The Vent and Rant Thread

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Because of poor eyesight, I'm not allowed to participate in traffic, except on foot.

What? They won't let the visually impaired ride a horse? 'Twould seem that would be safer than walking. After all, horses can see.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by wodin

What? They won't let the visually impaired ride a horse? 'Twould seem that would be safer than walking. After all, horses can see.

Technically, I am allowed to ride a bike.

I won't, however.

Not because *I* am the one who'd miss things because of poor eyesight, but because of the heaps of idiots around that miss things because they drive too fast, or do utterly stupid things.

Someone with normal sight can often see those things happening from a distance or out of the corners of his eyes, but I can't. Therefore I'm afraid I won't be able to react fast enough to the stupid things *others* do.

I'm all for exciting and crushing experiences that leave you a changed man who looks at the world from a different viewpoint, but being run over by a truck and then looking at the world from a wheelchair is not one I care to have.

[wodin]

All the more reason to ride a horse, an extra pair of eyes.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by wodin

All the more reason to ride a horse, an extra pair of eyes.

I've thought about it, but I think my boss won't be too happy with one having a daily crap in his parking lot. Also, it wouldn't be very nice to the animal to have it stand there for eight hours a day.

[wodin]

Yea, there is that.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

My sister and I went to Bruges on Sunday, I had booked the train tickets on the international website of the Dutch Railway (NS) and had loaded the tickets into the app on my phone. One of the options in the app is to switch on alerts in case there are any delays or problems on your route, which I had switched on.

On Sunday we leave early for the train station because we wanted to buy sandwiches and snacks for the 4 hour journey. Before we left I checked the international app and according to it there were no problems. However, when we got to the station we see on that there is planned maintenance on our route to Rotterdam and that about three quarters of the journey had to be done by bus. This adds about half an hour to our journey, which would mean we would miss our connecting train to Antwerp. Luckily we're early and we just catch the earlier train to Rotterdam. We should arrive around 10.44am and should easily make the 11.08 train to Antwerp.

At Woerden we get off train and in the bus. Our bus driver drives very slowly and he must have set his GPS to "small car" and not "big bus" because just before we reach the station he turns into a residential area with very narrow streets and gets stuck in a tight bend. With the help of some bystanders he manages to reverse out of the bend and slowly back out of the street. This all takes over 15 minutes and add to that he had to figure out how to drive from the station from there we arrived at Rotterdam Station at 11.09am. One minute after our train left.

We had two options from there: wait 59 minutes for the next train or go to a different station to get a train to Antwerp from there. The latter would be quicker, however, on that route there was also maintenance with a replacing bus service. We didn't want to risk that so we waited for nearly an hour. All in all it the train trip took 90 minutes longer and we were an hour later at the hotel. It also caused a lot of stress, having to quickly find out what we had to do to make our connections and what the alternatives were.

You would think that the international app would also list maintenance and alternative routes. For next time I know I should also check the regular app to see if there are any problems.

The train I regularly take when I'm working on London recently had a bus replacement service for part of the route due to a land slide blocking the track at a particular point. That's fine, can't be helped. What wasn't fine was that the bus was supposed to sync with a train leaving. On literally every occasion I used it, the bus would pull into the train station just in time for us to see the train we were supposed to be getting on to pulling out of the station. I swear that they must have been doing it on purpose, it was uncanny

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I've thought about it, but I think my boss won't be too happy with one having a daily crap in his parking lot. Also, it wouldn't be very nice to the animal to have it stand there for eight hours a day.

No, it would NOT be kind to the horse. I've seen entirely too many folks who treat horses like cars in the first place.

You're in a village, though--perhaps there's a local person who has a small field? Could you drop the horse off, and hoof it the rest of the way to the office, and reverse the process in the evening?

I have a friend in IRE who, due to village life, rides a horse both ways each day. Of course, IRE is a very horse-friendly country; still have rovers tromping the roads in horse-drawn caravans to this day.

Just an idea. GOT to be better than what you suffer on the bus. (Can you ride something like a Seque? Segway? Sorry, don't know the spelling for the device...if it was good enough for Michael Schumacher, after all...) Some type of personal transportation device?

