Fatties in 4x4s

downfader
downfader Posts: 3,686
edited November 2008 in Campaign
Ok. Heres the situation:

I came out of work, didnt have the bike because I needed the bus to go and pick up something (didnt know the area well enough to trust locking the bike up plus the hassle of carrying a load of books). So I'm standing there at the bus stop watching all these cars drive past. There must have been about 40 4x4s pass me in the space of a few minutes, all going REALLY slowly - you could go a lot faster and easier on bike - I know because I have done. Pretty much every driver in these 4x4s was more than a little on the chunky side.

I've started to wonder what my city is becoming. Southampton is getting fatter, a lot fatter. I've said before about how lazy people are here, they moan about how they "cant" walk a mile for this reason and that reason. They "HAVE" to take the car down to the corner shop due to time constraints, or to pick up the kids from school.

Southampton, a city of excuses. They should put that on a plaque.
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Comments

  • At the end of my road is a junior school.
    If you wan to do some useful stats analysis, do a count of the 4x4s dropping junior off for school, vs distance from their house (it ain't very far...), OR, the increase in 4x4 traffic when its raining (junior will obviously melt OR they can't afford a raincoat cos of the expense put into the 4x4...), OR whether parents are using 4x4 (or Beamer) to show off that they "now have one..." to their 'friends' at the gate.
    Incidentally, most of the traffic jams in the street between 8.30 and 0900 are due to the insistance of getting said junior AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE to the gate, rather than (sensibly ) parking at the other end of the road and WALKING :shock: TO THE GATE...

    Rant over.
    Spring!
    Singlespeeds in town rule.
  • Fat people are the bane of the earth - they are offensive to look at, a drain on the economy and they smell wose than a bag of pickled scrotums.

    The real joke is this - i weigh 69kg, i fly with my 7kg bike and the rest of my luggage and i get charged a baggage excess for having too much weight in the hold. Fine then, but dont stick me to Mr. Breathing heavily from the exertion of sitting down, let him sit in the hold where i dont have to look at him and his obese family.

    I actually propose two ideas:

    1st - if your overweight to the point where you really should have comedy tuba music to accompany your walking then you will be forced to wear an orange jumpsuit, wont be sold certain foods and will be open to abuse from members of the general public.

    2nd (bit more extreme) Fatty fired power stations - solves the energy crisis and gets rid of them - i would extend this to junkies, but they dont have much meat to burn.
  • chuckcork
    chuckcork Posts: 1,471
    The school run is the ridiculous bit.

    A family I lived next to in Kingston Upon Thames had their daughters enrolled in a school a few miles away, Teddington Grammar. To get there they took the fastest route possible, which is to say the cycled and use the bridge at Ham. They cycled just about everywhere and rarely used their car, which was old and beat up looking. They were a lovely family.

    But then when I moved I live in narrow residential street in Twickenham where there were a few schools....the traffic at 8.30am could be ridiculous. Though most there would have come from the surrounding streets a suprising number were driven down the end of the cul-de-sac so they could be dropped off outside the school gates, or (coming from the other direction) would stop where they shouldn't and drop there kids off there as well.

    It was a frequent pain as I could go through the end of the street and was always having to avoid the blasted cars being driven by maniac middle class mothers with too much stress in their lives. Really pissed me off when try to get through the end of the gated street, would wait for the traffic to stop and then someone would come and park across me so I couldn't get out.

    Pure middle class selfishness.

    Irony is that there was so much traffic from all the cars going to the schools that anyone wanting to take their kids to school by bicycle would have to be near certifiable, the driving was terrible and quite aggressive in what were narrow steel lined streets.
    'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze....
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    There is a catholic school in woolston near me, I gave up on that route about 3 years back bacause of the school run. It was quite a long road I suppose, with the school being right on the end. I actually watched several mothers arrive (blocking off any other traffic including cyclists, police and ambulance) and stop either dead in the road or where else they shouldnt, pick up the "little angel" - who by now has been waiting 10 minutes for Mummy to park..

