After 2.5 hours in Addenbrookes on Monday and walking miles from Oncology, yo Haematology, to Xray and then to book next years appointment we finally headed for the door through the usual labyrinth of corridors.
We had arrived early for an early appointment and managed to get parked not far from the door.
As we got outside and while walking to the car, I lit a cigarette thinking Ian was behind me, but no, as only a man can do, he'd nipped into the loo by the door and had the car keys.
Suddenly, as ai waited by the car, this little man in a high viz came dashing up shouting at the top of his voice 'You can't smoke there, it's no smoking everywhere, put it out NOW, there are cameras everywhere, you know.
Now rightly or wrongly that approach to me doesn't work, whatever happened to 'Excuse me but you can't smoke anywhere within the grounds, would you mind putting it out please'?
Feeling peeved my reply to him was 'So, what are the cameras going to do then, ban me? I wish they would, I've seen enough of this place over the years'
He turned away and on the back of his High Viz vest was written 'Courtesy bus driver'
So, that makes him the keeper of the grounds, the smoking police, and gives him the right to shout his head off in an attempt to look bigger and more important than he is.
Needless to say, I carried on smoking until Ian returned amused because if he leaves me alone for 2 minutes I get into bother! (according to him).
Pat
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Another 20p tax I don't need to stump up.
Go girl!
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>> Go girl!
You're doing your best for us Lygonos in your pawky and spiky way, we know. But we're too depraved and slobbish to be able to change our ways.
Thank you though. Your kindly-meant nudges are appreciated.
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For Lygonos:
The reason I'm stressed and likely to have a hear attack ids that never ending wait for 2 weeks when 'if you don't hear anything the xrays or blood tests are clear'.
Now that damages my health far more than the fags I smoke because I'm scared of every phone call and the postman coming,
There's a free NHS cost saving for you;)
Pat
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>> Now that damages my health far more than the fags I smoke
Addicts can always blame someone/thing/the system for their problem (which isn't a problem obviously).
Puff on, old bean.
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Driving through our local town last night after my swim, around about 9.30 PM I was treated to the sight of a fat middle aged woman in a skirt far too short for her thunderous thighs, party hat on, fag in one hand, glass of something in the other, puking on the pavement outside a pub.
Classy these northern birds.
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>> Driving through our local town last night after my swim, around about 9.30 PM I
>> was treated to the sight of a fat middle aged woman in a skirt far
>> too short for her thunderous thighs, party hat on, fag in one hand, glass of
>> something in the other, puking on the pavement outside a pub.
>>
>> Classy these northern birds.
>>
>>
Some people would pay good money for that.
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>> He turned away and on the back of his High Viz vest was written 'Courtesy bus driver'
Turned away while still out of baseball bat range did he? Sensible fellow.
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You should have said, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry" and then stubbed it out on his forehead.
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Some time ago at Manchester airport. Bright sunny day, headed outside to kick the tyres. Forgot the high vis.
Yellow and black car far in the distance cuts an abrupt turn and rockets across the apron towards me. Out jumps oaf in high vis.
Oaf: "Why aren't you wearing your tabard?"
Me: "It's a lovely day. I forgot."
Oaf: "You MUST wear it. It's a bye-law. I could fine you, you know."
Me (Irritated): "Out of curiosity, how did you know I wasn't wearing a high vis?"
Oaf (Eyes bulging): "I could see you weren't wearing it from all the way over there..."
Like Pat, I don't tolerate fools well.
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I'm the same as well...I cannot tolerate petty officialdom. I find looking straight through them as if they weren't there and just carrying on with what you were doing can be a major irritant to them.
God help them if one ever prods me or lays a hand in any way.
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>> God help them if one ever prods me or lays a hand in any way.
>>
+1 and I'd like to see the result. I'll bring a black bag and shovel Teddy to put them in. You hold the bag and I'll shovel, what with me being a bit younger than you and all that.
Most (not all) folk under the age of 40 have grown up (sic) with this ridiculous compliance clap trap.
Elf and shifty once said, "You cannot use that ladder until it's been tied off at the top".
Horlicks. MD.
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>>You cannot use that ladder until it's been tied off at the top
It can be done, I was shown once, but damned if I can remember how.
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>> Me (Irritated): "Out of curiosity, how did you know I wasn't wearing a high vis?"
>> Oaf (Eyes bulging): "I could see you weren't wearing it from all the way over
>> there..."
During a drivers' meeting a couple of years ago, our area manager gave us a homily on Elf and Safety including the inevitable blather about hi-viz. He was quite miffed when I pointed out (to the great amusement of the other drivers) that the only way to attract attention from a forklift driver, when waiting to be loaded, was to get out of your cab WITHOUT the yellow jacket on.
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whats your favourite hi-viz colour?
I have the full compliment in my car, Daisy Yellow, Tango orange, and a fetching shade of Pink.
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I assume the ones in the small space for them just under/in the middle rear sear are yellow. I'll check tomorrow. I probably have at least one in the bag of stuff from the lease company which will include fire extinguisher, bulbs - they're handy when the front ones are xenons with the rest being mostly LED based :-)
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Quick one for Z, Ian tipped in Spitalfields market on Thursday morning and then hid round the back to get a 45 minute break in.
Just as he was reversing into a too small space a steam train went by behind him, but he didn't get a proper look at it....any ideas what it was and where it was off to?
Pat
Last edited by: Pat on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 05:22
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>> Quick one for Z, Ian tipped in Spitalfields market on Thursday morning and then hid
>> round the back to get a 45 minute break in.
>>
>> Just as he was reversing into a too small space a steam train went by
>> behind him, but he didn't get a proper look at it....any ideas what it was
>> and where it was off to?
>>
>> Pat
Need the time please pat,
The answer may surprise him
And now I am off to Film the Union of South Africa Kings Cross to York.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 05:58
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I'll ask him when he gets up!!
Pat
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He thinks it was between 10 and 10.30am.
Pat
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>> He thinks it was between 10 and 10.30am.
>>
>> Pat
Two LMS class Black 5's hauling the Cathedrals Express Peterbpough to Oxford. Down the Cambridge/Broxbourne line, and past Temple Mills Junction which is where Ian would have heard them. From there round the north London goods line to Hampstead, and then onto the Great Western to Didcot.
Filmed here at Taplow.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6gtFJ3DJCI
The surprise is they came from your way!
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That's the one! He says it was the magnificent noise of those two engines working hard that made him curious....he now wants to know why it had a diesel engine on the back though?
Pat
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The diesel on the back was a class 47, in itself 50 years old and there fore "heritage"
Wasn't there for power or traction, or even reliability of the excursion. It was there to provide electric train heating (the clue there is that there is no leaking steam from between carriages - so not steam heated) and for shunting - you can't turn the train round. The diesel dragged it backwards into Peterborough from Southall, to aid turning at Banbury, and to drag it backwards into Southall again at the end.
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>> Just as he was reversing into a too small space a steam train went by behind him
>>, but he didn't get a proper look at it....any ideas what it was and where it was off to?
>>
I was driving into Brighton on Sunday morning about 9:15 when the car ( all windows shut ) was filled the the smell of burning coal. I assume it was a steam special going over the viaduct that had caused that nostalgic smell.
Memories of when I was sent, every Saturday evening, to buy a " classified"newspaper from London when they were delivered by train to my local station.
While waiting the smoke from other trains used to billow over the bridge.
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>> I was driving into Brighton on Sunday morning about 9:15 when the car ( all
>> windows shut ) was filled the the smell of burning coal.
Sure it wasn't Saturday morning? Tangmere was there at that time, hauling the Three Bridges to Bath and Bristol.
Filmed here at Angmering an hour later
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXYy7-AvLnU
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>> Sure it wasn't Saturday morning? Tangmere was there at that time, hauling the Three Bridges to Bath and Bristol.
>>
Def Sunday. I was with 40+ jaguar drivers all going to breakfast at the sea front.
I was convinced it was train smoke as it was so strong and persisted for so long.
>> Filmed here at Angmering an hour later>>
>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXYy7-AvLnU
>>
I really enjoyed your video with the effect of sun/ shadow on the smoke.
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>> I was convinced it was train smoke as it was so strong and persisted for
>> so long.
No Steam Trains there on Sunday.
Probably an overheated Jaguar, bound to have been plenty of them.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 12:29
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>> No Steam Trains there on Sunday.
>>
All very odd. A bit of shunting going on ?
I am convinced a domestic fire could not create that intensity of smell.
>> Probably an overheated Jaguar, bound to have been plenty of them.
>>
Plenty of them but they were all good uns.
Nah!I think its them greens burning coal cos the solar panels are not working.
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>> I have the full compliment in my car, Daisy Yellow, Tango orange, and a fetching
>> shade of Pink.
You're missing a blue one!
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>> >> I have the full compliment in my car, Daisy Yellow, Tango orange, and a fetching shade of Pink.
Blimey, does it break down that much?
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>>
>> >> >> I have the full compliment in my car, Daisy Yellow, Tango orange, and
>> a fetching shade of Pink.
>>
>>
>> Blimey, does it break down that much?
>>
Railway hi-viz has always been orange; the yellow (in particular the older woven mesh type) is too easily confused with a green signal. Yes, the orange can be confused with an amber signal, but on the railway such a signal would mean the driver has to start to slow down, not put his foot down to jump the light as he may on the road.
I cannot however comment on Z's pink hi-viz, probably relates to something he does in the privacy of his own home. ;-)
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>> pink hi-viz, <,
For Lady Truckers, certainly not for proper lorry drivers who just happen to be female!
I wouldn't be seen dead in one;)
Pat
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>>
>> >> >> I have the full compliment in my car, Daisy Yellow, Tango orange, and
>> a fetching shade of Pink.
>>
>>
>> Blimey, does it break down that much?
Its not a Kia you know, Never broken down yet despite only having a three year warranty and being over 7 years old.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 12:27
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I think there's a yellow hi-viz jacket in the boot of the car, left over from a continental breakdown kit hard-sold to us on a cross-channel ferry a few years ago.
Never unwrapped it and would only be seen in it to avoid death. They aren't elegant garments. It wouldn't go with my shoes.
I must say I envy Zero's extensive wardrobe of day-glo coats. I'd really like one of those pink ones. I'd enjoy flouncing around in that ... 'Ooooh, get her!' the emergency services would cry. You know what firemen are like...
:o}
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 17:34
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"It wouldn't go with my shoes"
That, from what we hear, would be a tough brief for any garment, never mind a safety related one.
;-)
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Vision of AC in day-glo kilt and pampooties:)
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>> During a drivers' meeting a couple of years ago, our area manager gave us a
>> homily on Elf and Safety including the inevitable blather about hi-viz. He was quite miffed
>> when I pointed out (to the great amusement of the other drivers) that the only
>> way to attract attention from a forklift driver, when waiting to be loaded, was to
>> get out of your cab WITHOUT the yellow jacket on.
>>
Our local bus drivers wear hi-viz all the time for exactly that reason.... they have to be wearing one when they leave the vehicle at the depot and just find it easier to wear them all the time rather than find somewhere to stow one in the cab.
For the same reason we wear protective footwear all the time, we're told we can wear whatever we want while driving but as soon as we set a foot outside the van we're deemed to be onsite, and we must wear 'steelies' at all times while onsite.... It's just easier to wear them all the time rayjer than try and change shoes in the van before getting out.
The carphounds have always got a smart answer....
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Driving test examiners have been required to wear Hi-viz jackets ever since under the bonnet checks became part of the test. The poor dears are felt to be taking their lives in their hands while standing by the side of the road while the candidate (Wearing normal clothes) is in front of the car pointing out where the dipstick is (In a few cases from my experience, standing by the side of the road wearing a Hi-viz jacket).
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>> we must wear 'steelies' at all times while onsite.... It's just easier to wear them all the time rayjer than try and change shoes in the van before getting out.
I've never owned steelies, or those carbon-fibre-reinforced trousers one is supposed to wear when wielding a chainsaw. A chainsaw-freak friend wears both religiously when operating some of his extensive collection.
I don't like driving a car even in wellies. Even a modern Transit has such car-like pedals that shoes are better. But I remember that driving a proper lorry - not a vast artic like Pat, but a twelve-ton (I think) box-bodied big diesel thing - seemed perfectly OK in my lace-up ankle wellies, and I imagine would be in proper steel-toed boots too.
I really liked that truck, although it didn't really enjoy cruising over 50 or so. May have had some sort of governor on it. But it felt as if it could go on for ever like that. Made good noises too. The mirrors were huge and the doors shut with a meaty clang after you had clambered up the stairs into the multi-adjustable, independently sprung driver's seat.
Perhaps I'm a trucker manqué. In fact I must be, among other things.
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>>or those carbon-fibre-reinforced trousers one is supposed to wear when wielding a chainsaw.
I used to work on trees in the winter when it was too cold/hard to landscape. I was up a tree in a storm once (big storm, long way up), near the Black Boy pub just outside Henley, and dropped the chainsaw while working above my head.
It fell towards my leg and I hit it away with my hand. I ended up with a cut on one finger about the size and severity of a paper cut.
Brings me out in sweats thinking about it.
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I genuinely saw this at the Highland Show when I was a child. Two guys demonstrating and selling the then new technology of fibre glass reinforced work suits for use when using chainsaws.
The one with the chainsaw would attempt to cut through the leg of the one wearing the suit and "prove" that the garment would stop the saw.
Can you imagine that job interview ?!
"Right then, Shuggie, we've goat tae shift 200 of these suits at the Highland Show, I'll dae all the talking so all you hufty dae is stand there and I'll chust..."
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>> Brings me out in sweats thinking about it.
The chain stops instantly in mine, a relatively coarse cheapo one, not a Stihl or anything posh, the moment you let go of the handle. But a stationary chain can cause nasty injury if the whole thing is flying through the air.
I had a chainsaw moment like that once FMR. Cut through a fallen tree branch that was dug into the ground without taking in that it was flexed, under stress. It wasn't a big branch but when released it hit me painlessly in the chest and threw me backwards onto the ground with my arms above my head.
The saw didn't bounce off anything and wasn't damaged in any way. It was sitting on the ground a few feet away idling quietly as if butter wouldn't melt in its mouth. My head hadn't hit anything nasty either. But when I got up I was shaking, and knew it was time to stop.
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>> Our local bus drivers wear hi-viz all the time for exactly that reason.... they have
>> to be wearing one when they leave the vehicle at the depot and just find
>> it easier to wear them all the time rather than find somewhere to stow one
>> in the cab.
>>
We are supposed to wear them on farms too, which might satisfy the clipboard fuhrers but doesn't go down well with some customers. Although cows and sheep are colour-blind, they're not keen on bright colours, which is why you rarely see farmers wearing hi-viz stuff. If for example you walk past a shed full of heifers (skittery blighters at the best of times) looking like Tango man it can cause a kerfuffle which sets off all the other stock, not a good idea if the farmer happens to be milking at the time. So we usually don't bother.
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Wrong approach to you Pat.It is usually my wife who disappears when we are out.
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High Viz Power - Lygonos
