Tag: driving
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Refining my appearance
After four months on my new project, I finally got the chance to travel beyond my cubicle. All the way to our refinery at ‘beautiful’ Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We’re implementing (among other things) a new dock management system, and I had to go and train some of the users on how to use it. The site is on Scenic Highway, but I think this must be an attempt at suspension of disbelief, because you’d be pretty hard-pushed to find a place less ‘scenic’ than this – it’s just a huge collection of tanks, pipes, and chimneys which takes up all… Read more
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They’re not “just doing their job” – they’re scamming us
So last week, coming back from the Black Angels gig, I got pulled over by the police. I shouldn’t be surprised – I seem to average one ticket a year, and I’d made it to December (actually, November 30th) without getting a ticket so it was about time. What was a surprise is that this wasn’t for speeding! (That radar detector I have is turning out to be money well spent.) This ticket was for “failure to signal” when I turned a corner. That’s right. It was for not using my indicators. At half past midnight, at an almost deserted intersection. … Read more
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Road – it’s all the rage!
This commute is killing me. A couple of nights ago it took me an hour and 40 minutes to get home from work. For a 20-mile journey, on a single stretch of motorway – the infamous I-10 (a.k.a. the Katy Freeway). That’s an average of 12 mph – which just shows that the police are taking the piss by putting up “65-mph” speed limit signs. And 12mph is an average. For the last 5 miles of the journey I was hurtling along at closer to 80mph. Yes, that’s over the limit, but I dare the bastards to pull me over and… Read more
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Belgium is Driving Me Crazy
OK, I’ve now been in Belgium for over a year, so I think I’m qualified to make a few comments without being dismissed as a ‘newbie’ who needs to learn to adapt. There are some aspects of driving in Belgium that I just can’t adapt to. Three of them, in fact: (1) Giving way to the right. The rule is that if you’re driving along a main road, and a car is joining the road from a side-road on the right, you need to give way. Unless of course there is a solid white line or a series of tiny… Read more
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No, really, they are are out to get me…
My car sprang a fairly serious oil leak (to the point where it was getting through oil faster than petrol, and I was leaving a trail all down the road). I’d noticed the oil light flashing on and off when I drove into work on Friday morning. So I topped it up with a gallon of Esso Superlube (company man to the last!) before I left work, but the oil light was flashing again before I was halfway home. I was just wondering where I’d find a garage open on a Saturday (this is Belgium, after all…), when the police… Read more