March 21, 2005
March 18, 2005
Buses
I was on the bus the other day and I overheard another conversation - this time between three school children about how "utterly rubbish" buses were.
Statements like the ones below were made:
"They're filthy. Always full of litter and rubbish."
"They slow down traffic."
"You have to wait for them. And then they cost £1.20 per ride. What happens if you want to take a quick bus ride?
My dad says he would rather take his car."
There was more but you get the gist of it.
As they were kids I allowed them their skewed perceptions. Their frame of mind only extends to what they know and that isn't much, to be honest.
What I wanted to say to them was:
"Buses don't slow traffic down, bad motorists do."
This is something that really pisses me off, no end.
Buses pick up and drop off people. Therefore, you'd expect people to not park in or around bus stops. In fact, you'd expect people to be sympathetic when buses have to stop in the middle of the road to pick up and drop people off because of the idiots who have blocked off the buses in the first place. But no, they ignore this fact and target the bus driver and his 50 or so passengers.
Why is it motorists target buses with such vitriol? It's almost as if motorists have joined a brand new club - that of the selfish "think only of thine self" club.
"Instead of driving everywhere, why not walk (especially if it's a short distance away)?"
I'm tired of people treating luxuries like everyday boring shite. Public transport is ace. Think of London without any kind of public transport.
Rant over.
********************************************************
I was going to leave this post without mentioning WoW but I don't think I can (can you spot the signs of addiction? I can!)
Crucifer is now level 27 and solidly rising. Hardly a day goes by without a fight with the Alliance, most of them ending with me dead (although I have won a fight or two).
From level 22 on in, the game content is brand-spanking new and pretty good, for the most part.
Solo questing is still going strong but now, with the threat of death at the hands of Alliance players, grouping is becoming more of a necessity. Besides which, the game becomes much more colourful with other players in your team.
I suppose that's why it's an MMO...
Statements like the ones below were made:
"They're filthy. Always full of litter and rubbish."
"They slow down traffic."
"You have to wait for them. And then they cost £1.20 per ride. What happens if you want to take a quick bus ride?
My dad says he would rather take his car."
There was more but you get the gist of it.
As they were kids I allowed them their skewed perceptions. Their frame of mind only extends to what they know and that isn't much, to be honest.
What I wanted to say to them was:
"Buses don't slow traffic down, bad motorists do."
This is something that really pisses me off, no end.
Buses pick up and drop off people. Therefore, you'd expect people to not park in or around bus stops. In fact, you'd expect people to be sympathetic when buses have to stop in the middle of the road to pick up and drop people off because of the idiots who have blocked off the buses in the first place. But no, they ignore this fact and target the bus driver and his 50 or so passengers.
Why is it motorists target buses with such vitriol? It's almost as if motorists have joined a brand new club - that of the selfish "think only of thine self" club.
"Instead of driving everywhere, why not walk (especially if it's a short distance away)?"
I'm tired of people treating luxuries like everyday boring shite. Public transport is ace. Think of London without any kind of public transport.
Rant over.
********************************************************
I was going to leave this post without mentioning WoW but I don't think I can (can you spot the signs of addiction? I can!)
Crucifer is now level 27 and solidly rising. Hardly a day goes by without a fight with the Alliance, most of them ending with me dead (although I have won a fight or two).
From level 22 on in, the game content is brand-spanking new and pretty good, for the most part.
Solo questing is still going strong but now, with the threat of death at the hands of Alliance players, grouping is becoming more of a necessity. Besides which, the game becomes much more colourful with other players in your team.
I suppose that's why it's an MMO...
March 04, 2005
Snow
It snowed today.
One thing I've noticed about the weather is what it brings out in people.
When its sunny, people generally are happier about things. When its raining, people are moody.
When its snowing though, people take a further step - they acquire an instinct of self preservation at any cost. I've seen motorists cut up traffic solely to get an extra minutes movement. I've seen buses clog up traffic solely to stop the motorists from gaining that extra minute, even though it'll add to the congestion nightmare.
And people are the worst of the lot. For some reason, they begin to act shamelessly.
Take the incident at the bus stop today, for example.
