Today I saw a man smoking a pipe. Can’t tell you the last time I saw such a sight.
He was smoking a pipe whilst driving a very new looking BMW 540.
Wonder what that does to the resale value of the car? Not that he probably cares!
As an occasional cigar smoker before smoking bans came into place, I always fancied trying a pipe as I love the smell of them. But never did.
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Did he open the 1/4 light window to tip out the old baccy ?
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Back in my early years as a driving instructor there was a particular supervising examiner (A Mr Bean, believe it or not) whose job was to sit in on the back of a lesson every so many years to make sure ADIs were teaching properly. The first thing he used to do as he settled himself in the seat was to light his pipe. Those days no-one, pupil or instructor, thought anything of it.
A big contrast to now where driving test examiners are instructed to refuse to conduct a test in a car if there is any evidence people have been smoking in it.
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How strange I only thought almost the same thing yesterday that I hadn't seen a pipe smoker in years.
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Years ago I knew a guy who smoked one of those S-shaped pipes. He'd light it up, take a few puffs and then put it in his shirt pocket. Followed a few seconds later by some weird dance accompanied by swearing.
No idea what he was putting in that pipe.
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I smoked a pipe for years, in the office and when driving. Lighting it at the wheel was quite an art. Used to be able to get pipe holders, consisting of bent wire and a sucker to stick on the dashboard. Once saw an uncle roll up a fag at the wheel using only one hand.
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>> Once saw an uncle roll up a fag at the wheel using only one hand.
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My old man did that often.
My director at a previous job used to smoke pipes in his office at work. He would diligently put it out when someone visited but the smell was still there. Quite pleasant it was too.
He was a good chap. Keen cricket player and very knowledgeable. I remember being one of the few in the South London office on a particular day and was struggling with a report on a problem client. My boss or colleagues weren't in so he invited me to his office and spent the afternoon weighing up the options with me.
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My headmaster smoked a pipe. He had tins of Three Nuns tobacco on his leather topped desk and if someone was sent in for the stick or a rollicking he'd sit behind the desk scraping bits of tobacco off the desk back into a tin while telling you how disappointed he was.
Or so I'm told.
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how could teachers suck smoke through the pipe, exhale smoke, and scold you all at the same time?
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In my first summer job, so summer 1987, the boss had an automatic company car - a Montego. He also only had one real leg, thankfully his right leg.
He used to not only smoke big cigars non stop in the office and his car , but everytime he went away in his car he had a huge mug of coffee with him. Think present day Sports Direct mugs.
But no flasks or cup holders, this just sat in the front passenger footwell. He didn’t care that it splashed everywhere.
My other memory of that job, they had a Pirelli calendar on the wall, of the topless variety, but every page someone had coloured in a bikini top onto the model!
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>> how could teachers suck smoke through the pipe, exhale smoke, and scold you all at
>> the same time?
I knew someone who could draw on a fag while simultaneously blowing smoke out of their nostrils, goodness knows how.
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One occasion going up north for a footy game , my mate who was driving surprisingly pulled over to the inside lane , and said `R can you steer whilst I roll this cigarette . One time I had to steer around a vehicle ,whilst he rolled . Those were the days
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I worked with a marvellous man, back in the early 80's, appropriately named Ogden. He was a walking tobacconist, a smoker of cigarettes, cigars and a pipe. If interrupted he would put the burning pipe in his jacket pocket. It was quite common, when the interruption ended, for him to light up a cigarette or cigar and forget about the pipe. Occasionally there would be the sell of burning tweed.
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My first boss smoked a pipe, even then I knew he used it as a buffer time to consider his response to a given situation. He smoked it in the car as well.
Last edited by: R.P. on Mon 5 Dec 22 at 08:48
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One of my first bosses, ex-army chap, was never seen in anything other than a bespoke suit complete with braces, brylcreemed hair, pipe on the go permanently. Always drove top of the range Ford Granadas. His Border terrier always with him, whether he was in the car or his wood panelled office.
