Foggy Roads

Posted: Wed 13 April, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Fog | Leave a comment »

After the gig on Monday, the drive home was one of the nastiest I’ve had in a long time – all the roads were covered in super-thick fog, which made the entire endeavour a lot tougher and slower than it would usually be. Thankfully, it was all a route I know really well – without that, I think it would’ve been even slower and I wouldn’t have known where the hell I was at any point.

The fog was so thick, in general I could only see about three cats-eyes ahead of me, so the concentration was ridiculous the entire way.

The other plus was that the roads were a lot quieter than they could have been – although the great majority of the people who were out were desperately bad at driving in fog, which really wasn’t ideal.

Still, it all passed peacefully and without any extra nastiness, so that’s got to be a bonus. It could have been so much worse along the way…

Seasonal Transitional

Posted: Fri 18 March, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Change, Depression, Domestic, Fog, Introspective, Sleep - or lack thereof, Thoughts, Weather | Leave a comment »

This time of year is hard for me.  A lot of it is related to the change of the seasons, the transition between winter and spring/summer, the weather, and the resultant effect on my depression.

It’s weird, really. Through the winter, I expect the grey days and the lack of sunlight – it’s par for the course, and I’m used to handling it, fighting against depression and not wanting to go out.  I get as much daylight as possible – currently helped by my office facing big windows, which maximises things, and walking at lunchtime – and basically just get through Winter the best I can.

Come spring though, things change. Days get longer, we have more hours of sunlight, and I know that the easier time is coming – but it’s not here yet. I’m tired from having kept the depression at bay all winter, and it hits me harder now as a result. I just don’t have the energy by now to keep on fighting with it. It’s the time when I completely lack motivation, and could happily stay in bed a lot longer, not wanting to get up.

I still do get up, and get things done. I make plans – not always conscious plans, but because I’m aware of the upcoming Glums, I make plans ahead of time, sometimes without realising just why I’m making them for that time. I still do stuff, and get on with it. But it’s definitely a lot harder than usual (as the actress said to the bishop) and a rough period.

It’s not helped by being (or at least feeling) greyer than usual. Yes, it’s getting light – but the last couple of weeks, it’s just been bright grey, with fairly thick mists and fogs most mornings. Again, a facet of the season, but one I find particularly tough to deal with. I’m OK with it being dark when I get up, I’m better with it being light and sunny when I get up. But this grey crap in between the two is just draining.

I’ll be OK. I’m used to this crap, and I can generally deal with it. I’m affected by it, but I won’t admit defeat to it.

Given a couple of weeks – usually once the clocks go forward at the end of the month – things will start to come back. But March is just a bit cruddy, with drained energy levels, and more blah than usual as a result.

Weather and Maintenance

Posted: Tue 3 November, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, Fog, Laziness, Milton Keynes, People, Thoughts, Weather | Leave a comment »

It’s November, so in the last few days we’ve seen the clocks go back and had some seriously thick fogs in the mornings and evenings. That means people are (or at least should be) driving with lights on and so on – and it also illustrates that plenty of them don’t have everything working.

As usual, I find it utterly gobsmacking how people can drive along – while maintaining the same speeds they’d drive at on dry roads with decent visibility – with broken headlamps, no lights at all, and no foglights.  (And, of course there’s then the ones who leave on foglights well into clear weather, or use them at night when there’s no need at all)

I lost count of the number of – usually pale/grey – cars with no lights at all, in visibility that could be measured in feet, at best. I don’t understand what goes through someone’s head, that whole “well, I can see fuck-all, but I’ll keep my lights turned off, because even though I can’t see, it’s Day Time, so I don’t need lights” kind of process.

Equally, I don’t get how people can consistently drive with a broken/non-working headlamp, and the massively-reduced visibility that gives. I know it happens, that they can just blow without warning – I’ve had it happen. But when it has happened, it gets replaced rapidly – particularly in Autumn and Winter. Even in the poorest days, you (or at least I) still make sure that the car is safe.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case with a lot of people, and it’s a mindset I just don’t get.

