Encounters with Idiots

[User]

 

[Stephenite]

Incredible.

I cant decide if this is very funny or unbelievably egotistical. At first i found the driver irritating enough to the point of wishing to take him up on the offer of a fight, but now i think he's a comedy genius along the lines of Victor Meldrew. Someone you'd laugh at and be glad you wasn't him, and eventually pity. I wish i'd been there

You can be rest-assured the saltwater isnt going to do his car any good.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

You can be rest-assured the saltwater isnt going to do his car any good.

Only grant driving licences to Trifids, then you wont have any problems (except for the mass murdering bit of course, but drivers have been doing that for years anyway! ).

Sorry, I was watching it on BBC4 earlier .

 

[661-Pete]

I was about to say, deliberately splashing a pedestrian is a clear-cut case of 'driving without due care' - but the motorist seems to have stepped over a few lines past that! At least he didn't kill anyone - yet.

Only grant driving licences to Trifids, then you wont have any problems (except for the mass murdering bit of course, but drivers have been doing that for years anyway! ).

Sorry, I was watching it on BBC4 earlier .

That was a classic Hollywood mauling of a perfectly good novel that the world would have done a lot better never to have seen! John Wyndham said absolutely nothing about seawater! Your blushes are understandable!

 

[fossyant]

You can't go getting the bike wet though....... lets hope some of that lovely salt water causes all sorts of problems for the driver - not wise driving through any water in a modern car - low air intakes, up goes the water and hydrolocks the engine........at best written off engine, worse written off car ! Plonker.

 

[swee'pea99]

bizarrely as the tide went back another 10 foot they would all edged forward until the lead car was sitting with his wheels in the water.

I can just see this. This kind of behaviour never ceases to amaze me. It reminds me of a bit in one of Spike Milligan's war 'Adolf Hitler, my part' series, where he describes a train journey in which five minutes from arrival all the 'idiot sergeants' stand up and get their kit bags and wait in the corridors until the train pulls in to the station. 'Why don't they all just go and stand by a graveyard?' he wonders.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

That was a classic Hollywood mauling of a perfectly good novel that the world would have done a lot better never to have seen! John Wyndham said absolutely nothing about seawater! Your blushes are understandable!

I was wondering, I had seen bits of it years ago but it isn't a story I'm amazingly familiar with, so I was watching the film out of curiosity.
Will need to read the book now, so if you are just taaking the pi** or what!

It reminds me of a bit in one of Spike Milligan's war 'Adolf Hitler, my part' series, where he describes a train journey in which five minutes from arrival all the 'idiot sergeants' stand up and get their kit bags and wait in the corridors until the train pulls in to the station. 'Why don't they all just go and stand by a graveyard?' he wonders.

That always reminds me of going down south on the train with a group of young people who had never really travelled by themselves before (that was an excuse in their favour admittedly) about 10 years ago.
Everytime the the train slowed down or came to a h
alt, the phrase

'Are we at London yet?'

Would ring out.

Listen, look out of the window, what do you see? yes, that's right, a field with cows, do you THINK you are in London yet?? we haven't even reached Carlisle yet!!

'No, this is the Lune Gorge, go back to sleep..... no, this is a tunnel..... that's a dog..... this is Crewe..... no that's another field.... Stafford.... that's a tree.... that was Rugby.... this is Watford... that's another tree..... that's another tunnel..... no that is the depot at Willesden, we are almost there though.... oh crap why did I just say that? sit down again, you'll KNOW when we arrive... no this is another tunnel...... YES NOW GET UP, WE ARE HERE!

Curiously they were ok once we got to London, but the same thing happened on the way back north!
'Is this Glasgow yet?'.

Unbelieveable, and to add inult to injury, all I wanted to do on the way north was go the front droplight and hear the '87! (it was in the days before the Bendylinos).

 

[zacklaws]

Idiots always seem to have a facination with water, a few years ago when we had the bad floods and houses were getting flooded, people in my area were trying to build barriers with sandbags to protect their homes from the water, but there was idiots in their cars driving past as fast as they could and sending big bow waves over the barriers, oblivious to all the people stood there trying to protect their homes. There was even idiots who would constantly drive past the same spot, holding their mobile phones out of the window, filming the bow wave in front of their car.

I even heard at one point a fight broke out between the driver of a tractor who swamped everything with his excessive speed and a resident, both trying to drown each other in the flood water.

Perhaps water should become a controlled drug and your ownly allowed it on prescription if you are a responsible adult, and all lakes, reservoirs, oceans, rivers and ponds fenced off

 

[661-Pete]

I was wondering, I had seen bits of it years ago but it isn't a story I'm amazingly familiar with, so I was watching the film out of curiosity.
Will need to read the book now, so if you are just taaking the pi** or what!

Yup, definitely read the book, no p**s-take intended! Of course I can't guarantee that you'll like John Wyndham but he was one of the 20th-century SF 'greats'.

The TV series of the 1980s was better (you can probably find snippets on youtube, can't post links to it from work).

I can't say the same of the 2009 re-make, a bit disappointing - Joely Richardson notwithstanding. Eddie Izzard was hopelessly mis-cast as the baddie.

 

[661-Pete]

'Are we at London yet?'
Would ring out.
Listen, look out of the window, what do you see? yes, that's right, a field with cows, do you THINK you are in London yet?? we haven't even reached Carlisle yet!!

Reminds me of tales of Ben Nevis - maybe closer to your heart. About complete tyros (probably English) setting out on the path in sandals and T-shirt, oblivious to weather looming (I know Ben Nevis can be very cold even in summer!). Gone a hundred yards, they start clamouring 'are we near the top yet?' Is this in fact true?

 

[Hover Fly]

I was by the west side of Morecambe Bay a few years ago when someone in a BMW 4x4 turned up. "Is this the track to Morecambe?" he asked, pointing at a causeway that had been made for repairs on the Leven Viaduct. "No I replied, you can't drive across." "Well I read you can." he said and proceeded down the causeway. The tide was coming in, and a few feet from the causeway is a deep gully that was hidden by the tide. The front of his car dived. He climed out and helped his wife and brats out, the water was waist deep by the front doors, he was not dressed for it. A stream of bubbles announced a visit from the puncture fairy, diving division. "WHat do I do now" he wailed. "Wait for the police to arrive, they get the coastguard to help you out, then they normally prosecute for careless driving when someone goes into the sea round here. I'll go and ring them" I said, as I rode off. He was not happy.

 

[661-Pete]

There must be a fair number of these tidal causeways dotted around the coastline - here and abroad - though I don't know of any in SE England (maybe someone can set me right?). I am familiar with St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, although I believe vehicles are not allowed on the causeway anyway, without a permit (presumably you can cycle across). We were there in 1999 (after the eclipse) when the tide was in so we had to take the boat.

One of the most interesting must be the Passage du Gois in France, linking the island of Noirmoutier with the mainland (there's also a toll bridge, so you can get to the island at high tide). It's not in 'our part' of France but if I have a chance I'd like to try it. The one time we went there by car, we were at the wrong time so couldn't cross it. Has anyone tried it? It seems the TdF went across it once, with some mishaps .

 

[dodgy]

The passage du Gois features in TdeF 2011

 

[Arch]

One of the most interesting must be the Passage du Gois in France,

Cheers for mentioning that, I'm writing it in my book of places to go on my Grand Tour....

 

[661-Pete]

Cheers for mentioning that, I'm writing it in my book of places to go on my Grand Tour....

If you don't mind reading it in French, there's a lot more information here. And there's an official site here.