Hard as nails but terribly posh and really quite caring if he decided you were ok. Terrifying to those he didn’t think were up to his standards.
Even then he seemed to be a man from a past era. Would always have lunch in a decent restaurant with a couple of gins to wash it down.
If you want a mental picture of him think Fiennes as “M” with a pipe added.
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My grandfather had an original Mini Countryman from new, with the timber framing, in the early 60’s. He smoked a pipe most of the time he was driving. As a result it had a tan brown headlining that went quite well with the ivory paintwork.
He offered it to me as a present when he was trading it in. This was about 1972 but I was a hard up student so couldn’t afford to fix it up and run it. It was not well maintained so I didn’t miss out on a future classic but no doubt a good one would now be worth a tidy sum.
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en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Smoker_of_the_Year
…including old Beefy (can’t have aided his athletic performance on the cricket field)
…and James Galway (can’t have aided his flute playing!)
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Today’s rare sight was a Toyota Hi-Lux pick-up broken down at the side of the road in Leatherhead. An incredibly rare sight, even for a 25 year old model, if Jeremy Clarkson is to be believed…
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Sometime on Monday, someone managed to spectacularly overturn their vehicle at a T-Junction I use fairly regularly (Countryside location, but A-road).
It's a 21-reg Kia, by the looks of it a Sportage, but it's difficult to tell when the view of it consists mainly of the underside, as it is embedded on its side in the ditch parallel to the main road (the through part of the T-Junction).
It has "Police Aware" tape attached, otherwise I would have been compelled to investigate in case it still had an occupant.
Nothing particularly rare about an accident, though where it's finished up, and its direction is a bit intriguing, but it has been a daily sight since then, and still hadn't been recovered when I passed today just before sundown, on my return from a cracking day out walking in the Peak District.
Given some of the surrounding towns, I wouldn't be surprised if anything and everything that was easily removable had been stripped by now!
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A police car and a taxi. Looks like the taxi had been T-boned by the police car at traffic lights. The police car had heavy front damage and the taxi a broken rear stub axle and body damage surrounding.
Which one jumped the red light? The taxi (normal behaviour around here) or the police car on blues?
Whichever, I guess someone will be providing doughnuts in the police canteen.
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Here's one I captured on the dashcam earlier today. I hope you can see it, it's on my Google drive but I won't leave it up there too long.
drive.google.com/file/d/1GibE3hNWyGRw0jMz0hEryHq-FYBMbDF8/view?usp=sharing
I'd waved the guy on the left in but not the guy on the right!!!
50/50 I imagine.
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Any specsavers on that high street?
I reckon they'd both benefit from a visit.
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MG driver is at fault (Lexus driver indicating to change lane and MG joining road), but yes, both drivers would benefit from a trip to the opticians!
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Not sure whether the Lexus indicating will help him. Simple observation from either driver would have avoided it.
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And the Lexus driver seemed to carry on forwards without steering away, causing a longer scrape.
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FWIW SWMBO said the Lexus driver looked like a very old guy.
I suppose by hanging back for the MG I was also inadvertently giving a message to teh Lexus driver. There were road works further up the road and traffic was zipping.
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...and the 21-reg Kia first seen in the ditch last Monday is still there this afternoon....!
Last edited by: tyrednemotional on Mon 19 Dec 22 at 14:12
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...and, 'tis still there today!!
At least, some of it is because, as predicted "The Borrowers" have been at it. Various bits now missing, including the exhaust system short of the tailpipe (presumably including the Cat). It had a car pulled over next to it just now as we journeyed home, but I couldn't see if further dismantling was taking place.
I'm rather confused as to why it would have been left out in the wild, on its side, for best part of three weeks. Having now noted the registration, it is a 21-reg Sportage, and it shows up as insured ---- so why not recovered?
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A rare sight - carmalade
