The Cost of Motoring

[amateur51]

Oh Ratz! Did I mean 25% or 25:1 ?? Maths were never a strong point. Anyway, it's steep, start off in first and then a quick change to second if you're lucky, arrive at the top (walking) and You Thank the Lord for Sturdy Thighs!

Sturdy Thighs! How the devil is she? Last seen at the Pant-yr-Ochain Cardinal Heenan Memorial Heave-ho, one woman, five men and a rope - she beat them easily.

Many years ago (1960s) I read a road test of some motor vehicle in which the driver (was it the lamented LJK Setright?) fessed that the only way he'd make it up Porlock Hill in Devon (or is it Somerset?) was in reverse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xpyBt1PmYQ

Sadly the identity of the vehicle escapes me

[Anna]

Porlock Hill in Devon (or is it Somerset?) was in reverse

Ah, the fine young gennulman from Porlock, The Curse of Literature!

[Chris Newman]

Ah, the fine young gennulman from Porlock, The Curse of Literature!

Yes, he only knocked on the door for a drink after climbing the hill and Coleridge never forgave him......

[MrGongGong]

Obviously you DO live in another world gonggong. A shiny car is just one indication of a successful business. Many customers will think twice about dealing with a business that doesn't look successful. I advise businesses on various subjects. Would you take expensive business advice from someone who can't drive a half-decent car and keep it looking nice?

the short answer is yes of course unless it was advice about how to have a shiny car
what a pile of utter nonsense, is so called "successful business" so shallow and pathetic to think that people are impressed by shiny cars ? no wonder we are up sh*t creek

A line of flash BMWs just makes me think of hedgehogs !

This is a bit like the sad spectacle one sees on university open days where 17 year olds on the advice of teachers/parents turn up in suits looking like 1950's office workers rather than like students or even teaching staff ..........

Alan Sugar "LOOKS" successful yet all he has done is sell technology that doesn't work to people too stupid to notice.

and what do you mean by "half-decent" I'm rather keen on a 1970's Saab 96 much more impressive than an identikit shiny penis substitute

[John Wright]

what a pile of utter nonsense, is so called "successful business" so shallow and pathetic to think that people are impressed by shiny cars ? no wonder we are up sh*t creek

But gonggong, businessmen ARE impressed by shiny cars. Obviously you were unaware of that before reading this thread.

A line of flash BMWs just makes me think of hedgehogs !

And a line of clapped-out Vauxhalls looks like?

And very successful creatures are them hedgehogs!

Alan Sugar "LOOKS" successful yet all he has done is sell technology that doesn't work to people too stupid to notice.

My first Skybox was made by Mr Sugar's company, my lad has it now and still works perfectly, must be over 12 years old.

and what do you mean by "half-decent" I'm rather keen on a 1970's Saab 96 much more impressive than an identikit shiny penis substitute

I'm also not keen on the new Saabs, but once an Audi man always an Audi man I find.

[MrGongGong]

Who said anything about NEW Saabs ??
I'm talking about the 96 V4 column change from the 1970's

I'm self employed, when I go to see my accountant i'm impressed by his ability to understand the details of Tax and do complex maths
not the car he has !

If he was selling cars , fine
but to think that somehow people will take you seriously because you have a shiny car is more than a little pathetic

I was doing a performance with a well known ensemble last year, one of the musicians turned up in a clapped out old Rover , so obviously I should have sent him home ! apart from the fact that he is probably one of the best 3 bassoonists in the country !

Some people like cars, that's fine, I like expensive microphones and cheese
pretending that people somehow take you more seriously if you have a flash car is simply trying to justify your hobby !

When I have met seriously rich people, really successful people, one thing that strikes me is that they don't seem to give a monkeys about superficial appearances , fancy clothes, Rolex watches etc etc

if you go to a rehearsal of any really top orchestra you will find a group of people looking like people not pretending that somehow they will only be treated as successful if they show up in flash cars..........

and the difference between the BMW and the Hedgehog is , of course, that the hedgehog has the pricks on the outside !
while the orchestra has the horns at the front and the arse at the back (unlike a bull )

we should be a little more like the Dutch , relax a bit (but don't copy their electing a rabid right wing administration !)

