High Milage

Posted: Mon 9 December, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Old(er), M1, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

Over the last month I’ve done a fair number of miles, including two trips to the North-East, one to the North-West, and one to the South-West, as well as a couple to closer parts of the country.

Indeed, by my rough reckoning I’ve done about 1,700 miles this month on those journeys, as well as my usual 600 of commuting – and as regular readers know, that’s one of my lowest-mileage monthly commutes in recent years. Indeed – having just checked – it’s the shortest commute since I worked in Oldham while living in Manchester. (And that took longer to do by far, as it was reliant on public transport)

The next few weeks will be quieter though – I’m done for long-mileage trips for the next month or so at least, which is no bad thing.

The Slab has done well on it all though. When I got home last night, the odometer read 99,500 exactly. The 100,000 mile service is booked in for just before Christmas, so the timing on that should be pretty spot-on, all things considered. Even if I go slightly over by then, it’ll still be within the next 1,000 – all told, no bad thing.

The only thing I really miss on Slab from Mondeo, it turns out, is cruise-control. I never used to use it much, but it does come in handy on long motorway drives where your leg doesn’t move much from one position on the accelerator. It meant I could engage the cruise-control for a couple of minutes, stretch and move my leg, and stop my knee from totally locking up.  Instead, getting home last night I must’ve looked like a pirate getting out the car, for the first couple of minutes it really wouldn’t move well at all.

Making A Commitment

Posted: Fri 22 November, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Commuting, Driving, M1, M25, People, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »

(No, not that sort of commitment – chiff that!)

Anyway. Having been a contractor for [far too] many years now, I find I still really don’t understand the people who take on a contract that’ll involve a large commute, and then bitch about it, or try and change the pay/conditions of the contract because of that commute.  If/when I take on a commute, I know what kind of distance I’m going to be travelling in order to do it. I’ve usually checked out the drive/travel – at worst I’ve a pretty good idea of where I’ll be going, how I’ll do the travel, and what it’s likely to entail.

A current colleague is coming to the office daily from Essex, via the M25. It’s a 70 mile journey each-way, using the M25 and M1, and should take about 90 minutes. I’ve done longer journeys as a commute (both in mileage and travel time) and it’s roughly the same time/distance as I was doing from Suffolk to London a couple of years back. (That was actually a longer one because I then did about 45 mins on Tube travel as well)

At least once a week this colleague bitches about how bad his commute is, how troublesome, and what a nightmare the traffic is. I know he’s tried to get himself paid for travelling time, or reduce his working hours in order to level out the commute time.  So far, the company has resisted changing anything, because he knew (or should’ve known) what he was letting himself in for – and I really can’t blame them.

With a contract, if you sign up for it, you should see it out at the terms/rates you agreed. I always do. The only time that changes is if the company is crap, or the conditions are not what you were told at the time. If they’d promised to pay for accommodation or whatever, and then didn’t, that’s a reason to change terms/rates. If the job/place isn’t what was sold at interview, fair enough, change things. If the job is simply not quite what you’d expected, grin and bear it.

Contracts are finite things. I can handle pretty much any commute or working conditions for three or six months. If you can’t, you either a) shouldn’t be contracting, b) should figure out your locations and commutes better, or c) should learn to shut up and put up.

Missing the M1

Posted: Thu 26 September, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Charm School, Commuting, Driving, M1, Work-related | Leave a comment »

I have to say, because of this I’m very glad I’m not commuting via the M1.

It wouldn’t have affected me directly, but from the traffic reports, the closures and rubberneckers were screwing things up for everyone else, so I’m pretty pleased that I was commuting in the opposite direction, away from the M1 entirely…

Oops - trucksplat

Oops

M25 Circumnavigation

Posted: Sat 1 June, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Driving, London, M1, M25, People, Politics, Sociable | Tags: | 1 Comment »

This weekend, I’ve driven round most of the M25. The only section I missed out was from M40 to M1 (which I do on a regular basis anyway, so no major loss)  and by then I was sick of the road anyway.

It wasn’t just for fun, though. Yesterday was a drive from home (M1) to Chislehurst, in order to attend the wedding reception of Merialc. That particular run was OK, thankfully – even with the prevalence of roadworks etc. – until reaching the Dartford Crossing, which was as shafted as always, and took half an hour on its own.

Today I went round the other half, having decided to visit my parents who live off the M40. The roadworks on that section were far worse, although at least we were moving, if slowly.

It’s been a fun weekend (which I know means I need to either get a life, or get out more) but Lord above, the M25 does annoy me.

Weirdly, it’s not because of the generally shit quality of the road, the ongoing road works, or the tossbag drivers. What annoys me is that the M25 had the chance to be a great road, a great future-facing way to deal with all the possibilities relating to the increase of traffic round London for the next thirty to fifty years. And instead, it’s a lofting great white elephant. Why? Because no politicians or planners had the guts to stand up and say “Look, this is what we need, but let’s future-proof it, let’s make it all five carriageways each side, plan for a huge increase in traffic, and make it work properly”.

It could’ve been so good, and instead it’s just a bag of shit.

Commuting in Half-Term

Posted: Wed 29 May, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, M1, People, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

Currently, the schools around where I live and work are on a break for half-term , and the effect this has had on my commute is just ridiculous.

During term-time, a “good” commute is 35-45 minutes door-to-door in the morning, and a “bad” one can be an hour plus. The difference in departure time to change from a good to a bad one can be less than ten minutes.

Today, my door-to-door morning run – even with still fairly heavy traffic on the M1 – was 22 minutes. That’s nearly half the time it takes during term-time.

I know more parents drive their kids to school “these days” (and yes, I also know what an old fart that makes me sound like) but the difference in traffic-flow really is surprising, even with that knowledge.

 

Foggy

Posted: Fri 8 March, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, BMW Drivers, Cynicism, Domestic, Driving, Fog, M1, People, Stupidity, Travel | Leave a comment »

Last night and this morning, my drive from/to work was extremely foggy.  This morning was worse, but even last night was pretty entertaining.

What always gets me though is the way people handle foggy conditions when they’re driving – particularly with regard to one of the banes of my life, foglights.

At night, it’s exceptionally rare to need foglights – they’re only for times where visibility is exceptionally low, and you’ve no chance of seeing the vehicle in front of you without the additional lights. The good old Highway Code says

Rule 236 : You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226)

Rule 226 : “You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves.”

With lights on at night, it’s exceptionally rare to not be able to see the car 100 metres ahead of you.Yet most of the fuckknuckle cunts are there, belting along with their foglights on.

And yet this morning, when it was actually really bad visibility, most people didn’t put their lights on at all, let alone the foglights.

I truly do not understand people.

Congestion Lane (Again)

Posted: Thu 28 February, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, M1, People, Travel | Leave a comment »

Last night, I finally saw the M1 Congestion Scheme in full effect – vehicles in all four lanes, using the whole thing properly.

The only problem?

All the signs were saying “Hard shoulder for emergency use only”, so the scheme wasn’t *actually* active at the time.

Some days I really despair.

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