"I missed the start of a wedding... because of LTNs"; "I was struggling": Peter Sagan reflects on first WorldTour win in 13 months; Timmy Mallett hammers the Highlands; You can't carry that by bike! + more on the live blog

chrisonatrike wrote:

RE: Weddings - is it not just that as the internets increasingly become people's reality people increasingly take what's on the internet for reality?

"Maps says it's 15 minutes away" = "It is 15 minutes away and if it takes 16 minutes I will sue (anyone but the providers of Maps)".

Nothing new though - if it looks like some people have x why can't I have x?  All the time?

The map is NOT the territory.

brooksby wrote:

The map is NOT the territory.

...unless you're playing Risk.

All our Post boxes seem to only have one collection a day now, not sure if the Oxfordshire ones are the same. Maybe if the Post Office were not cutting staff and service every few months to "make a profit" they could supply another pickup vehicle.

Our collection is at 9:30 - so the postie with the van can pick up the letters on return from dropping off the bags for the rounds. That means if you get a letter delivered - most likely about 10am these days - your best turnaround without driving to the PO depot is 48 hours. And of course, no Sunday collections any more.

The ones near me are similarly timed, although there is one almost next to the sorting office which is 5pm. (Or used to be, haven't checked for ages).

Delivery though is sometimes as late as 2pm although we have a couple of different posties so might be a "cover" doing a shift after his has finished. 

cant believe none of you went with the obvious response, why dont they just collect those post boxes via bicycle...

Ah, Irish wedding anecdotes.

My only experience of the Emerald Isles was in the 1980s when we were invited to a wedding in Tipperarry (roughly bottom middle). We booked our flights, in the days when a booking was a booking, to Dublin a couple of days before for a night or two on the town and an explore. We arranged to pick up a friend from Dublin Airport at about 10am, so we had the joyof experiencing Ireland's only mile of motorway at the time several times.

On the Thursay it was announced that the venue had cancelled and we now needed to be in Shannon for 2pm. So we had, allowing for luggage pick up, 3 hours to drive about 150 miles - it may be a long, long way to Tipperary (not these days, I live about 8 miles from the Tipperary Inn, owned by the song's writers) but Shannon from Dublin was a major expedition.

We had SWMBO map reading (God help us!) which meant driving at speed while squinting across at the map to look ahead ("Could you see where to go next, dear?" as she basked in the glory of a signpost followed correctly)  and question and correct her as we went (one of those relationships). I think the map came with the hire car. Every time we went through a village we seemed to need to slow to a crawl and all the locals came out to stare at the excitement of a car passing through - they'd obviously had something unusual with several members of the wedding party passing through in the same day.

Ireland's roads at the time put our cycle lanes in perspective. The main road from Dublin to Shannon was essentially single track with a shale passing strip either side - the convention was that you arrived behind the car ahead, waited patiently and then the car in front would drift over onto the shale and you would pass by (unless you came up behind a Brit then you were screwed as they wouldn't move over - 60mph with two wheels on the shale was exciting). We got within about 15 minutes of the chuch, lept over a gate and changed into our formal wear after a wee, good practice for cycling all those years later.

We arrived at the church (down some cart track for about 5 miles) about 2:15 to discover that we had about 30 minutes to wait because of them deciding everyone would be late so they delayed the wedding. All before the days of mobile phones and SatNavs.

A good time was had and the drive back was far more relaxing.

IanMSpencer wrote:

Ah, Irish wedding anecdotes.

My only experience of the Emerald Isles was in the 1980s when we were invited to a wedding in Tipperarry (roughly bottom middle). We booked our flights, in the days when a booking was a booking, to Dublin a couple of days before for a night or two on the town and an explore. We arranged to pick up a friend from Dublin Airport at about 10am, so we had the joyof experiencing Ireland's only mile of motorway at the time several times.

On the Thursay it was announced that the venue had cancelled and we now needed to be in Shannon for 2pm. So we had, allowing for luggage pick up, 3 hours to drive about 150 miles - it may be a long, long way to Tipperary (not these days, I live about 8 miles from the Tipperary Inn, owned by the song's writers) but Shannon from Dublin was a major expedition.

We had SWMBO map reading (God help us!) which meant driving at speed while squinting across at the map to look ahead ("Could you see where to go next, dear?" as she basked in the glory of a signpost followed correctly)  and question and correct her as we went (one of those relationships). I think the map came with the hire car. Every time we went through a village we seemed to need to slow to a crawl and all the locals came out to stare at the excitement of a car passing through - they'd obviously had something unusual with several members of the wedding party passing through in the same day.

Ireland's roads at the time put our cycle lanes in perspective. The main road from Dublin to Shannon was essentially single track with a shale passing strip either side - the convention was that you arrived behind the car ahead, waited patiently and then the car in front would drift over onto the shale and you would pass by (unless you came up behind a Brit then you were screwed as they wouldn't move over - 60mph with two wheels on the shale was exciting). We got within about 15 minutes of the chuch, lept over a gate and changed into our formal wear after a wee, good practice for cycling all those years later.

We arrived at the church (down some cart track for about 5 miles) about 2:15 to discover that we had about 30 minutes to wait because of them deciding everyone would be late so they delayed the wedding. All before the days of mobile phones and SatNavs.

A good time was had and the drive back was far more relaxing.

I went to a posh do somewhere on the outskirts of Dublin years ago, I remember it to this day for the most SAVAGE best man's speech I have ever heard.  He absolutely destroyed the groom, everyone there was surprised the day didn't end on the spot.

Quite a lot of funerals have cake.  (Just not "A Cake", if you see what I mean.)

Steve K wrote:

Quite a lot of funerals have cake.  (Just not "A Cake", if you see what I mean.)

Gives you an excuse to take on a couple of Strava segments on the way there and back?  Never too late.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaKT2AdJCAc

I remember years ago bringing a friend over to see that Belfast was more than what the media portrayed at the time. Stopped off at mums who offered a cuppa. My pal half an hour later whispered if my mum had forgotten. I said no and 5 minutes later the supper tray appeared resplendent with sandwiches, cake and the best china. My poor friend just looked on and murmured that they only wanted a cup of tea! 

They should have replied "just a wee drap in me hand" then, as any fule kno

Flâneur wrote:

They should have replied "just a wee drap in me hand" then, as any fule kno

Ha. That was me ma's wee drap!  Just something to tide us over before the dances!  

Is there such a thing as pre-planning?

Surely it's all Planning.

Yes.  Exactly wot 'e said

Pedants.  Next you'll be saying a plan for a plan isnt a thing.

isn't 

Wing. 

.

Mirror.

.

I have spoken.

.

Is that like pre-meeting meetings?
(Just to make sure the time of participants is wasted efficiently)

belugabob wrote:

Is that like pre-meeting meetings? (Just to make sure the time of participants is wasted efficiently)

Woh there, you can't just jump right into the pre-meeting without planning it!

Slow down sonny!  You have to plan the pre-meeting meeting to be sure that the pre-meeting meeting generates an effective plan for the meeting.

Don't forget the wedding photographer who, after the event, will be obliged to do some tautologous post-processing of his images.