    I would then cycle behind some 15 cars up to the other end of the road and often a lot closer and see all these cars pull up on their driveways.

    Rediculous.

    During the school holidays there isnt a car to be seen at these times. :roll:

    Parsnip49 - ever seen Soilent Green? :twisted: :lol:

    Actually while we're on it, the local paper reports every now and again of little ones who get run over outside the schools. The parents always write in and moan like hell that something should be done - when in actual fact it was another parent that ran the kid over.
  • downfader wrote:
    Actually while we're on it, the local paper reports every now and again of little ones who get run over outside the schools. The parents always write in and moan like hell that something should be done - when in actual fact it was another parent that ran the kid over.

    My old Primary School has huge bright yellow zig zags and SCHOOL NO PARKING also in a huge bright yellow font right outside the front gate. To me it means no parking for anyone, to Mums it seems to mean reserved Parking.

    My Employer is quite flexible with start times, as long as I do my hours every week I can start anytime in between 8 and 10 in the morning. I start at 8 or 10 and not in between during term time, if I try to get in at 9 then my journey times double. I love school holidays more now than when I was a kid 8)
  • nwallace
    nwallace Posts: 1,465
    Fife Council school car parks have always been Staff only.
    Mum often comes home with stories of stupid (for lack of a better word) parents.

    Example 1:
    Kid runs into road infront of mums car, parents reaction "We are crossing the road together" greatexample of the green cross code there. Think mum shoudl dig out her old Tufty club stuff for that one

    Example 2:
    Parent "You shouldn't be using the School car park, thats for us to drop the kids off" (This despite there being a big sign at the frotn saying "Staff and Visitors only")

    Other rants are about the fact ythat most parents now just abandon their kids at the school. I did notice this report on the BBC website the other day
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7613706.stm

    Maybe it helped me that Mum had the P4 teacher at my school and knew all the teachers there, and that on his way home from visiting me and mum in hospital when I was born the headmaster crashed his car. I never seemed to get into as much trouble for being a d!ck as I should have.
    Do Nellyphants count?

    Commuter: FCN 9
    Cheapo Roadie: FCN 5
    Off Road: FCN 11

    +1 when I don't get round to shaving for x days
  • I always have to remind myself is these fatties have to put expensive petrol in their 4x4 gargantuan petrol tanks only to drive 3 miles and have to refull their tanks again. I drink about half a litre of tap water on my bike ride to work, who's the smug one now?!
    Every winner has scars.
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    HungryCol wrote:
    I always have to remind myself is these fatties have to put expensive petrol in their 4x4 gargantuan petrol tanks only to drive 3 miles and have to refull their tanks again. I drink about half a litre of tap water on my bike ride to work, who's the smug one now?!

    :lol:

    Actually just walked back from the shops. Hour and a half in the warm sunshine - the only downside was seeing this rather garrish green toyota 4x4 coming up my road on the way back. Man does that hurt your eyes (could just have been sunstroke though) :lol:
  • andy_f
    andy_f Posts: 474
    There must have been a "fat as FCUK" convention going on somewhere near Cannock Chase Friday afternoon, as while i was sitting on a wall next to the Baptist Bible College, three Land Rovers came to the junction and all were rammed to the glass with fatties. It looked like all the air bags had gone off in one blast.
    "Let your life rule your job, not your job rule your life"

