Anyone else doing the uni round?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Plumped for the 'scenic' route did you - it's only 40 odd miles on the A38 - less than an hour on well marked road (a lot of it dual carriageway)

 

[B+.]

If you need to avoid them then it's usually a townie driving down the middle of the road,

I live in a small village which has a 20mph speed limit and speed bumps. The biggest problem we have here is lorries/trucks cutting through to join the M1. There have been a few accidents (fatalities) from people driving too fast through village roads.
The things that really gets me is when I see people carrying on phone calls and not paying attention to the roads, especially driving past the school.

 

[B+.]

less than an hour on well marked road (a lot of it dual carriageway)

Not very scenic I'm afraid. It gets pitch black quite early now. It would have helped if there were cats-eyes to mark the lanes as it was so poorly lit.

 

[bontbee]

Well it was getting that way around here, the council had a brain wave to save money switch off all unnecessary lighting but they forgot to install cats eyes and white markings. After a public outcry they are fitting LED lamps now to residential areas but still leaving previously switched off areas unlit

Unfortunately, not! Some rural, or what should be counted as rural, areas are being re-lit!

(As an aside - one thing that really gets my goat is the number of people who move out of town to "the countryside" and the first thing they do is tarmac the lane and stick a ruddy great search light up....)

 

[Bearhouse]

We are on year 2 of Uni trips!

This time last year DD1 was looking at Accountancy courses, she is now at Cardiff Met and very happy. (Well, she hasn't come home so we assume she must be, she's not very communicative!).

Currently involved in DD2's trips for Criminal Investigation courses, for which the visits are a lot more interesting! Best one so far has been Teeside, which was a round trip of 800+ miles, but absolutely worth it. *Only* a 4/5 hour journey this coming weekend to Birmingham, which will seem like a doddle in comparison I think.

This time next year our weekends will be our own

 

[MartinL]

one thing that really gets my goat is the number of people who move out of town to "the countryside" and the first thing they do is tarmac the lane and stick a ruddy great search light up....)

You'll find them in every Village in the UK.
and see them on TV, looking for a "little old country cottage".

Must be 19th Century or earlier with;
4+ "decent sized" bedrooms,
High ceilings,
Large Double-glazed windows (that won't need painting),
Wide staircase,
Mains Gas/sewage,
Tarmacked drive to double garage,
<100yards from a gastro pub,
Parking restrictions that stop local pub-patrons parking in the road (where they might bump the Range Rover)
oh & 40MBPS internet connection!

Don't they realise they didn't build things like that until the 90's??

Then, if they ever move in, they start campaigning for;
Street lighting to be installed,
"Dog friendly" stiles through the sheep pastures,
10MPH speed Limit,
Speed ramps (outside someone ells' house),
Planning constraints on the older (Quaint) properties in the village, (after they've put in the 5th bedroom, extended the garage & tarmacked the front garden).



And the bee hives on the cricket pitch, (same field 300m from the pitch) presents a danger to children using them as goalposts?

 

[Bearhouse]

LOL. We are 'townies' who moved to the country in March, to a 200+ year old cottage. One of the best things is the utter lack of street lighting.

Our nearest neighbour is a farmer, who was, apparently, quite worried that we would object to noises and smells from his farm. We did point out that we knew his family had been farming the land for several generations, and that we knew the farm was there when we moved, so we would be a bit stupid if we did. As it happens, he has given us a load of soil for our garden, and we get to see newly born calves over our fence; can't buy that

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

LOL. We are 'townies' who moved to the country in March, to a 200+ year old cottage. One of the best things is the utter lack of street lighting.