Hitch

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You're in a village, though--perhaps there's a local person who has a small field? Could you drop the horse off, and hoof it the rest of the way to the office, and reverse the process in the evening?

Even if, where would I leave the horse in the evening? I don't have a field myself, and my backyard isn't really big enough for a horse

It's a small town; it's not yet so small as to be called a village.

Just an idea. GOT to be better than what you suffer on the bus. (Can you ride something like a Seque? Segway? Sorry, don't know the spelling for the device...if it was good enough for Michael Schumacher, after all...) Some type of personal transportation device?

I could ride a bike, and have ridden a moped for almost 10 years (from age 16 to 25); hoewever, about 15 years ago, local governments thought that roundabouts would be better to prevent traffic jams, so they started to replace all traffic lights / intersections with roundabouts.

They are indeed better in preventing traffic jams, but they don't have the same 'I have to watch out here' intimidation factor of the red light. Traffic has become absolutely mayhem, even in the south, where it's not so busy. Everybody's like:

"I can STILL get into the roundabout by squeezing my 500 kg car in between that big ass 10.000 kg truck and the bus! If I don't, I have to wait 10 seconds... OH NO!"

To many, a roundabout is a little sort of irregularity in an otherwise straight roads, for which you don't even have to brake. Roundabouts scare me to death, and we got *A LOT* of them here now.

When they got to removing about every traffic light under the sun from the town where I live, I switched to public transport.

[PandathePanda]

think I ran in the most lazy ISP support tech ever. Created a ticket with support, explained what happened (with a screenshot). Tech came back said he can't see any problems. Phoned my folks, and they are experiencing the same problem, and found out two other people are experiencing the same problem. Told the tech this, and said if our people in our town is having this problem it is not my imagination, and there might be problems with the hardware they use. He came back, and asked that I do a speedtest, did it and posted it, and it "proved" my point. That was two hours ago, and no solution in sight. And looking from the replies I got he wasn't interested in helping, the last message I got I had to do a bit of extrapolation to understand what he's asking.

I've had problems before, and the tech that helped me normally go out of their way to help, one even worked two hours overtime to get my problem sorted. This one got a one star review on the open support ticket

[Katsunami]

Meh... I love Asian food, and I like (most) Asian people I've known or met. However, I'm of the opinion that they shouldn't be allowed to touch a piano or a (church) organ until they get it through their heads that it *is possible* to play classical pieces at less than 250 beats per minute!

I'm going by the interpretations of classical pieces, put on Youtube by Asian people; it seems as if utter blistering speed is some sort of proof of competence, at least for many of them. Some 'play' pieces so fast that they merge into one huge wall of sound in such a way that I even have trouble recognizing them.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Even if, where would I leave the horse in the evening? I don't have a field myself, and my backyard isn't really big enough for a horse

It's a small town; it's not yet so small as to be called a village.



I could ride a bike, and have ridden a moped for almost 10 years (from age 16 to 25); hoewever, about 15 years ago, local governments thought that roundabouts would be better to prevent traffic jams, so they started to replace all traffic lights / intersections with roundabouts.

They are indeed better in preventing traffic jams, but they don't have the same 'I have to watch out here' intimidation factor of the red light. Traffic has become absolutely mayhem, even in the south, where it's not so busy. Everybody's like:

"I can STILL get into the roundabout by squeezing my 500 kg car in between that big ass 10.000 kg truck and the bus! If I don't, I have to wait 10 seconds... OH NO!"

To many, a roundabout is a little sort of irregularity in an otherwise straight roads, for which you don't even have to brake. Roundabouts scare me to death, and we got *A LOT* of them here now.

When they got to removing about every traffic light under the sun from the town where I live, I switched to public transport.

You make the third person I know on here that doesn't drive due to various vision problems.
I can't judge distance worth a darn. I tend to run into little stuff like walls just walking. I don't think anyone wants me driving.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Even if, where would I leave the horse in the evening? I don't have a field myself, and my backyard isn't really big enough for a horse

It's a small town; it's not yet so small as to be called a village.

Ah, well, yes, I can see that that would be a hindrance.