    Born to ride, forced to work.
  • gavintc
    gavintc Posts: 3,009
    I love this thread. Indeed, I am to attend an Equal Opportunities and Diversity training course next week as my reward for commenting on the office lard arses. Apparently, my comments are not acceptable in a diverse environment. They will still be fat, oxygen thieves after my course..I have also been criticized for comparing the staff canteen to the bar in the star wars film. We really employ the ugliest that Glasgow has to offer
  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,695
    ANDY F wrote:
    There must have been a "fat as FCUK" convention going on somewhere near Cannock Chase Friday afternoon, as while i was sitting on a wall next to the Baptist Bible College, three Land Rovers came to the junction and all were rammed to the glass with fatties. It looked like all the air bags had gone off in one blast.
    That convention is generally referred to as 'Cannock'. It occurs all year round.
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    gavintc wrote:
    I love this thread. Indeed, I am to attend an Equal Opportunities and Diversity training course next week as my reward for commenting on the office lard arses. Apparently, my comments are not acceptable in a diverse environment. They will still be fat, oxygen thieves after my course..I have also been criticized for comparing the staff canteen to the bar in the star wars film. We really employ the ugliest that Glasgow has to offer

    IMO it depends how personable you are about it. I dont go up to people at say "GOD you're fat!" :lol: I mean we all put on weight but this is having a laugh.

    What you might do, which was done at our place when people complained (I work in nhs catering), is write a letter to the head boss (way over your own) telling them how your concern for health was taken for abuse and how you're being punished for genuine concern :twisted:

    If your restaurant is like ours was and only does fryups and burgers you can also tackle that. Our turning point came with a few people complaining that hospital food should be healthy to the local papers :lol:
  • Two things i have a problem with:

    Getting told what im eating is unhealthy by the friendly fatarse - no, a mars bar is unhealthy for you who eats it while making chips, me being in the position where i actually do exercise rather than just talking about it, can eat whatever the f*ck i like.

    Getting told im too skinny by said fatarse - yes, im skinny - your fat - deal with it. I can eat a cake, you will be stuck paying for a reinforced coffin.

    Making fun of fatties? - fair game. Being gay isnt a choice (if you believe the gays anyway :wink: ), being black isnt a choice, being disabled isnt a choice.

    Being fat, taking drugs and drinking too much are all choices people make, and bad ones at that, why shouldnt they be made aware of this?
  • BUT ITS ME GLANDS!!

    *eats cake*
    'dont forget lads, one evertonian is worth twenty kopites'
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    BUT ITS ME GLANDS!!

    *eats cake*

    I know someone who used to say that. They're doctor was not pleased, they said. :lol:

    There was a good thing in one of the science mags about glands and fat - its actually a tiny percentage of a risk and doesnt make you obese iirc. :?
  • one of my colleagues who loathes fatties even more than me would at this point make the (some may think distasteful but entirely accurate) comment that no fat people emerged from belsen :shock:
    'dont forget lads, one evertonian is worth twenty kopites'
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    one of my colleagues who loathes fatties even more than me would at this point make the (some may think distasteful but entirely accurate) comment that no fat people emerged from belsen :shock:

    :shock:
  • grayo59
    grayo59 Posts: 722
    one of my colleagues who loathes fatties even more than me would at this point make the (some may think distasteful but entirely accurate) comment that no fat people emerged from belsen :shock:

    My (averaged sized) father used to say that to my (fat) mother and he had actually been at Belsen shortly after it was liberated!

    I think there is a sobering truth in it - and I have and continue to struggle with too much weight and I fully agree that when I move more and eat less I lose weight!
    __________________
    ......heading for the box, but not too soon I hope!
  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    I did call a fatty in a 4 x 4 a "pie eating, NHS waster" after he beeped his horn at me....I have no issues with fatist abuse...no excuse for 90% of the populace.
  • claudb
    claudb Posts: 212
    I'd just like to say I'm pleased to see such a healthy disregard for Political Correctness here - it is encouraging in a world when an (aged) Eurosport commentator has to apologise for using a decades-old figure of speech (Nigger in the Woodpile) on live TV.
    Fatness may be in the genes for a few but, mostly, it's about crap diet and lifestyle.
    I'd be perfectly happy for these people to exist until they expire prematurely but for the fact that they pollute our lives too which I see in the same ways as most of you have reported - resorting to ever larger vehicles, to travel ever shorter distances, more often, and teaching their offspring to do the same !! They probably also moan constantly about the cost of motoring and difficulties of traffic congestion and 'Parking'. Personally, I don't think it should be too difficult to better inform, educate, and advise these people about their ways, but who is going to do it ? - there is so much money made out of them and their haplessness !!
  • claudb wrote:
    Fatness may be in the genes !!