Our nearest neighbour is a farmer, who was, apparently, quite worried that we would object to noises and smells from his farm. We did point out that we knew his family had been farming the land for several generations, and that we knew the farm was there when we moved, so we would be a bit stupid if we did. As it happens, he has given us a load of soil for our garden, and we get to see newly born calves over our fence; can't buy that

Isn't always like that though. Had an obnoxious English couple move into the valley when I was a youngster - first cottage they moved into (well a pair actually was a few doors down from us on the main road) first thing they did was tear down the fence to the rear of the property as they 'did not agree with it' meaning our horses (that we had moved down behind the house for a spell) got out onto a busy main road - one filly ended up quite a way away strung up on a barged wire fence.
After renovating Ynysdomlid cottages they moved further into the sticks to old Uncle Dan's cottages (again, two) which had been built so close to the lane the postman could lean out of the van window and pop the letters through the door. with the gardens the opposite side of the road.So it went something like this;
1. The occasional traffic passing their front door was unacceptable - massive stink with the council.
2. tending the flower beds each side of the road, barrow and tools dumped in the middle whilst they went for a cup of tea, and people having to wait for them to decide to move out of the way.
3.The milk tanker passing their door early each morning to service the two remaining dairy farms (10am) was unacceptable and spoiling their quality of life. The County council in their ignorance posted weight restrictions on that particular stretch of road meaning the tanker had to take a five mile detour through a busy housing estate then via an even narrower lane to get to both farms.
4. Massive to-do when we were muck spreading.
5.Reports to the council about anti-social behaviour when, for one day in about five years we had to work late into the evening to get the hay in on the top field before the rain came.
6. Objecting to the re-routing of an virtually unusable footpath to the other side of said field to a drier, safer route agreed and welcomed by all the regular walkers, reason? why should they walk an extra 100 yards to the stile and then not be able to let their dog loose on a field regularly grazed by sheep while they stood standing in the road watching it.
7. Calls to the police whenever (once or twice a month in the winter) shots were heard over the flight pond.

They were a damned nuisance

 

[For want of a better word]

Thats exactly the way the road was. Completely black around the bends but with occassional lights on straight bits.

I try to avoid the A38 at night.... blinded by Autobahn Cars... who do not know about dipping the high intensity halogen headlamps their tin coffins are fitted with!
Hate the M4 / M6 route up to "the smoke" especially on a motorcycle.

Summer trips to see my few remaining aunties and cousins in Surrey /Sussex start very early in the morning... A38 quite pleasurable especially along the bendy bits through the Blackdowns.

Then there is always the train.... even at 50 I could get a "student" rate when an undergrad!!!

Cheers

 

[Bearhouse]

Isn't always like that though. Had an obnoxious English couple move into the valley when I was a youngster - first cottage they moved into (well a pair actually was a few doors down from us on the main road) first thing they did was tear down the fence to the rear of the property as they 'did not agree with it' meaning our horses (that we had moved down behind the house for a spell) got out onto a busy main road - one filly ended up quite a way away strung up on a barged wire fence.
After renovating Ynysdomlid cottages they moved further into the sticks to old Uncle Dan's cottages (again, two) which had been built so close to the lane the postman could lean out of the van window and pop the letters through the door. with the gardens the opposite side of the road.So it went something like this;
1. The occasional traffic passing their front door was unacceptable - massive stink with the council.
2. tending the flower beds each side of the road, barrow and tools dumped in the middle whilst they went for a cup of tea, and people having to wait for them to decide to move out of the way.
3.The milk tanker passing their door early each morning to service the two remaining dairy farms (10am) was unacceptable and spoiling their quality of life. The County council in their ignorance posted weight restrictions on that particular stretch of road meaning the tanker had to take a five mile detour through a busy housing estate then via an even narrower lane to get to both farms.
4. Massive to-do when we were muck spreading.
5.Reports to the council about anti-social behaviour when, for one day in about five years we had to work late into the evening to get the hay in on the top field before the rain came.
6. Objecting to the re-routing of an virtually unusable footpath to the other side of said field to a drier, safer route agreed and welcomed by all the regular walkers, reason? why should they walk an extra 100 yards to the stile and then not be able to let their dog loose on a field regularly grazed by sheep while they stood standing in the road watching it.
7. Calls to the police whenever (once or twice a month in the winter) shots were heard over the flight pond.

