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This topic comprises 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Topic: What is London like in January?
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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"
Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002
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posted 04-16-2007 02:59 PM
quote: Stephen Furley
Something important if you're walking, remember that traffic drives on the left here; when I went to America I found it very difficult to get used to this, and to look in the right direction for approaching traffic.
But Stephen, we should look in *both* directions anyway when we cross a street, no matter where we are.
quote: Mark Ogden
Just to try to be helpful, I went to Google to find out alternate ways of getting to London from Los Angeles. Try it: go to Google, click Maps, then click directions, then enter Los Angeles in the "FROM" box and London in the "TO" box.
It all sounds great, until you get to step #30 . . .
Pretty funny actually:
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 04-16-2007 04:19 PM
quote: Michael Schaffer
But Stephen, we should look in *both* directions anyway when we cross a street, no matter where we are.
My hotel is only a couple of minutes walk from the PATH station at Journal Square, but that walk involves crossing a very wide road, about four lanes in each direction I think it was, with a fefuge island in the middle, so it was in effect, two uni-directional roads. I found it really difficult to concentrate on looking for traffic coming from the direction which it was for the half of the road that I was crossing at the time; something inside me just kept wanting to look the other way. It took several days to get used to it.
[ 04-17-2007, 06:27 AM: Message edited by: Stephen Furley ]
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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"
Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002
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posted 04-16-2007 07:20 PM
The one thing that did take me a while to get used to here is that on the freeway, you have a lot of people driving slow in the middle and left lanes, and people often change lanes apparently randomly, often without using the turn signal.
In Germany, as you probably know, there is no general speed limit on the freeway ("Autobahn"), although there are many areas where speed limits are posted. E.g. stretches with a lot of curves, bad road surface, construction etc. But there is one very iron rule that applies everywhere, that you have to drive on the right side and pass on the left. It is absolutely forbidden to pass on the right of another vehicle, if they catch you doing that, you get a ticket. More painful than a ticket, the offender also gets several points in the central traffic offence registry (if you have collected a certain number of points, they automatically suspend your license or take it away). The same now applies to driving slow on the left. So the police can also pull you over and give you a ticket if you drive at the same speed or slower than other vehicles to your right. Also, changing lanes without using the turn signal is seen as a serious offence. Because studies have shown that it is not so the absolute speed which causes accidents, but rather the degree of organizedness (or lack thereof) of the traffic flow. Although if you drive very fast (over 130km/h which is about 80mph), you automatically get part of the blame if you get into an accident as they say that absolute control over the vehicle and situations you can get into is diminished at high speeds. Still, you have a lot of people rocketing down the Autobahn in their BMWs, Mercedes', Porsches, Audis etc. Since the auto industry is one of the biggst industries in Germany (the biggest?), they have a very strong lobby, kind of like the gun industry in the US, and they also use the same kind of slogans against speed limits ("free driving for free citizens!").
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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 593
From: London, UK
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 04-16-2007 09:08 PM
I know Hammersmith well, went to college (last two years of high school for you guys) there. The Novotel is about 5 minutes from the Underground stations (there are two), and a minute from my birthplace (the hospital is now HQ for SonyEricsson!).
The Riverside Studios in Hammersmith is the best cinema in London, about £6 for double bills, can take alcohol in, and the programming is far more varied and interesting than anywhere else, although it was better a few years ago.
Unless you have several bags I'd get the underground to Hammersmith. The cab journey is quicker than the tube outside rush hour, pretty much a motorway door to door, but you will pay ten times more. Personally think that in London both black cabs and mini cabs will always try to rip you off.
For public transport, you need an Oyster smart card to avoid paying the cash fares which are double the price. It is a £3 returnable deposit and you apply for one at the Underground ticket office, where you can put money on it. Have a look on the TfL website mentioned above.
For classsical music CDs, I know that the HMV store on Oxford Street has an large section downstairs that is seperated from the rest of the store, have their own specialist staff I think.
Ask for the local cycle guide at Hammersmith Underground station. Might sound odd, but they provide a free and pretty detailed map of the area and of Central London.
It takes me two or three days to get used to cars driving on the other side in Europe. Trams are the worst, have nearly been hit by them in Amsterdam and Leipzig!
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 04-17-2007 01:18 AM
quote: Michael Schaffer
But there is one very iron rule that applies everywhere, that you have to drive on the right side and pass on the left. It is absolutely forbidden to pass on the right of another vehicle, if they catch you doing that, you get a ticket.
Interesting. The same rules apply in theory in Britain too - drive on the nearside, move to an offside lane only to overtake, then move straight back again, and always indicate in good time before changing lanes (and throughout the manouvre itself). But these are almost univerally ignored and virtually never enforced. Weaving between lanes without indicating, 'middle lane hogs' and aggressive tailgating are all standard behaviour on British motorways. Sadly, the 'speed kills' mantra is the only one our government seems willing to listen to, and their policy is based on the premise that if you drive at 69mph with bald tyres, loud music blaring and two inches behind the vehicle in front you're safe, but if you're doing 71 in a well maintained vehicle and leaving 100 yards between you and the car in front, you're a menace to society and must be punished. We've got one of the highest motorway accident death tolls per passenger mile traveled in Europe (only France is worse, from the last figures I saw), and yet the only answer the powers that be seem to have is to reduce the motorway speed limits further (which are also among the lowest in Europe as things are).
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Joel N. Weber II
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 115
From: Somerville, MA, USA
Registered: Dec 2005
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posted 04-17-2007 09:05 PM
quote: Leo Enticknap
Add to that the fact that America doesn't do roundabouts (or at least, the bits of it I've visited don't) - just very large crossroads and T-junctions
Wikipedia's roundabout entry says:
quote:
In Massachusetts, rotaries are nearly always built to the standards of a British roundabout, and a "roundabout" refers to an especially small rotary with crosswalks, between high-traffic roads.
But the vast majority of intersections in Massachusetts are not rotaries, probably even between high traffic roads.
quote: Leo Enticknap
and allows vehicles to turn right against a red light - so it's not completely safe to cross the road even if the 'walk' symbol is illuminated
Except that some intersections have ``No turn on red'' signs posted.
Also, right turn on red is not the only case where thoughtlessly obeying walk signals is dangerous; at some intersections, the walk signal is given at nearly the same time as the green light, such that all right turns are potential conflicts.
I believe that. at least in Masachusetts, if you are making a left turn from a one way street to a one way street, that a left turn on red is legal. If you are exiting Davis Square in Somerville, MA trying to get onto Highland Ave as soon as possible, you end up going through an intersection where this is possible as you turn off Summer Street.
How to safely be a pedestrian also varies somewhat from one city to another. I took an MBTA Commuter Rail train to Providence last month, and found that Providence drivers seem to be somewhat less aware of pedestrians that Boston drivers.
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