[QUOTE] "Crap hat" ?[/QUOTE] Yeah they are kind of maroon.
Most of the time no issue at all because trains normally keep moving at a decent speed and there isn't the same exposure to the wind / elements. I have even driven a Metro train across the QE2 bridge across the River Tyne which is pretty high up! I've also driven one in both directions on Byker viaduct which is a pretty interesting bridge! However I have a nightmare scenario which involves breaking down on a train which is stuck on either the King Edward or High Level bridges over the Tyne. It involves the train being immovable and the passengers having to jump down onto the track and then walk across the bridge. I think they'd have to sedate me and stretcher me out because I really don't think I could make the jump out of the train when that high up on those bridges. I have forced myself to walk across the High Level and Tyne Bridges and it is terrifying. All I do is stare straight ahead and walk very quickly and don't move for anyone!
So it's a height/bridge thing not a bike thing. All we have to do is find alpine roads without bridges and you're laughing. Acherly, I don't think that's as daft as it sounds.
Ok, good, good. That's progress, right - isolating factors which may lie at the root of things. Er... you got a licence for one of there here trains, sir? Importantly, you can do it if you have to. In fact, if you want to. So you can apply the same to the European touring thing. I know you said you weren't into wacky shit, but I'd seriously look into hynotherapy. Have a look at http://www.healthypages.net/
Heh, forgot about the Para version. TBH, I was fucking glad someone held onto *my* ankles. Not from the vertigo, but from the fact I didn't want to slip.
It's always quite something standing on the footplate of an engine with the cab doors open. More so when, leaning in the (open) cab doorway watching the world go by as we went over the Ouse Valley viaduct. That was quite interesting. As was the Vale of Rheidol. In some parts there was a distance of about 3 foot from rail head to a fucking steep drop into the Rheidol valley. There was only a thin catch bar in the cab to protect you. ... and sanding on the move great fun. V. dangerous. I really enjoyed working out of Aberystwyth before the depot shut.
On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 23:12:29 +0000 (UTC), "Andy Wegg" <> bored us all completely to death with wittery prose along the lines of: Git.
On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 18:38:46 +0000, Mick Whittingham <> bored us all completely to death with wittery prose along the lines of: Heh, so you can panic whilst someone else is in control.
I had it explained to me by an ex para that it's down to: "Only two things fall out of the sky, paras and bird sh*t. Just hope it's crap on your hat!" Hence "Crap hat" is a non para.
On the auto route(?) from Geneva heading towards France (travailing at night), there is a stretch that goes "Tunnel - very high bridge - tunnel - very high bridge" etc., I had to divert off of it because of an accident in one of the tunnels. Stayed the night in a little village in a mountains. Next morning looking out of the bedroom window I could see the last bridge I went over. It must have been a thousand feet above me. (Possible exaggeration)
I' m told they started the service after regular traffic jams caused by drivers freaking out near the middle and just stopping.
A40, from memory. Could be Nantua - that's pretty special. Used to pull in there for diesel on the way back from Italy. Good tucker in the restaurant next to the filling station. If it's Nantua, I would not be surprised if it's 1000 feet.
Ginge said... They wouldn't understand anyway, you have to punch everything into their faces in morse code -- Lozzo : The anti-Timo ZZR1100D, GPZ500S, CB250RS x3 BOTAFOT#57/70a, BOTAFOF#57, two#49(suspended), MIB#22, TCP#7, ANORAK#9, DIAABTCOD#14, UKRMT5BB, IBW#013, MIRTTH#15a/16, BotToS#8, GP#2, SBS#10, SH#3, DFV#14, BONY#9. Url for ukrm newbies : http://www.ukrm.net/faq/ukrmscbt.html http://www.glfuk.com/ for MJK Leathers in the UK.
You've got me thinking. I took a load of video of the journey through the mountains (I was not the cause of the accident) and of the view from the bedroom window of the bridge. I'll see if I can find the cassette and grab some stills to put up on my web site so show folk what I mean.
I was good with a map, I'll have you know. The bloody RAF OTOH, always dropped us off on the wrong sodding mountains. "****" was the more common term, IIRC.
Apparently so for a tandem jump. A fact that I am most truly grateful for, since it kept me well out of some stupid work-do thingy that involved throwing oneself out of a perfectly servicable aircraft a few thousand feet up whilst strapped to a Norwegian skydiver. Yus... being a fat bastard definitely has its advantages ;-) ZK - quite sensibly no fan of heights
I didn't stop there as much as some other people I knew [0], so I don't have amazingly clear memories. I do remember filling up after a tiring slog from Rimini, looking up and thinking "wow". [0] I used to push on the Le Pub at Bourg, because I had a bit of a thing with one of the barmaids.