They were a damned nuisance

With tales of people like that, it's not surprising that our neighbour was worried!

One milk tanker goes past every day, a far cry from the constant traffic that we endured in the town.

They have worked really late one night so far this year when silage making. One night out of 365, and boy did they work hard! We had the luxury of being at home in our slippers, not working.

Smells: depends on which way the wind is blowing, but it clears the sinuses!

 

[Erichalfbee]

They were a damned nuisance

Absolutely makes me seethe, that!
How do they get away with it the obnoxious gits?
I'm a townie, husband a country boy. I agree with Bearhouse. I love the dark skies....you can see the milky way anytime there are no clouds. How many children grow up in the UK not knowing what is up there in the sky?
Our house and garden is an island in the middle of our neighbouring farmer's field. He has his young heifers there at the moment for a few days taking advantage of the last few days grass. They follow us about in a cacophony of mooing round the fence whenever we are in the garden...
Yesterday a young fox loped into the field and the whole lot took off and chased him out of it, it's lovely.
One day the dogs from the hunt tore through our garden as a short cut.
At silage time if the weather window is short the machines work into the night and I have often gone to sleep with the sound of the baler outside the bedroom window
I have a litany of stories like this

What's the matter with people. If they don't like the fact that the countryside is smelly and has its own "noise" then they should B****r off back

Sorry....rant done!

 

[REDWOOD]

I'm a townie and keep bees where I have to pass horses which I hate with vengeance, my hairs on the back of my neck stand on end just looking at them. Is there a cure for this townie fobia.

 

[bontbee]

Not with horses, no - spawn of the devil....

 

[Cazza]

What's the matter with people. If they don't like the fact that the countryside is smelly and has its own "noise" then they should B****r off back

Sorry....rant done!

Cazza

 

[Swarm]

Be thankful the urban cancer hasn't begun to engulf you. I'd relish the opportunity to escape from all these cars and people and live next to a smelly farm in the middle of nowhere. Nearest neighbour, that little, white dot you see across the valley. Sounds perfect.

 

[BMH]

Quite close actually!

You'll find them in every Village in the UK.
and see them on TV, looking for a "little old country cottage".

Must be 19th Century or earlier with;
4+ "decent sized" bedrooms,
High ceilings,
Large Double-glazed windows (that won't need painting),
Wide staircase,
Mains Gas (oil)/sewage,
Tarmacked drive to double (single) garage,
<100yards from a gastro pub (closed down - village pub)
oh & 40MBPS (149MBPS - we are next to the box) internet connection!

Don't they realise they didn't build things like that until the 90's (built in 1861)

Oh and we have 4G inside and out??

I was keen to move to the middle of nowhere. Other half wanted to be at least close to civilisation!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Quite close actually!



I was keen to move to the middle of nowhere. Other half wanted to be at least close to civilisation!

You could do the exact opposite, be in the middle of the urban sprawl and still be nowhere near civilization - It's called Swansea

 

[Gilberdyke John]

You could do the exact opposite, be in the middle of the urban sprawl and still be nowhere near civilization - It's called Swansea

At this side of the country it's a situation found in parts of Hull and Bridlington

 

[For want of a better word]

Plymouth has North Prospect.. as it was renamed after "Swilley" had a bit of a bad reputation!

Devonport has been cleaned up and is now respectable... Millbay has lost its Red Light reputation... which JBM will possibly remember.. being an ex jolly Jack!!

Cheers

 

[MartinL]

Quite close actually!


I was keen to move to the middle of nowhere. Other half wanted to be at least close to civilisation!

North Wales?

You were lucky to get more than running water!


Civilisation? well, (as JBM points out) that's subjective and shouldn't be confused with urbanisation.