I wonder if anyone's ever got on a plane to Perth and ended up in the wrong Perth?

I once chundered in Perth. (Scotland)

And I would walk five chundered miles...

Last Sunday I drove 450 miles and it hardly bothered me at all.

Today I have to drive 25 miles along the A12, and the prospect of doing so has been bothering me all week, because it's so prone to blockages and has so few escape points.

Only last week a lorry driver crashed into a bridge, blocking one carriageway for 16 hours and causing X-certificate tailbacks throughout Essex.

I noticed something interesting on the A1(M) today. You know those white, blue and red posts on the side of motorways that mark the 0.1km points (they used to be furlong posts, ie 0.125 mile points)?

Usually the red bit is a long rectangular reflector. But I noticed that occasionally it was made up of 1, 2 or 3 circular reflectors in a column.

Then I worked out that they always appeared in the order 3, 2, 1, and then the next thing on the side of the road was a 'works unit' gate leading off the motorway onto the parallel B-road.

They're doubtless provided so that the burly workmen and women driving those vehicles with huge flashing orange lights along the hard shoulder, know when it's time to slow down for the gate.

tl;dr

Can you distill your post into three words?

Fangirl Three wrote:

They're doubtless provided so that the burly workmen and women driving those vehicles with huge flashing orange lights along the hard shoulder, know when it's time to slow down for the gate.

This will probably get me into trouble somewhere but in 25 years of driving I don't think I've ever seen a woman doing that job.

Equality for all, apart from women doing bin collections and driving those vehicles with huge flashing orange lights along the hard shoulder.

Nightjar wrote:

tl;dr

Can you distill your post into three words?

Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so

I have a car that I use just for work but it has badly failed it's MOT,
It's 20yrs old so not worth getting it fixed so it looks like I will have to get a pushbike.
I'm going to take early retirement in the next couple of months hopefully so not going to buy another car just for that.
Most of the time I can hopefully borrow my Wife,Sons or Daughters car though.

Butterfield wrote:

Fangirl Three wrote:

They're doubtless provided so that the burly workmen and women driving those vehicles with huge flashing orange lights along the hard shoulder, know when it's time to slow down for the gate.

This will probably get me into trouble somewhere but in 25 years of driving I don't think I've ever seen a woman doing that job.

Equality for all, apart from women doing bin collections and driving those vehicles with huge flashing orange lights along the hard shoulder.

I’ve definitely seen women binmen.

Although I know what you mean. A news report made me laugh over the weekend - Ukraine is now requesting, not requiring, women to sign up to the armed forces. Sky or France24 had a beauty salon owner on saying ‘I feel that continuing my job here is better for morale - people always need beauty’. Well yes, that’s true. But the term ‘tone deaf’ came to mind - you have the choice to keep doing massages and false eyelashes in the relative safety of a scented room, so perhaps everyone should’ve had the choice, and everyone should’ve been ‘required’ - less all men 18 to 38 for example, and instead men and women age 18 to 28, leaving those older to keep the economy and their families better functioning.

I’ve had to buy something myself, on eBay. What is the point in booking into a garage, only for them to ring after three days to ask me if I could search around on eBay for the part.

I’ve got a headache now, and of course when I saw ‘1 left’ I ordered, only to see it £200 cheaper further down, so I’ve got a cancellation request pending that I don’t feel positive over.

When I take whichever part (or both in the worst case that I can’t cancel the more expensive one) they’re going to need ‘probably about a fortnight’ to book me back in to fit the thing.

That despite today being the day that was booked in, and me doing all the work. Customer service has gone since Covid. Getting essential appointments is like some restaurant bookings.

Yeah yeah, not until next month, and we’ll stick you on a table in the foyer.

Oh the relief, they’ve processed the refund. And they sent a really sweet message saying they’ve got all kinds at lots of prices, and will be happy to help at any point in the future.

This morning I'm looking down the length of the journey from Perth to Essex, and I'm not liking what I see. I feel like I know every damn inch of that road now.

Fangirl Three wrote:

This morning I'm looking down the length of the journey from Perth to Essex, and I'm not liking what I see. I feel like I know every damn inch of that road now.

I honestly don't know how you manage to do that so often, I drive to Lincolnshire a couple of times a year to see relatives and I genuinely stress about falling asleep on the way.

Hello Zarnas.

I stop for 45 minutes, at Doncaster usually, cos you can't drive all that way with just w*e breaks.

I am pretty worn out after 430 miles, and I twitch and shake for a few hours after getting into bed. I do sleep well though.

The weather yesterday was appalling, thick fog on the high bit of the A66, then when I got over the summit, heavy rain began. There was brown muddy water pouring out of a field onto the road.

Fangirl Three wrote:

I stop for 45 minutes, at Doncaster usually, cos you can't drive all that way with just w*e breaks.

I am pretty worn out after 430 miles, and I twitch and shake for a few hours after getting into bed. I do sleep well though.

The weather yesterday was appalling, thick fog on the high bit of the A66, then when I got over the summit, heavy rain began. There was brown muddy water pouring out of a field onto the road.

I went past Doncaster yesterday on the A1(M) north, so I'm guessing our trodden paths crossed, though at different times of the day.

I got held up on the M1 near Chesterfield as there was a burnt out Mini on the hard shoulder still being tended to by firemen.