over the bed of the truck.

Another time, when I was maybe 12, I was riding home from my grandparents and gotten the bright idea to set up a folding lawn chair in the bed of the truck. My brother was driving, and too fast at that, and I sure enough took a tumble at probably a good 45mph, onto the road and into the ditch for a good bit. I was bruised and sore for quite a while, but that was about it.
 
TastyReuben said:
Coming from a farming family, things like this were commonplace when I was a kid. When we'd go to either grandparents' for example (around eight miles in either direction), Dad would open the tailgate of the truck, and we'd sit on that, like a bench, and dangle our feet down onto the road below, so that as we bounced along, our feet would smack the pavement and bounce around like a stuffed doll's legs.

When he'd approach the railroad tracks or a particularly steep dip in the road, he'd speed up, because that would bounce us all over the bed of the truck.

Another time, when I was maybe 12, I was riding home from my grandparents and gotten the bright idea to set up a folding lawn chair in the bed of the truck. My brother was driving, and too fast at that, and I sure enough took a tumble at probably a good 45mph, onto the road and into the ditch for a good bit. I was bruised and sore for quite a while, but that was about it.
Click to expand...
Yes, but you didn't live in a place where 17 million people live packed on a square of land that reaches 3 hours by car north to south and 2 1/2 west to east. Traffic kills the most people here every year, we're as densely populated as Hong Kong. Do you understand why this is dangerous here?
There is a car crossing this road every few seconds.

Its comparable to dancing in the middle of the times square roads.
 
Windigo said:
Yes, but you didn't live in a place where 17 million people live packed on a square of land that reaches 3 hours by car north to south and 2 1/2 west to east. Traffic kills the most people here every year, we're as densely populated as Hong Kong. Do you understand why this is dangerous here?
There is a car crossing this road every few seconds.

Its comparable to dancing in the middle of the times square roads.
Click to expand...
I understand why it's dangerous, regardless of where it's at. I wasn't condoning it, just sharing a memory.
 
When I hear about traffic in the Netherlands I think about bike traffic :laugh: Once when I was close to Amsterdam Central I spent a good 30 minutes trying to cross a bike lane. I gave up and walked all the way back to the closest zebra crossing which wasn't even that close.
 
LissaC said:
When I hear about traffic in the Netherlands I think about bike traffic :laugh: Once when I was close to Amsterdam Central I spent a good 30 minutes trying to cross a bike lane. I gave up and walked all the way back to the closest zebra crossing which wasn't even that close.
Click to expand...

Yes, we officially have more bicycles than people :laugh:
 
Windigo said:
Ahh sorry I didn't read it with my full attention :highfive: Glad that fall did not injure you very much.
Click to expand...
The full story is that I caused the whole thing. :laugh:

You may remember I talked about how my grandmom would load us up with a sack full of food every time we visited, mainly candy and cookies and cakes and pies.

I was sitting in the bed of the truck, hot summer day, so my brother had the window down, and I had this big sack of goodies in the bed of the truck with me, and I started eating from it.

My brother noticed and yelled at me through the window to give him some as well, and instead of passing it through politely, I pulled out an overripe banana, split the skin on it until it was oozing, and then threw it at him.

This all happened as we were accelerating out of a sharp curve, and when I hit him with the rotten banana, his knee-jerk reaction was to swerve wildly and accelerate even more, pitching me out of the truck.

I tumbled and tumbled, just missing a concrete culvert, and I thought I was a goner for sure, but nothing but scrapes and bruises, and I relished the idea of going home and telling on my brother. :)

We got home, my folks were sitting on the porch, and I ran up, out of breath and fake-crying, "Mom! Mom! Wayne was driving too fast and he threw me out of the truck on purpose and I landed on the road and was almost hit by another car <completely not true> and almost crashed into the culvert and I almost died and it was Wayne's fault!"

I was waiting for the hammer to drop, and if my dad hadn't been there, it probably would've, but before she could say anything, my dad said, "Quit cryin'! You look all right to me!" :laugh:
 
All sorts of weather and temperatures over the last three days.
The day before yesterday a persistent cold and fog that you could cut with a knife and serve a slice.
Yesterday a relentless, heavy rain.
Today the sun is shining announcing an early spring.
I've spotted a couple of daisies this morning while I was walking in the countryside with the dog.
 
Windigo said:
Our front door lock has frozen due to the snow storm. I have never experienced this in my life, and went out not knowing I could not get back in. So I had to ring the doorbell long enough to get my husband out of bed :laugh:
Click to expand...
I can't think of the name of it but there is a product you can use that will thaw the cylinder on locks. I believe it even comes with a ring for your keychain. I think I bought mine at an auto parts store.

Glad you were about to rouse hubby. You would have been a snow bunny in no time out there. ;-)
 
Windigo said:
Some people should not have children. Yesterday evening I saw a dodge ram with a sleigh/sled tied to the towbar and two children on it, driving at a pretty regular speed through the snow.. :mad: so many terrible things can happen that way!
Because it was going too fast, I couldn't memorise the number plate..
Click to expand...
Maybe they came to the same conclusion, and they're trying to get rid of the kids? :D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom