An occasional commentary of the toys the sons are playing with or breaking. This time a toy #1 took to nursery for the day.
LED Car Lights
When Audi put super bright LED lights on the front of their cars I was really impressed. They looked cool and were possibly a good safety feature.
Then everyone got in on the act. Citroën, Porsche, VW and the other day I swear I saw a KIA with these lights.
Now I’ve changed my mind. They aren’t cool. They are annoying. Always on and too bright if these lights were the reason you bought a car then get your head examined. They are the automobile equivalent of a snake shaped belt buckle.
I’m not convinced of any safety argument either. If manufacturers want lights on all the time because they know that most drivers can tell when to flick the switch then change your name to Volvo.
Patriotism
I always feel a twinge of patriotism whenever I see the Union Flag or Cross of St George on the back bumper of a car. Seeing the red, white and blue or just red and white makes a touch of “proud” run through my blood.
The person who spent around £5 on a bumper sticker or magnet obviously has a price limit attached to their patriotism because the vehicle is more often than not built in a different country. BMWs with the England flag, Mercedes with the Union flag and Chevrolets with a Cornwall flag.
I believe that if you are that patriotic then your car should reflect your taste in flag adornments!
Actually, I’m not that patriotic. I have some teams I follow and watch mainly the Essex cricket team, the England cricket team and the New Orleans Saints. I wouldn’t say I’m a fan. I tend to watch on tv and have a little emotional investment but it’s not the end of the world if they lose.
Following a team or patriotism or religion just satisfies our human need to belong to a tribe. None of them can be suggested to be a better form of tribalism than the other. Country, Jesus, town, county, country, football team It’s all the same thing really.
Looking in the mirror
Here’s a tip for some of you drivers out there. It stems from my experiences as a motorcyclist and now as a driver, although now I’m not travelling quite as fast. The bike was an 1100cc machine and my car is a diesel estate!
I noticed in the past that whenever I was coming up behind a car on a motorway and that car was indicating to pull out into my lane that the driver would (I assume) check the rear view mirror or door mirror. Now, if the driver looks once and gets a snapshot of the road they would see me in the outside lane. What would be interesting is that the driver would have no idea of how fast I was travelling unless he/she spent a long time staring in the mirror. To get an impression of speed the driver would have to look again in the mirror to see how my position relative to him/her had changed in the time that had passed.
I believe it is for this reason I had cars pull out in front of me causing me to brake many times. It is quite simple that to judge a speed you need two reference times to see position change. Hence drivers need to look in their mirrors twice before pulling out in front of traffic in the next lane. Most drivers are ignorant of this fact of physics given that cars still pull out in front of me and I’m now in a car.
Perhaps drivers don’t care about other road users and I’m in the minority. Gosh, I think I’m better than most.
Road Names
No, not silly road names like Cock Lane or Red Rose Close. They are very boring. What my wife and I do is name sections of road depending on what parts of race tracks they remind us. This allows us to talk about what idiot pulled out or drove too close and easily describe where this incident took place. No more “you know just past that corner after the big house” now we talk about “just past Petit Eau Rouge”.
So now I need to share these names with you.
A – Heading east along Pilgrims Way – small up movement in road and a turn right – Petit Eau Rouge
B – Heading west along Pilgrims Way – The Esses
C – Heading south along A229, the slip road turning onto the M20 east bound. It can be taken many different ways and hence – Graham Hill Bend
D – A roundabout which is very wide – Speedway
E – There’s a slight kink before a normal right turn around a roundabout hence – Mulsanne
F – A wide right turn at a T junction and so – Arnage
There’ll be more after my wife and I name them. Coming soon: the M25 southbound on to the M20.