Not Always Sensible, Though

Posted: Mon 2 November, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Fog, People, Shopping, Sociable, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

Of course, following on from the post about trying to be more sensible and have a bit of down-time, I was still busy all weekend…

As it was, the weekend consisted of

  • Braving Ikea on a weekend, for a present for a friend’s young child. (New range, cool stuff, needed to be done) In particular, this. Which is nicely warped, and amused me lots.
  • Driving across to Oxford to see a friend
  • Then going with her to a quiz-night thing
  • And getting back at well-past midnight, then also not getting to sleep ’til nearly two (get your minds out of the gutter, nothing like that!)
  • Driving back home on the Sunday
  • Generally geeking out and working on stuff

So fun, but not really restful, per se… 🙂

More Gof

Posted: Fri 14 March, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: A428, Commuting, Domestic, Driving, Fog, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »

Today has been an excellent example of why (sometimes) it’s a good thing for my commute to be getting me in to work earlier than usual.

Despite it being even foggier than yesterday, and a pig of a drive (still unlit idiots, or people shitting themselves at not being able to see) it was a smooth run, and I got in on time.

Other colleagues coming in for ‘normal’ times though have been absolutely screwed. Apparently two trucks collided in the fog on the dual-carriageway near the infamous Black Cat Roundabout, which led to epic screwage of all relevant traffic in the area.  (Even better, soon afterwards the other end of the same road was equally screwed up by a truck shedding its load all over the entry roundabout. Well played…)  It’s taken them two to three hours to do the drive that takes me 45 mins on average.

Hopefully it’ll all be sorted by the time I head home. It should be – there’s plenty of time yet – but all the same, it’s been a useful example.

Lit

Posted: Thu 13 March, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, A428, BMW Drivers, Commuting, Driving, Fog, People, Travel, Weather, Weirdness | Leave a comment »

This morning’s drive in to work was foggy – foggy enough that you could see maybe three or four car-lengths ahead, and not much more.

So it left me quite gobsmacked to see how many drivers today weren’t bothering with their foglights – and in some cases without any lights on at all.

Considering how every pisswit fuck-knuckle in Christendom seems to put their fog lights on when it’s misty – and then leave them on for three damn days afterwards – it’s pretty amazing when you come across cars today (and particularly bloody silver ones) with no lights on at all.

What on earth are these drivers thinking? (And yes, I know, they’re not thinking)  After all, it’s not like they can see any better than I could – I just don’t get the mindset of “Oh well, other people will be able to see me, even if I can’t see them”

I don’t mind people being stupid, inconsiderate, and fuck-witted. If they want to die on the road, that’s fine with me. What I do mind is the other people affected by those decisions. And that’s just cuntish.

Common Sense (Or Lack Thereof)

Posted: Fri 6 September, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, BMW Drivers, Cynicism, Driving, Fog, People, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

Following on from yesterday’s horrid (yet spectacular) crash in Kent on the Sheppey Crossing, the BBC’s now carrying a story saying that various people are wanting warning signs, lighing etc. on the bridge to prevent such an accident again.

The thing is, I don’t see how that’s going to improve things. (other than in the context of Being Seen To Be Doing Something)

The accident(s) happened in thick fog. As such, I would suspect that the actual primary causes of the accident(s) were

  1. Fog
  2. Drivers going too fast
  3. Drivers not using their lights/foglights
  4. Drivers being dickheads

I get the idea of warning signs on the crossing – again, in that context of Being Seen to be Doing Something – but I can’t see how they’ll improve safety. After all…

  • If they’re warning of thick fog, will people be able to see them in – um – the thick fog?
  • If they’re giving warnings, won’t they also be distracting the attention of dickhead drivers who don’t seem able to multitask?

If the warning signs just read “Don’t be a fucking moron”, it might help. But even then, it would be helping far less than drivers simply not being fucking morons.

 

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