The Call of the Wendigo wrote:

How ironic that a Roman road is next to the bendiest, windiest, curviest road system ever.

I live on a Roman road, it has an original name, Straight road....

The Call of the Wendigo wrote:

Butterfield wrote:

This is as complicated as it looks. The meeting of literally one million A-roads, plus slip roads to the M6 Toll and roads to various retail and trading estates.





I once had to turn right at each of the lower three roundabouts-with-traffic lights coming from the A460 on the left and really hadn't got a clue where I was going - even with the satnav on. I and others were all over the lanes as disorientation and my mental dyslexia kicked in.

Surely there's a better way than this! Like just turn each roundabout into simple cross roads with traffic lights like in America?

I have to tackle it again tomorrow (Saturday), but this time only need to stick to the A460 heading northeastward so just need to stay in the middle lane to go straight over.

Watling Street!

A little "abandoned" portion of Watling Street, no less.

I've often thought about launching an "abandoned roads" thread on here, for all those ancient trunk roads which have been bypassed or straightened out, leaving behind little abandoned portions which get turned into laybys or farm tracks and such - some still with visible central white lines or cats eyes!

cosmictanya wrote:

That Premier Inn must be particularly grim. Not much of a local neighbourhood.

Last I heard it was housing Channel migrants. It sprung up around the time the M6 Toll did 20ish years ago.

Zarniwoop wrote:

I have been driving an automatic all week, back in a manual I stalled it 3 times driving the 3 miles home from work today....Arghhhh.

Oh yes. A manual feels so clunky and old fashioned after driving an automatic. I don't know why everyone doesn't want an automatic car. I've wanted one for years but they're either too expensive to buy or cost too much too run and don't do enough MPG.

There's a new breed of cheap-to-run automatic hybrids coming through - and electric ones - which I'll hopefully be able to afford one day.

Butterfield wrote:

cosmictanya wrote:

That Premier Inn must be particularly grim. Not much of a local neighbourhood.

Last I heard it was housing Channel migrants. It sprung up around the time the M6 Toll did 20ish years ago.

Just when I thought I couldn’t feel more sorry for them, I find out they’re at risk of being bussed there. It’s no place to start a life. God knows where the nearest school is, or how a child would half safely navigate their way to it.

Zarniwoop wrote:

The Call of the Wendigo wrote:

How ironic that a Roman road is next to the bendiest, windiest, curviest road system ever.

I live on a Roman road, it has an original name, Straight road....

Doxxed!

All those mini-roundabouts. But it is indeed very straight.

I'm driving north again today. Darlington tonight, Glasgow tomorrow.

Since my stay in Bolton earlier this month, I've been thinking about becoming northern instead of Scottish.

It’s the Bible Belt of Britain. Look how deep those shades are up there…

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FMapPorn%2Fcomments%2F133wboz%2Freligion_in_england_2021_census%2F&psig=AOvVaw2L_6uL23xWkMqF_D5Ht250&ust=1700591358880000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCMC9sdSa04IDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAX

Better than Northern Ireland, but that’s hardly a comforting benchmark.

Interestingly, the morning of the Sunday before last, I'd left the Bolton Holiday Inn the day after my friend's 50th bash, and strolled through the rain washed, sunlit streets to the bus stop. While I waited I contemplated the extremely evangelical church across the road (Sunday 11-1) with a car just arriving, early to set up the 2 hour marathon service.

And, like a JB Priestley character, when the bus arrived i got on and let it take me away back to my worldly concerns, and indeed my worldly goods and my car parked at the Bolton Stadium Premier Inn.

Didn’t cars have big rear windows then?

cosmictanya wrote:

It’s the Bible Belt of Britain. Look how deep those shades are up there…

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FMapPorn%2Fcomments%2F133wboz%2Freligion_in_england_2021_census%2F&psig=AOvVaw2L_6uL23xWkMqF_D5Ht250&ust=1700591358880000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCMC9sdSa04IDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAX

Better than Northern Ireland, but that’s hardly a comforting benchmark.

Biggest take from that - whatever happened to the traditional Methodism of the Welsh Valleys, now the least religious part of the UK?!

Where have the Welsh Male Voice Choirs gone?!

SiberianPrincess’sMidriff wrote:

Didn’t cars have big rear windows then?

Late 90s "nostalgia" soundtrack.

It's the one thing car reviewers complain about all the time on modern cars - how small rear windows are today and with big pillars, and are therefore difficult to see through when reversing. I guess that's why even basic cars often get rear view cameras these days - including my little Peugeot 208.

I'm used to not being able to see out the back window because my car is always filled up with goods. Instead I have my door mirrors set very wide, and lean anxiously forward to peer into them when overtaking or passing a sliproad.

I found all the waiting in traffic in that video very stressful. Particularly when the guy gets out of his pickup truck around 1:00 for purposes unknown.

Butterfield wrote:

cosmictanya wrote:

It’s the Bible Belt of Britain. Look how deep those shades are up there…

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FMapPorn%2Fcomments%2F133wboz%2Freligion_in_england_2021_census%2F&psig=AOvVaw2L_6uL23xWkMqF_D5Ht250&ust=1700591358880000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCMC9sdSa04IDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAX

Better than Northern Ireland, but that’s hardly a comforting benchmark.

Biggest take from that - whatever happened to the traditional Methodism of the Welsh Valleys, now the least religious part of the UK?!

Where have the Welsh Male Voice Choirs gone?!

They're too busy juggling their zero hours contracts.

If it's any comfort, it's only the least religious part of England and Wales. The least religious part of the U.K...

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Frk8380ryj2d61.png%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dc9c35900839ff80c9e2f55df5940c9d0738ad703

And over the water, is the most...

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2F6mt32iyz5bp41.png%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D3d90f68ef2d98fd91e56264ec987ee35b4ee3485

Just them and the people of Lancashire. I worry that Fangirl might move to Bolton and get caught up in/running from the local culture. It would be like living in a very rainy Bnei Brak. It's not a risk I'd take. Evangelicals always have the ugliest churches.

SiberianPrincess’sMidriff wrote:

Didn’t cars have big rear windows then?

You need to keep left at the end there if you want to go down The shopping Mall.

After my stressful experience getting out of London when I parked at the W12 for an appointment in Hammersmith, I vowed never to cross either the North or South Circular in a car again, and I was right to do it.

Walking 4½ miles each way from Richmond on each subsequent occasion was so much less stressful.

The district line would saved your shoe leather.