Seen Things Item 1 - Roundabouts

What a cheat - I'm doing what I used to do aren't I? Talking about things I used to have or have now, things I've seen and places I've been to!

Anyway No.1 in a series of 100 seen things. Roundabouts may seem a strange subject, but I've been in Letchworth this week and came across this particular example...

It's Britain's first ever roundabout. It was built somewhere around 1909 and I suspect the amount of daily traffic has increased a little since then.

It is almost surrounded by signposts proudly showing its status as the first roundabout and a little further away one supposes is a heap of rusting wreckage that are the cars that collided whilst their drivers read the message...

It wasn't the first roundabout in the world however. That was built in 1905 or thereabouts somewhere in America. Roundabouts have however become much more of a familiar sight in the UK than they are across the pond where apparently the gameplay is to aim your vehicle at one already going round...

I made that up of course - but there is one roundabout that is so notorious for accidents that no insurance company will pay out for accidents that occur around it. It is in that land of the considerate - France. It holds in its centre one of Paris's great monuments and landmarks: the Arc de Triomphe.

Anyone who has ever walked around Paris will know that the local habit is to walk in as straight a line as possible and to push out of the way without apology or acknowledgement anyone who happens to be in their way. Fran and Gill were standing quite still in the Parisian Marks and Spencer on one visit and a French woman walked slap into them and recoiled with a very indignant "Ooh la la!" as though they should have seen her coming and got out of the way.

Drivers approach the roundabout in the same way.

It doesn't help that drivers must give way to traffic entering the roundabout rather than those entering giving way to those already on it. That means that if you drive at full speed right towards the middle of the roundabout, it is up to everyone else to avoid you!

It also doesn't help that it is wide enough for about 6 lanes of traffic - should they ever try to drive in lanes behind one another.

It also doesn't help that there are no less than 12 roads joined to the roundabout...

Needless to say, it lives up to its reputation as an accident waiting to happen. In fact you don't even have to wait all that long...

Roundabouts in the UK have become an everyday part of life. There are now tiny versions which are a painted spot in the centre of a junction - perhaps best thought of as an overbout... There are massive versions where gameplan seems to be to accelerate to such speeds that no one else no matter which approach road they are on dare venture out. There are new towns here where roundabouts are so common they are thought to spontaneously appear like dandelion weeds...

And they are celebrated on almost every episode of Traffic Cops and Police Stop!

Letchworth

It's been a busy old week - I've now got back from Letchworth, just about.

Horrible journey, it's a Friday night, it's half-term and the M6 was crawling. I shelled out my hard-earned to nip up the M6 Toll but as soon as it ended I was back down into first and second gears and that's how I stayed until Stoke on Trent.

There had been some sort of incident on the slip road of Junction 15 and it had caused a rare old tail back. It took me over 6 hours to get home.

Anyway this is where I've been - the Goldsmith Centre of North Herts College. Photo from Flickr, courtesy of John Sanderson. I didn't take any photos down there. Some nice scenery down that way though.

Tom Tom was navigating which meant going over lots of those stupid bumps in the road that are supposed to calm traffic and instead only do your suspension in and make a row, annoying anyone unlucky enough to have one outside their house...

So I'm not quite sure where I was, but at one point there was a gorgeous stone-built red-tiled country church with a rather strange looking tower, seen against a green field and wonderful blue sky. I almost stopped but the thought of traffic building on the M6 kept me going. In the event it wouldn't have made much difference!

I delivered a session on Risk Management at a IT Technical Forum organised by the local JISC Regional Support Centre. They call themselves RSCs, but to anyone outside the Further Education Sector that normally prompts some conversation about Shakespeare...

Busy weekend looming as well so no rest for the wicked! Will try to keep up with the entries!

Two Days in Sutton Coldfield

Sounds dramatic doesn't it?

Well it wasn't all that dramatic - I've spent the last two days at a conference. Some interesting sessions, some painful ones, some where I sat quiet (not that many!) and some where I was one of the noisiest!

Gala dinner, pork, heavy on the stomach, wakeful night in roasting room.

I wonder why some hotels seem to cater for visitors from the equator and have no heating controls in the room. There were no opening windows in my room either - there was a door to a small balcony but it may have gone the opposite way if I'd left that open.

There was also a non-switchable heated towel rail so close to the toilet that to avoid burning your leg you had to sit sideways which is not that comfortable...

Am home again now until tomorrow when I trog off to Letchworth...