Tax Discs

[Horse]

Yeah but if all those things happen, you'll be to blame! im going to google a hypothetical situation of catastrophic proportions which matches your tax disc blocking that vital part of your windscreen. There's bound to be one.

Compared to the divots I've seen with a screen-mounted satnav affixed just below and right of the rear-view mirror . . . the tax can't hide much!

[Kimosabe]

I have two cars. One without a tax disc and one with, so I'm covered either way.

OMG! Please tell me you don't!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Seriously, it's true! It only takes one rogue stealth-tax ticket issuer to decide they preferred it the old way and kablooey you get a ticket for 'not displaying'/ 'displaying when not supposed to as it confuses our staff'! I'm playing win-win, though am considering trading them both in against a horse box in which I will evade the post BGOL zombie apocalypse, as stated to happen in my observer training notes.

One car, the fast loud one, which does about 20mpg when I'm really hammering it through the chicanes of otherwise quiet villages at 11pm, is RWD and has two seats (no tax disc) and the other isn't but in the event of a post BGOL zombie apocalypse, as hoped for by some observers to justify their irrationality over the UK only epidemic of BGOL, that diesel guzzler which makes the CO2 output of Eyjafjallajokull look like a squirrels fart and which should be supplied with its own fracking derrick, will get me to higher ground and away from the pursuing zombies. Battery operated cars won't make it out of the contaminated zone but I guess that's Darwinian selection in action. I get range anxiety just thinking about them!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some pre observer training day reading to do and these forms won't fill themselves in.

[Kimosabe]

Yeah but if all those things happen, you'll be to blame! im going to google a hypothetical situation of catastrophic proportions which matches your tax disc blocking that vital part of your windscreen. There's bound to be one.

It will probably involve one of those ludricous prone cycley things where the pilot lies about six inches above the road. He (or she) could creep up on your near side and hide in your tax disc blind spot

The ones with the flags on poles on the back?

[Kimosabe]

Yeah but if all those things happen, you'll be to blame! im going to google a hypothetical situation of catastrophic proportions which matches your tax disc blocking that vital part of your windscreen. There's bound to be one.

Compared to the divots I've seen with a screen-mounted satnav affixed just below and right of the rear-view mirror . . . the tax can't hide much!

Is that in your top three pet hates?

[WhoseGeneration]

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some pre observer training day reading to do and these forms won't fill themselves in.

How times have changed and I'm not sure for the better, unless to provide validation for some in paid positions.
Me, reached IAM standard and said to my Group I'd like to be an Observer. Group's reply, great, here's your first Associate. That Associate was a young male who had only recently passed his driving test whose father insisted he should undertake IAM. That Associate, as did all my other ones, met the IAM standard on test.
Local TrafPol were supportive of our Group and did annual check drives for us Observers on an informal basis and we Observers did a pre test "test" for each other's Associates.
Like so much now it seems boxes have to be ticked with no real trust in individuals to just do it.

[Kimosabe]

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some pre observer training day reading to do and these forms won't fill themselves in.

How times have changed and I'm not sure for the better, unless to provide validation for some in paid positions.
Me, reached IAM standard and said to my Group I'd like to be an Observer. Group's reply, great, here's your first Associate. That Associate was a young male who had only recently passed his driving test whose father insisted he should undertake IAM. That Associate, as did all my other ones, met the IAM standard on test.
Local TrafPol were supportive of our Group and did annual check drives for us Observers on an informal basis and we Observers did a pre test "test" for each other's Associates.
Like so much now it seems boxes have to be ticked with no real trust in individuals to just do it.

You're spot on! The only two reasons I'm having anything to do with observer training for the IAM, is to improve my own driving and that of people who need a bit of help straightening a few things out which aren't serving them well. I've been lead to believe that these are the two main differences I'll be able to help to make. If either or both don't come quite naturally and without too much ensuing paperwork, I won't need to wonder if I did the right thing by handing back my IAM fleece. I'll know if this is the case very soon

I have to say (apologies for taking yet another thread on a 'short cut') my experience of spending a day observing the Police during their Advanced driver training, confirmed my suspicions about how misguided parts of civvy AD teaching has become. It's all gotten a bit too serious and 'big deal' by my reckonings but that's bound to happen if you put training material and exercises meant for more corporate purposes, into the hands of civilians and then tell them that they're passing exams in it. Until anyone can spend time beside a Police Advanced Driver or one of their trainers, they won't have a fair comparison of their own abilities beyond theory or group standards. Ive developed an aversion to the links made between civvy AD and Police AD.

My driving? I'm a good, safe driver but there are too many things I know I don't know as much about as I'd like to know, to readily sit beside someone and extol the virtues of driving in a particular way. If... when I get those thing straight, perhaps I'll take the observers seat more easily but for now, it is with great trepidation that I explore observing.

[triquet]

Yeah but if all those things happen, you'll be to blame! im going to google a hypothetical situation of catastrophic proportions which matches your tax disc blocking that vital part of your windscreen. There's bound to be one.

It will probably involve one of those ludricous prone cycley things where the pilot lies about six inches above the road. He (or she) could creep up on your near side and hide in your tax disc blind spot

The ones with the flags on poles on the back?

That's the one. Usualy piloted by beardy men in sandals.

[Kimosabe]

It will probably involve one of those ludricous prone cycley things where the pilot lies about six inches above the road. He (or she) could creep up on your near side and hide in your tax disc blind spot

The ones with the flags on poles on the back?[/quote]

That's the one. Usualy piloted by beardy men in sandals. [/quote]

Oy! What you got against sandals then? Pipe, short sleeved shirt w/epaulettes, I'll fitting shorts, long socks (orangey brown), sandals, recumbent bike, ham radio in caravan for when it's raining, likes to be called 'Clive'. You got a problem with that?

[Horse]

Yeah but if all those things happen, you'll be to blame! im going to google a hypothetical situation of catastrophic proportions which matches your tax disc blocking that vital part of your windscreen. There's bound to be one.

Compared to the divots I've seen with a screen-mounted satnav affixed just below and right of the rear-view mirror . . . the tax can't hide much!

Is that in your top three pet hates?

It varies

[triquet]

Don't worry. I have the beard and the sandals. Just a bit short of bike at the moment.

[Gromit37]

As one who rides a recumbent trike, complete with flagpole, I take offence at the stereotype! I even wear sandals around the house in summer. I do not smoke, so there may be some hope for me.

Trust me, riding recumbent is much more fun and much safer than riding on a 'normal' bike (of which I currently have 4) and now that my Caterham 7 is gone, I only have one way of showing how utterly cool I am on the road

Not that most Advanced Drivers have any concept of cool...

[triquet]

As one who rides a recumbent trike, complete with flagpole, I take offence at the stereotype! I even wear sandals around the house in summer. I do not smoke, so there may be some hope for me.

Trust me, riding recumbent is much more fun and much safer than riding on a 'normal' bike (of which I currently have 4) and now that my Caterham 7 is gone, I only have one way of showing how utterly cool I am on the road

Not that most Advanced Drivers have any concept of cool...

I am intrigued. What are the advantages of the recumbant bike? I assume that you need just as much leg oomph to get along, and flag or no flag, I would be terrified of the visibility problem. They do seem to fade into the background a bit, particularly with high country verges.

[Kimosabe]

As one who rides a recumbent trike, complete with flagpole, I take offence at the stereotype! I even wear sandals around the house in summer. I do not smoke, so there may be some hope for me.

Trust me, riding recumbent is much more fun and much safer than riding on a 'normal' bike (of which I currently have 4) and now that my Caterham 7 is gone, I only have one way of showing how utterly cool I am on the road

Not that most Advanced Drivers have any concept of cool...

Fight! Fight! Fight!

(grabs the popcorn, bucket of coke and heads for the armchair.....)

EDIT: ....finds queue of people not called 'Clive' infront of armchair...

[Gromit37]

As one who rides a recumbent trike, complete with flagpole, I take offence at the stereotype! I even wear sandals around the house in summer. I do not smoke, so there may be some hope for me.

Trust me, riding recumbent is much more fun and much safer than riding on a 'normal' bike (of which I currently have 4) and now that my Caterham 7 is gone, I only have one way of showing how utterly cool I am on the road

Not that most Advanced Drivers have any concept of cool...

I am intrigued. What are the advantages of the recumbant bike? I assume that you need just as much leg oomph to get along, and flag or no flag, I would be terrified of the visibility problem. They do seem to fade into the background a bit, particularly with high country verges.

You actually need more leg oomph than on an uprights, because you can't stand up on the pedals as with an upright. The trade off is a very comfy riding position in a comfy seat. None of the usual numb bumb and sore bits. Less neck, shoulder and back ache because you aren't leaning forward holding your head at a funny angle. Oh, and aerodynamics mean that you use less energy on the flat and more speed downhill. You don't have to stop pedalling when going round bends either.

As for visibility, you are wrong. They stand out a mile. I had more near misses in one week on an upright than in several years on the trike. I get motorists waiting patiently for a minute or more, waiting to go past until they can give me plenty of room. It's a matter of perspicuity and perspicacity. Looking, seeing but not registering. Motorists see upright cycles but assume they are slow, don't take up much space or need much passing room. Motorists see recumbents because they are different and stand out immediately, they pay more attention and treat them differently. It sounds implausible but every recumbent rider will tell you it's true. Recumbents are more 'visible'.

And cool too! *

* Advanced drivers should look up the meaning of cool in this context. It does not refer to engine or brake temperature, and may be an alien concept. An IAM or RoSPA car badge does NOT qualify as cool, neither does the pipe and slippers most of you wear. Driving a diesel car is UNCOOL as is arguing interminably over the wording of a 'golden rule' .

[Silk]

And cool too! *

Is being "cool" adequate compensation for looking like a prize prat?