Am I crazy? I had the weirdest dream...

[Speedy_Pete]

I'm one of those people that can remember their dreams, last nights involved a girl that I fancy the pants off, and a Caterham. Instead of getting down and dirty with the girl, I was driving around Milton Keynes in the Caterham. The really weird thing: The Caterham had four seats, a hard top, and a gear lever that came out of the dash like a Citroen 2CVs... I think I need help!

 

[Baz]

I was driving around Milton Keynes

That's a nightmare.

 

[Speedy_Pete]

But in a Caterham with all those roundabouts?

 

[ecurie_ecosse]

I was driving around Milton Keynes

That's a nightmare.

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif That's a nightmare! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif

As you say Pete,"all those roundabouts,and in a Caterham",
but not quite a Caterham with the kinky French gear stick and 4 seats.
I have to ask,what did you have for a nightcap? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

Stuart. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif

 

[Speedy_Pete]

I did over 29 hours work between monday and tuesday, got home after 11 last night and had a pizza for dinner. Maybe the old tale about cheese before bed has some weight to it...

 

[DrEntropy]

mehheh... ya THINK?!?!

I do my best to consume a fair amount of cheese 'n kippers before bed most evenings...
I'd not reveal my dreams for fear of black helicopters and wire taps, tho. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

 

[ecurie_ecosse]

You never can tell with those "old tales".May be that's why you remembered the Caterham and not the girl. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

Stuart. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif

 

[Speedy_Pete]

Wanna know something really disturbing? That was quite a sane dream by my standards... that's all I'm gonna say!

 

[ncbugeye]

We now have all our American friends wondering what kind of a heck-hole Milton Keynes is... Actually it is a sort of mini Los Angeles, a bunch of suburbs in search of a city, although there are far fewer suburbs involved.

Our American friends don't realize how many roundabouts there are per mile on UK roads, and they do not like or understand roundabouts. Just go to one of the 26 (or so) roundabouts in the entire USA and see how they react... There is one in the center of Hilton Head Island, SC, which is a real comedy show for most of the tourist season, especially because most of the cars negotiating it are visitors for one week.

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/driving.gif

 

[Speedy_Pete]

There was a roundabout in Telford that used to be like an ice rink when it got wet. Naturally I would make the most of it in the BMW, knock it into 2nd so it stayed in gear, a quick blast on the loud pedal an you could hold the slide for as long as you wanted, steering with the accelerator. Then one day they resurfaced it, and I nearly shot clean off the other side as it was sudddenly one of the grippiest in town!!

 

[DrEntropy]

heheheeee!!!! I now have a marvelous mental image to carry to dreamland this eve!

We've one here and it's a GREAT source of entertainment in the high (tourist) season.

Pete! Head up to the Trough o' Boland, the Lakes, work through your problems... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

 

[Sarastro]

I grew up in Philadelphia, and remember well that most local highway intersections in New Jersey were controlled by traffic circles, AKA roundabouts. Virtually all have been removed, because they were high-accident areas. Not so many, but still some, in PA, too--notorious was the famous "airport circle" about a mile from the Philadelphia airport. It was in a commuter route from the navy yard, south Jersey, and industries along the Delaware river. Evening rush hour EVERY day, there was an accident. It was removed long ago.

I've negotiated the roundabouts in the UK and Ireland, and they seem to work, though. My colleagues in the UK tell me that the high-accident areas there are cross intersections, not roundabouts, but I've never seen any real statistics. I find them pretty cool--if you don't know where you're going, you need not commit to a road. Just do a couple of orbits, read all the signs, and pull out when you've figured it out.

It's been a long time since I drove in France, but at the time, the cars entering the roundabout had the right of way over those already in the roundabout. (Rule in the UK & Ireland is opposite, fortunately.) This was a prescription for gridlock, but in France, that's the natural state of affairs, so no one ever noticed. I was once told that the rule has changed, but I don't know for sure.

We have one here in Long Beach, within the city, on Pacific Coast Highway. I see absolutely no need for it, and it's pretty hair raising to negotiate. When I'm in the bugeye, I avoid it. But it has been around forever, one of the last bits of the old city, so it probably won't be removed until some actor or sports figure gets killed there.

 

[ncbugeye]

The right of way on the right is the so called "droit de Napoleon" which was established by the eponymous emperor 200 years ago, and is still the "strict" law in France and Belgium. France has mostly done away with it, but Belgium still has it for most roads without EXPLICIT overriding signs every 1/2 mile or so. On Belgian roads any old farmer can pull onto a major highway from the right at 3mph and you are obliged to give way.

 

[racingenglishcars]

That's the rule here in Denmark on ALL unmarked intersections. They changed the rule in roundabouts less than 10 years ago allowing the cars in the circle to have the right of way.

 

[Roger]

It still is in France, though today many side roads are marked and do not have priority.
Roundabouts are another matter. Many are "Cedez le Passage" (give way) on entry, but a few, including the granddaddy of them all, at L'Etoile (Arc de Triomphe)in Paris, are where you have priority entering the circle. It takes a bit of getting used to!

 

[Speedy_Pete]

Arc de Triomphe is heck on earth, unless you hit it at 4am, in which case you can also hit it at 60mph...
As for Americans tackling the UK roundabouts, I just keep thinking of National Lampoons European Vacation:
"Hey kids, there's the houses of Parliament... Hey kids, there's the houses of Parliament... Hey kids, there's the houses of Parliament..."

 

[kcbugeye1275]

In the city I live in(Olathe) in KC there has been 3 roundabouts in a closee line of streets installed the last couple yrs. Once you get past those who don't know how to drive them they do speed the flow of traffic. That said, the bugeye is a blast to drive through, and just this morning I explored 2nd gear accelerating, twas fun. Now this dream thing Pete!!!