[french frank]

Nowadays steep hills are signposted as being 10%, 17% etc. No one has been able to explain to Tours Truly what this is a % of.

Isn't the vertical 10% of the horizontal = 1 in 10?

[Panjandrum]

No one has been able to explain to Tours Truly what this is a % of.

It's the gradient expressed as a percentage. For example: a hill iwith a 20% gradient is 1:5 in old money; 15% = 1:6.7; 14% = 1:7; etc. Simples.

[Ventilhorn]

.... while the orchestra has the horns at the front and the arse at the back (unlike a bull )

Haven't you got that the wrong way round?

[Dave2002]

This is a bit like the sad spectacle one sees on university open days where 17 year olds on the advice of teachers/parents turn up in suits looking like 1950's office workers rather than like students or even teaching staff ..........

I like it if they wash from time to time. Fortunately many young people are OK in this respect, but it hasn't always been so. I suspect some of the guys who sell suits must have gone out of business.

[MrGongGong]

Haven't you got that the wrong way round?

indeed I have (it was late) ooooops

[Mr Pee]

Oh Ratz! Did I mean 25% or 25:1 ?? Maths were never a strong point. Anyway, it's steep, start off in first and then a quick change to second if you're lucky, arrive at the top (walking) and You Thank the Lord for Sturdy Thighs!

Talking of steep hills:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-15691941

You can't drive up this one, and you certainly need sturdy thighs to make it to the top, but it's worth it- Lincoln Castle, and of course the Cathedral await you. And on the way up there are a number of interesting shops and eateries in which to rest weary legs.

Fully deserving of the award- and all the better for being completely free of the noise and pollution from motor vehicles!!

[John Wright]

I'm self employed, when I go to see my accountant i'm impressed by his ability to understand the details of Tax and do complex maths
not the car he has !

I'm saying generally business customers do take notice what car you drive. If you don't bother then that's up to you

to think that somehow people will take you seriously because you have a shiny car is more than a little pathetic

That's YOUR opinion, but in my experience it's a fact that people will take you seriously because you have a shiny car !

one of the musicians turned up in a clapped out old Rover , so obviously I should have sent him home

How is that relevant? We're talking about paying customers here.

Oh and I'm self-employed too, and I don't use an accountant, my accounts are not complicated.

[MrGongGong]

That's YOUR opinion, but in my experience it's a fact that people will take you seriously because you have a shiny car !

forgive me for needling on about this
but I do think that this is indicative of something that is, in many ways, of how superficial we are in danger of becoming.
It's always important not to confuse causation with correlation (Wittgenstein might have looked a bit like a tramp , therefore if I look like one I will be as clever as him ?)
If you were running a company selling shiny car products then OK
but
If I turn up to run a rehearsal in a shiny car and completely make a hash of it I wont be taken seriously at all, and it would probably be the end of my career
If I was a professor of Mathematics and turned up in a shiny car yet failed to deliver then I would (one would hope !) loose my job
If I was running a business selling televisions etc etc etc

Being someone who frequently works with teenagers I'm interested in where some of these ideas come from.
Is it all style and no content ?
have we become a nation of "t**d polishers" ? , dress it up in fancy packaging and no-one will notice that there's no substance !

[vinteuil]

... when I was growing up in the 1950s, the local landowner (in Corsham) was Lord Methuen (Paul). He always looked a complete tramp ( in a good way). When well-intentioned friends remonstrated with him about his appearance and whether it might not be a good idea to smarten up, his irrefutable reply was - " Why? - when I'm here, everyone knows who I am - so it doesn't matter. And when I go up to London - no-one knows who I am - so it doesn't matter... "