I could ride a bike, and have ridden a moped for almost 10 years (from age 16 to 25); hoewever, about 15 years ago, local governments thought that roundabouts would be better to prevent traffic jams, so they started to replace all traffic lights / intersections with roundabouts.

They are indeed better in preventing traffic jams, but they don't have the same 'I have to watch out here' intimidation factor of the red light. Traffic has become absolutely mayhem, even in the south, where it's not so busy. Everybody's like:

"I can STILL get into the roundabout by squeezing my 500 kg car in between that big ass 10.000 kg truck and the bus! If I don't, I have to wait 10 seconds... OH NO!"

To many, a roundabout is a little sort of irregularity in an otherwise straight roads, for which you don't even have to brake. Roundabouts scare me to death, and we got *A LOT* of them here now.

When they got to removing about every traffic light under the sun from the town where I live, I switched to public transport.

I knew that you didn't want to bike-ride, due to traffic considerations. I confess to not knowing all the "rules of the road" for Segways. (I did, however, look up the spelling, at least.) I infer that you can't just switch over to a sidewalk, if a car roundabout is likely to run you down and kill you?

Bummer. If I had to travel 90 minutes or whatever, on public transport each day, I'd be deranged. It's the reason that I left L.A. (Los Angeles, for those of you in other countries) in the 80's, before the LA Olympics; the traffic drove me bats. I'd drive a whopping 6.5 miles--SIX and a half miles--in more than an hour, each morning, if I left a 7:00 a.m. for an 8:30-commencing workday. If I left at 6:00 a.m, it ONLY took about 35-40 minutes. I thought if I stayed any longer, I'd become one of those psycho workers that gun people down in traffic. I mean, that's simply stupid. You can bloody nearly walk 6 miles faster. You can certainly JOG it faster.

I assume you can read and all that, at least? I had friends in LA who took public trans, (female friends) that did their hair and makeup in the bus each morning, LOL. The "before" had to be pretty scary--getting on a bus with their hair in hot rollers, etc. Always looked fab when they got OFF the bus, though. :-)

I guess if you think of it as being driven--chauffeured--it's not so bad. Right?

Hitch

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Meh... I love Asian food, and I like (most) Asian people I've known or met. However, I'm of the opinion that they shouldn't be allowed to touch a piano or a (church) organ until they get it through their heads that it *is possible* to play classical pieces at less than 250 beats per minute!

I'm going by the interpretations of classical pieces, put on Youtube by Asian people; it seems as if utter blistering speed is some sort of proof of competence, at least for many of them. Some 'play' pieces so fast that they merge into one huge wall of sound in such a way that I even have trouble recognizing them.

Not sure if it's available to you yet, but British television is currently showing a drama series based on the life of Queen Victoria. In the last episode she was shown meeting Prince Albert and then the two of them playing a Schubert piece together on the piano. It got a bit competitive and at one point Victoria asked Albert if she was playing too fast for him. He replied, "No, your majesty, but you are playing too fast for Schubert".

I know she's not Asian, but your post made me think of it

[Cinisajoy]

Well I won't be taking our public transportation.
I just called for a schedule. Told the woman what time I needed to be somewhere.
I need to be somewhere at 130 so what time do I need to catch the bus.
Answer: the next bus arrives at 3:15. Going the wrong direction.
Next one told me the bus wouldn't swing around for me when I asked for the bus stop across the street and hung up on me.
Third person told me where the bus stop was, what time it arrives, how long it takes to get downtown and the cost.
But with the first two, I think I will walk the 20 blocks.
Time spent waiting on the bus I can be almost there or a good ways down the road.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I guess if you think of it as being driven--chauffeured--it's not so bad. Right?

Hitch

Wrong!

We have a reasonably decent bus system in Honolulu, and when I arrived here back in the early 'eighties I had about three miles to commute from the temporary housing they assigned us to work, so I decided I would use it. That lasted for about three days before I headed to the lemon lot to pick up an "island beater". I've been on "The Bus" exactly once since then, and I was reminded of why I bought Henry.

My deteriorating eyesight may cause me to opt for the Handy Van at some point, and I'm ruing the day.