Susan and I were queuing for a bus. So were lots of other people. We waited patiently. The Countdown system counted down and eventually it read due.
A woman in a red coat walked up to the bus stop, paused to look at the Countdown display (noticed it read "due") and pushed in front of the queue to get onto the bus.
Now, normally, I wouldn't be annoyed. But today it was cold AND snowing. Today, I was in a mood. Why should I stand in the cold, patiently waiting my turn in the queue to have Ms. Red Coat push in? But I was with Susan so I didn't want to cause embarrasment. I silently hid my annoyance though if looks were like daggers...
However, another man behind us in the queue did say something. When the bus finally pulled over at the bus stop, he reached out and grasped her arm.
"Young lady, can you not see there is a queue for the bus?" he said.
She replied, "Oh sorry, I didn't realise."
It was a crap excuse and everyone in the queue took silent pleasure that someone had stood up for their benefit. People got on to the bus whilst this altercation went on.
However, Ms. Red Coat's embarrasment at being questioned soon turned into indignation.
"Let go, cheeky sod!" she exclaimed.
Indignation quickly turned into self-righteousness.
"Don't touch my arm, you arsehole!"
Inevitably, Ms. Red Coat pulled herself up against the older gentleman and forced her way onto the bus, which eventually drove off.
Now, if I could turn back the clock, I would give the older gentleman a round of applause for not only being right but actually standing up to the woman in a world where being chivalrous is taken for granted by women who, quite frankly, don't deserve it.
On other news, I've finally managed to get Crucifer to level 22 in World of Warcraft (the same level that I got to with Ladonna in the Beta).
The game continues to occupy most of my spare time but I'm also spending a fair amount roleplaying again, which is always good news. I've also managed some writing up of a rpg session and also of what the notion of "epic" means to me. I'll post the session-write up later.
One thing I've noticed about the weather is what it brings out in people.
When its sunny, people generally are happier about things. When its raining, people are moody.
When its snowing though, people take a further step - they acquire an instinct of self preservation at any cost. I've seen motorists cut up traffic solely to get an extra minutes movement. I've seen buses clog up traffic solely to stop the motorists from gaining that extra minute, even though it'll add to the congestion nightmare.
And people are the worst of the lot. For some reason, they begin to act shamelessly.
Take the incident at the bus stop today, for example.
Susan and I were queuing for a bus. So were lots of other people. We waited patiently. The Countdown system counted down and eventually it read due.
A woman in a red coat walked up to the bus stop, paused to look at the Countdown display (noticed it read "due") and pushed in front of the queue to get onto the bus.
Now, normally, I wouldn't be annoyed. But today it was cold AND snowing. Today, I was in a mood. Why should I stand in the cold, patiently waiting my turn in the queue to have Ms. Red Coat push in? But I was with Susan so I didn't want to cause embarrasment. I silently hid my annoyance though if looks were like daggers...
However, another man behind us in the queue did say something. When the bus finally pulled over at the bus stop, he reached out and grasped her arm.
"Young lady, can you not see there is a queue for the bus?" he said.
She replied, "Oh sorry, I didn't realise."
It was a crap excuse and everyone in the queue took silent pleasure that someone had stood up for their benefit. People got on to the bus whilst this altercation went on.
However, Ms. Red Coat's embarrasment at being questioned soon turned into indignation.
"Let go, cheeky sod!" she exclaimed.
Indignation quickly turned into self-righteousness.
"Don't touch my arm, you arsehole!"
Inevitably, Ms. Red Coat pulled herself up against the older gentleman and forced her way onto the bus, which eventually drove off.
Now, if I could turn back the clock, I would give the older gentleman a round of applause for not only being right but actually standing up to the woman in a world where being chivalrous is taken for granted by women who, quite frankly, don't deserve it.
On other news, I've finally managed to get Crucifer to level 22 in World of Warcraft (the same level that I got to with Ladonna in the Beta).
The game continues to occupy most of my spare time but I'm also spending a fair amount roleplaying again, which is always good news. I've also managed some writing up of a rpg session and also of what the notion of "epic" means to me. I'll post the session-write up later.
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