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Went to London yesterday afternoon using long M25 route. OK, two hours, traffic but moving. Started back from Richmond about 1 am. Best 50 miles I've driven for two years. Hardly another vehicle on the road, room to pass any mimsers, relaxed and, what's the word, swift, without hurrying or violent acceleration or braking ever being necessary. A real pleasure, now rare in this part of the country.
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I had a similar journey back home last night. I was truly grinning from ear to ear. :D
Even SWMBO didn't complain about the pace I was setting...
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I always fancied being a night cabbie Arthmael, were you on nights when you were cabbing in London?
I used to drive box vans and Bedford TK's in the 70's and hated the daytime traffic jams but I suppose there is more wonga to be had cabbing on days rather than nites.
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We are very lucky living in an area, and travelling at times, where motoring is as swift as you want and stress free. Overtakes are never rushed because visibility is miles and the next chance always comes in a few hundred yards. There is no pressure and no road rage as you're not competing for space.
I take the kids 10 miles to school every morning and the 10 mile run back across the Fens just after 9am is a fluid and relaxing exercise.
The only downside in the more rural areas is the bumpy roads but this years change back to a smooth riding Citroen has solved that issue.
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Bet you straddle the white line too when there's no one else close to you:)
It's how to tell a local!
Pat
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>> Bet you straddle the white line too when there's no one else close to you:)
>>
>> It's how to tell a local!
You have to in the fens, the sides of the roads undulate up and down making you seasick.
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>>>Bet you straddle the white line too when there's no one else close to you:)
When appropriate yes indeed. Mind you the the kerbside bumps when you take the correct position to meet someone are a bit of a shock.
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>> always fancied being a night cabbie Arthmael,
You go further, earn less, and it's easier on the car but you have to sleep all day. Plus, drunks, bored coppers, dodgy youths.... Daytime is knackering, beating the traffic through two rush hours, but the money's better.
It's a crap, unhealthy job.
Arthmael eh? Cornish version of myBreton handle is it?
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Living in a village west of Northampton I'm a regular user of the A5.
Usually get a good blast from M1 J18 (Crick/Kilsby) to Weedon. No less time than staying on the M1 to J16 and much more fun.
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>>> Arthmael eh? Cornish version of myBreton handle is it? <<<
Aye Sire, Celtic ~ www.behindthename.com/name/armel
I used to work nights in a Shell petrol station on Brixton Hill in a previous existance,
so I be knowing all about creatures of the night.
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>> Shell petrol station on Brixton Hill
That was well inside the edge of my minicabbing manor Dawg (centred on The Quadrant, Clapham Common corner nearest the end of Acre Lane) but I guess you might have been a few years after my time, two brief but intensive stints in 1973 and 1975.
I like a nice anomaly and I like zooming about and I know Greater London pretty well so it was fun, in a way, for a while. Necessary too at the time because herself was having nippers and my respectable metiers deliver money irregularly, seldom and little. But after a while it started to pall, like working as a washer-up in a coffee bar staffed by flamboyant homosexual drag queens which was also good fun for about six weeks.
There comes a time when you think: This is where I came in. You are vaguely aware of having seen the South African travelogue already. KnowImean?
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c76/77 I worked there Sire, seemed like a good idea at the time - to work nights and have most of the day to myself ... doesn't quite work like that though, does it :)
I used to get visits from 'ladies of the night' asking for certain paraphernalia from the machine in the WC''s ;-)
I was actually locked in at night for obvious reasons, but I did open up a few times for damsels in dis dress ... no troubles though, just wanting me to check their water level or some such.
I had a 'run off without paying once', I called plod at Brixton and they caught him at the lights by Acre La. they asked me if I wanted to press charges! No I said - its not my petrol.
A few days afterwards his folks came by and brought me loads of presents in gratitude.
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I did 6mths of nights at an A1 petrol station in the late 1970s so experienced all the weird and wonderful requests. Like Dog I was mostly locked in but would allow favoured customers to use the facilities.
The best crack was an American servicemen who had no money after filling up his Beetle so I asked for his watch as a deposit. He said he'd rather leave his (English) girlfriend... and yes really... that's what he did. She sat in the shop for the 45mins it took him to drive to the base and back with some loot.
It did cross my mind what I was supposed to do with her if he hadn't returned.......
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i used my barclaycard in the 70"s probably 1977 at a petrol station on the A1 near alconbury hill.i put in £5 signed i thought on those swipe through machines for £5 but got billed at the end of the month for £10
was that you Fenlander?
answer carefully i hold grudges :-)
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I was a bit further north towards P.boro... and always pretty straight with money so not guilty.
However if you did stop at my shop and find a bottle of Turtle Wax a bit short could be the motorbike got polished the night before :-)
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Driving under decent conditions - oilburner
