Vive le Volvo!
TheJollyJimLad
Posts: 475
This morning I was cycling 5 miles to the railway station as normal. Part of the journey requires going over the A3 with roundabouts at each side of the bridge. As I was approaching the first roundabout I could see a Volvo with French plates coming onto the roundabout from the opposite way indicating right with a fairly largeish gap behind and then a long line of vehicles following all in pursuit to head north to London. I started nudging out ready to put on a spurt of speed to get the gap (quite impressive on a Brompton!) otherwise I would have been waiting for quite a while.
The Volvo driver saw what I was doing, checked his rear view mirror and, seeing it was safe to do so, slowed to a standstill waving me on to the roundabout ahead of him! I was flabbergasted but took advantage of his generosity giving a cheery wave back. British drivers normally speed up to prove some mythical point.
Merci is all I have to say! It brightened my commute no end.
How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?
The Volvo driver saw what I was doing, checked his rear view mirror and, seeing it was safe to do so, slowed to a standstill waving me on to the roundabout ahead of him! I was flabbergasted but took advantage of his generosity giving a cheery wave back. British drivers normally speed up to prove some mythical point.
Merci is all I have to say! It brightened my commute no end.
How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?
How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?
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Comments
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It might just have been instinct as well - a lot of roundabouts in France still give priority to traffic entering the roundabout rather than traffic already on the roundabout. But I generally find French drivers pretty cycle-savvy. Except when they're on the mobile.[}:)]
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<font size="1">Six foot six he stood on the ground. He weighed two hundred and thirty five pounds
But I saw that giant of a man brought down by a baby elephant</font id="size1">0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Uncle Mort</i>
It might just have been instinct as well - a lot of roundabouts in France still give priority to traffic entering the roundabout rather than traffic already on the roundabout.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
except the arc du triumph, every man for himself.0 -
I forgot about the priority thing on some French roundabouts Uncle Mort. I was taken aback this morning as normally drivers speed up as if to say, 'stand aside! I'm a commuter in a car so my journey is FAR more important'. They aren't nasty people - it's just a status thing down here in Surrey where the bicycle is something you do charity rides on to look good for the local papers. No one here seems to have twigged that a bike can be a clean, healthy mode of transport that can save you loads too.
I would assume that French drivers (when not parlezing on the mobile) are more cycle savvy generally because cycling is more ingrained in their culture. And the only time I would want to look at the Arc de Triomphe on a bicycle is on the last stage of the TdeF!
How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?0
