Archev's adventures in the Berlingo

[T1 Terry]

I usually have a slightly different experience. It's a big temporary sign saying slow 60km/hr, road workers, in a 110km/hr zone. I dutifully travel for about 10km at very reduced speed, to come across an end speed limit sign, with no evidence of said work or workers.

Often, they mark out areas that will be worked on between the start of scheduled work and the planned end date.
The people that do the traffic control get these areas and between this date and that date, they have no choice, even if the workers aren't in that actual area, they have no idea if they might move to that area, or if the road is in that bad condition the safe speed has been deemed to be 60km/h rather than 110km/h, so they are obligated, and get paid, to mark those areas at the speed they have been advised to post .....

Gone are the days when one mob did the lot, it's all specialised, each traffic control officer needs a different level of licence to do a particular function in the traffic management ..... the one with the lolli-pop sign is now a graded traffic control officer, a step above the one that puts the speed signs out, but not as high as the one who operates the traffic lights where a single lane is all that is available ..... next level is the person driving the speed control vehicle to stop anyone from exceeding the perceived safe speed .... the next is the one who sits in the air conditioned vehicle with a heap of walkie talkies and over-sees the whole circus ......
I worked with a contract industrial fitter on a 14 hr shut down, big $$ work, and he told me he only does this stuff now when there is no lolli-pop sign work available, the sign work pays more .... a strange world we live in that's for sure .... someone with 15 yrs experience as an industrial fitter get better pay working the lolli-pop sign at road works ....

T1 Terry

 

[siteguru]

We've had the vagaries of "traffic management" in our town recently ... temporary lights around some works being done near a busy intersection, but said lights completely ignoring another set of fixed lights a little further up the road so they weren't in sync at all. This caused havoc around the town, as the temp lights could be on red but people turning right from the fixed lights onto that road couldn't move, which meant that the joining road would back up meaning nobody could move anywhere - anyone wanting to turn left at the fixed lights either had to sit and fume, or take their chances on the wrong side of the road to get to the front of the queue and force their way across.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

As a eighteen year old non driver (late 70s ) we used to catch the bus into town for a night out , one of the utilities had one side of the road up controlled by temporary lights on a battery system about 100 yards up from the bus stop. My mate ( Number 1 nob head ) wandered up to have a gander and found that the cover for the control panel was open . Unable to resist a fiddle and having an inspired moment in went his hand. He returned to the bus stop with a big grin and said " Watch this " one side was green for about 10 secs and then red for 4 minuets , the opposite for the other side. The queue up the road soon turned horrendous / angry / confounded. Some drivers went around the hole on red ( visibility was excellent) whilst many waited until their 10 second slot . The hilarity only lasted a few minuets when the bus arrived at the back of the queue and then took around quarter of a hour to travel the 300 yards to the stop , the driver fuming at the incompetent workforce who had set up the lights.... we kept stum .
When we returned a few hours later , full of beer, we saw that both sets of lights had been pushed into the hole and not considerately!

 

[Archev]

On the coastal road between Ayr and Girvan is the phenomenon known as the Electric Brae which feels like upwards when in fact you’re going downwards and running downhill when actually you are toiling upwards.
It’s a glorious coastline with the famous Ailsa Craig, a blue hone granite island offshore. Three quarters of the world’s curling stones are produced from the island’s stone. You can zoom in and find the volcanic plug hiding in the haze on the horizon near the Citroën’s windscreen. The southern end of Arran is just off to the right.

 

[Archev]

Almost came a cropper over the last couple of days by suffering severe range anxiety.
I topped up the battery to full and drove the seventy miles through to Ayr. I filled up to about 90% en route at Arnold Clarke’s Charge units in Prestwick as I’ve done before. I didn’t really mean to put quite so much in but I became friends with a rather fine Americano coffee and shortbread in the showroom and before I knew it……
The following day we drove down to Girvan and enjoyed a wee picnic by the sea and a wander through the rather sad dilapidated Main Street with countless closed up shops.
Back to Ayr via the electric brae shown in the pictures in my last posting and that left around eighty odd miles of range to cover my return home last night. So I set off with a happy heart along a fairly quiet A / M77 towards Glasgow. That’s about when I suffered the first pangs of panic about being able to get home. Berlingo was gliding along happily enough gently sipping power from the battery at about 3.2 miles per unit and all seemed fine on that score. I was on eco and highest regen mode so all seemed well.
There was not one detour listed on the satnav maps and no orange flashing lighted construction vehicles as per my last passage along this route. Yes, all was going beautifully to plan until I joined the M8 through Glasgow. Realisation and panic set in as I became aware things might not work out and the homeward drive could be fraught with difficulties.
Yes, I noticed that the car’s battery might well last out but my reserve of the other necessity for safe and comfortable driving was just about fully depleted. Yes folks I had been paying attention to the GOM but forgot all about Polo-O-Meter and had nearly finished the tube of mints (other mints are available but rarely in my car and certainly not last night).
It really was a dilemma, fifty some miles to home, and a single mint left.
OK I made it, just, but it really is very hard trying to ignore a mint wedged between cheek and gum trying to make it last.
Life’s hard sometimes

 

[Archev]

Just in case anyone is thinking about showing our vehicles at the Glamis Castle Vintage Extravaganza this year.
I got the email late and began looking into the requirements for taking a stand. Insurance was the major thing.
However I called the organisers and found that all the stands are already booked. It is the 50th show after all so pretty special.
All the spaces were booked within hours of the invitations being sent out so I’m sorry - I had no chance.
For reference, insurance for a static display would cost £93 for five cars and £11 each for any extras. A gazebo, tables chairs etc would probably be extra. (Cake would be OK but hot food extra )
Also for future reference we would need a club name perhaps ?
So Glamis is out this year but perhaps other shows ?