DRIVING LESSONS

[Robin Ellis]

They have to as the horses get in the way

Picture taken by me at our local petrol service station.

[happy daze john in oz]

........... and the annoying habit they had of having frosted glasses for the beer.........

I once owned two pubs in Kent. we had a Canadian, no not our Den, come in one night and ask fora cold beer. One smart alec customer told him to come back on a frosty night.

[happy daze john in oz]

Then we come to the bicycle lanes put in by the last Labor state gov. No one is quite sure why we have them, are they for cyclists? Up to thge age of about 14 you can ride on the sidewalk if you wish, that is great fun trying to avoid the pedestrians.
But as to the bike lanes, I have yet to see a bike on one on a regular basis. Some of the lanes come to a sudden end when they reach a roundabout, what do they do then, panic of course. Along Beach road on a Sunday morning they ride four or five abreast in all their glorious lycra and if you are in a car well you just have to wait.
But here is the good bit, cars are permitted to park in bike lanes as they are at the side of the road. So if a cyclist is using one of these he is in and out of the cars like oars in the water. Bit like a skittle alley.
Then the city gov brought in the hire bikes, jsut like in London. One small problem, here in Victoria you must wear a cycle helmet. But when you pay at the machine there is no helmet you have to go to the nearest 7Eleven to buy one. Down at Port Melbourne the cruise ship comes in, the tourist sees the bike hops on and off they go. Fine until some cop sees them. This is designed to make tourist welcome to contribute to the local council coffers.

[Ivan Cloherty]

But as to the bike lanes, I have yet to see a bike on one on a regular basis. .

I remember the time when the village bike could transport you to another world

[Keith Tindell]

Hey, the old village bike, what bliss!!!, where i first learned the art of riding. Only took a short while to perfect it. Its probably looking a little wrinkled now!!! as of course am i ,, KT

[happy daze john in oz]

I remember the time when the village bike could transport you to another world

I recall a certain telephonist on a UCL liner who was a bit of a ships bike.

[Lou Barron]

When i bought a second car (1961 holden like driving a tank) i did not have a drivers licence so a good friend of mine a bus driver started me of (41years old)he took me through the main streets and at a busy time ,he said if you are going to learn to drive you have to do it the hard way .
When i did go for my licence i passed very easy no problems
Driving years ago was great but now it seems to be a bit of a headache maybe its because there is more cars on the road now .
I still drive a lot and have had no bad accidents but i must admit i have had two speeding tickets just going over the 50k limit
My wife never drove a car but she gave me plenty of instructions howto drive
God bless her i Sure do miss her when i go out for a drive

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi All.
Back in 1951 we were passing Mt Vesuvious that was erupting, I was on the wheel as it went past I was turning the wheel to keep it in site, the skipper must have thought we were on a roundabout.
We were back in Wales on a visit, coming back from a small trip with the sister and brother-in-law in the back seat we were coming up to a roundabout, I kept asking which way but they were having a small argument, so I went straight ahead, my sister yelled out "your on the motorway you wont be able to get off, you should have gone right". up ahead was a service station, I shot into the driveway out the otherside across the medium strip and we were on our wayback no sweat, just as well I was used to driving in Sydney.
Cheers Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Driving in Sydney is not as bad as here in Melbourne I have found. Somehow there are more mind readers on the road up there as they all appear to know where thye are going. But here in Melbourne I find there is always some one who will tell you where to go.

[john sutton]

let me tell you the saga of my driving licence.
I bought a car when I was working on the rigs in canada and after a year I decided to apply for a licence so I booked a test which happened to be for new years day.My car was off the road so I borrowed an MGa from an aquaintance(it must have been the only mg in edmonton in 1958.)
The tester couldnt get in the car as it had sidescreens and no outside door handle.I was still hungover from a new years party and was probably still drunk.I failed miserably but still carried on driving for the rest of my stay in canada.
The following year I returned to UK for the summer and applied for a "visitor to GB" licence on the strength of my alberta licence(non exsitant)which I had left at home in canada.Allegedly.
I then went to work in germany and one company I worked for selling cars was owned by a german lawyer who insisted that I became legal so I swopped my english licence(illegal) for an international licence which allowed me to drive anywhere in the world.
I then returned to UK and drove for a year on that licence before taking a test to become legal.
The UK authorities checked with Alberta but by the time they discovered my "con" I had left the country.I dont think I could get away with it these computerised days
john sutton