    Alongside laziness
    'How can an opinion be bullsh1t?' High Fidelity
  • ndodd
    ndodd Posts: 54
    thank god other people have the same thoughts as i do i want feel as bad now when i say to my self fat feckin mums in their fat feckin 4x4 dropping off their fat feckin kids .
    take my young one to school on bike and it amazes me how people cant walk more than 200 yards its to far my car has to be outside the school gates
  • Parsnip49 wrote:
    Fat people are the bane of the earth - they are offensive to look at, a drain on the economy and they smell wose than a bag of pickled scrotums.

    The real joke is this - i weigh 69kg, i fly with my 7kg bike and the rest of my luggage and i get charged a baggage excess for having too much weight in the hold. Fine then, but dont stick me to Mr. Breathing heavily from the exertion of sitting down, let him sit in the hold where i dont have to look at him and his obese family.

    I actually propose two ideas:

    1st - if your overweight to the point where you really should have comedy tuba music to accompany your walking then you will be forced to wear an orange jumpsuit, wont be sold certain foods and will be open to abuse from members of the general public.

    2nd (bit more extreme) Fatty fired power stations - solves the energy crisis and gets rid of them - i would extend this to junkies, but they dont have much meat to burn.

    Sadly,burning them can be very polluting as they need such a huge amount of energy to get the fat up to temperature. I recently complained about the smoke coming out of the Crematorium chimney (its jut across the road) and was told by a very apologetic lady thet ther was a rather large coffin going through :shock: Maybe if you get one burning then keep adding more it would work OK. There's quite a supply here!
  • BigJimmyB
    BigJimmyB Posts: 1,302
    Parsnip49 wrote:
    The real joke is this - i weigh 69kg, i fly with my 7kg bike and the rest of my luggage and i get charged a baggage excess for having too much weight in the hold. Fine then, but dont stick me to Mr. Breathing heavily from the exertion of sitting down, let him sit in the hold where i dont have to look at him and his obese family.

    I agree, it's bo11ox having to pay for excess luggage, when some 25-stone heffalump waddles on to jam themselves in next to you for 4 hours....

    I think we should all be booked onto flights according to height/weight/BMI etc and fattties should pay excess or be made to have 2 seats.
  • They should pay for 2 seats. At least in an emergency you can clamber over them on your way to the exit.
  • Actually, in defence of fat people, I have to say that if there is one thing worse than a lardass driving a 4x4, its a very muscular, athletic person driving a 4x4 to the gym so they can buff up on an exercise bike.
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    GyatsoLa wrote:
    Actually, in defence of fat people, I have to say that if there is one thing worse than a lardass driving a 4x4, its a very muscular, athletic person driving a 4x4 to the gym so they can buff up on an exercise bike.

    Or people loading up their car with cycles to go and do a 3 mile ride about 50 miles away... :? Just find somewhere local, surely.
  • Found out from my Mum that the lady opposite her drives her kid to and from the primary school I mentioned in my previous post on this thread. It REALLY REALLY is 2 blocks away. 150 to 175 meters to the top of the road (terraced road with 68 houses, she lives in number 10, turn right you can see the School less than 100 meters away). Funnily enough, she is a fat fatty fatso. She "cultivates" being fat however as in her Culture its a sign of wealth.
  • She "cultivates" being fat however as in her Culture its a sign of wealth.

    :lol::lol::lol:
    Outstanding.....
    Spring!
    Singlespeeds in town rule.
  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    I was once approached by a mother and son for the bus fare for her son who could have done with the excercise and if she hadn't bought him a jumbo bag of crisps she could have afforded the bus fare for him. Where I live there is a good chance you'll get asked for money by the local al fresco drinkers :x
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.