Greetings fein France

[Chicken Dinner]

Bing a blast and leave for Sweden tomorrow. I hope the Donald lets me back in:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-donald-trump-immigration-20160724-story,amp.html

I guess he'll have to limit immigration from California and Florida as well...

[Captain]

Hope Y'all have a ball.
I bet that is a cool place to see!

[BarryBobPosthole]

Have a meatball for me!

BKB

[Thumper]

Do you have a gas mask with you? Or have they toned down the smoking since I was there last?

Have a great time, I'll be there in a couple months.

[Chicken Dinner]

Smoking is more prevalent than it is in the US, but nothing like when I was last here in '97. Ive had folks lift up in an outdoor cafe, but not in an indoor restaurant.

[Thumper]

Smoking is more prevalent than it is in the US, but nothing like when I was last here in '97. Ive had folks lift up in an outdoor cafe, but not in an indoor restaurant.

What a coinky-dink! The last time I spent any time there (other than simply catching a connecting flight) was in 1998. I think 99.9% of the population smoked and there was NOWHERE to escape it. Buses, hotels, restaurants (inside & out), stores ... everyplace I went was like walking into a smoke chamber. It was even hard to get fresh air OUTSIDE! Unfortunately, it was so bad, that's my main memory of Paris and it outweighed the positives of my visit. Well, except for the two exchange students I met and partied with on the flight who invited me to stay at their flat while there ... but that's ANOTHER story! ;)

[Chicken Dinner]

Sitting in the airport bar in Zurich now waiting for our flight to Stockholm. Being the apprentice noticed I am, here are a few things I noticed.

1. There's some good looking women in Paris, but nothing like say, Rio where even the chubby and ugly girls don't step outside without maximizing what they've got. French women all seem to have perfected the "resting bitch face".

2. I rented a car (a little Ford Focus diesel) and drive from Paris to Normandy, Normandy to Chamonix and then to Zurich this morning for the flight. They have some really cool technology that I'm sure we'll see in the US soon like auto shut off when you idle. Pull up to a stoplight and the car shuts off. Take your foot off the brake and it starts right back up again. Roundabouts are everywhere. I actually really like them as you rarely ever stop. A stop light (outside of the city) can actually startle you they're so rare.

3. Gay French guys are very obvious and flamboyant. No need for an advanced "gaydar" at all.

4. Everybody should tour Normandy and the American cemetery. We hired a private guide and it was money well spent.

5. Hiked a glacier yesterday in Chamonix. After seeing where the glacier was 100 years ago and the speed in which its melted since about 1990, I may have to concede there is something to this global warming thingy.

More later...

[BarryBobPosthole]

Most of the islands in the Caribbean use 'roundies' as we call them instead of stoplights at intersections. It took me a while to get used to them but once I figured them out I think they move traffic much more effectively than stoplights. There is one in Kansas on one of the major routes betwen here and Kansas City. The only problem is we don't have very many at all and this one is stuck out in the middle of nowhere. So its more of a menace than anything else.

And cars that work like lp powered golf carts! Not a bad idea.

Normandy is on my bucket list.

Enjoy the rest of your vacation! Sounds like a good time!

BKB

[Cards01]

I drove a rental Malibu in NY that operated that way. The first time it shut off I thought what the ####, got a junker and here I am in NY stranded....

[Thumper]

Big trucks have had that feature for a while (my '98 Peterbilt had it) and it was a total PITA. If there was no APU on the truck, you'd go back into the sleeper to spend the night and the engine would automatically shut down after 5-mins. Nothing like being in 100+ degree heat in Phoenix and shut down for the night with no a/c! We all finally figured a way around it (various methods for different trucks) but it was a major PITA. Even dropping off a small, partial load was a PITA, climb back into the cab and it was a bazillion degrees inside. Or, of course, the opposite would happen in the winter. Shut down for the night in Canada on a cold January night with the heater on and the f'er would shut down!

On the cars, I've always wondered what kind of economic impact it had on maintenance. Surely that constant stopping/starting is hard on the engine (start-up is the worse thing for an engine) and how long before it wears your starter out? (15-bazillion starter cycles as opposed to the normal half-a-bazillion)

[Chicken Dinner]

Yes, but it saved the company money and a lot less exhaust went into the atmosphere. Who cares if the driver is uncomfortable...

[Thumper]

No problem, send him down the road in an 80,000 lb. truck with 1 hr. 27 mins. of comfortable sleep under his belt! ;)

[BarryBobPosthole]

Just give me weed, whites and wine, and show me a sign.....


BKB

[Thumper]

Just give me weed, whites and wine, and show me a sign.....BKB


And I'll be willin' to be movin'... ;)

[DeputyDog]

The center square in my town has a roundabout in the middle of it. There is a civil was monument in the center of the roundabout too. I learned to drive going around them so they are no big deal to me. They are starting to become more common though as they seem to move traffic quicker than a regular 4-way intersection and they do it without a signal.

[BarryBobPosthole]

i wonder what the accident rates are for both?

I wish we had more of them.

But then the fuzz wouldn't get to write as many tickets, eh?

BKB

[DeputyDog]

We have very few accidents on the circle as its called here. The big problem is the high number of "professional" drivers that can't go around it without dragging their trailer over it. It's had to have been redesigned several times because of the increased truck traffic bypassing the Indiana Toll Road and taking US 20 and the amount of damage they caused. We still get to write quite a few tickets because many of those same "professionals" don't know what a yield sign means.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Hahahaha....professionals.

You mean like working girls?

BKB

[DeputyDog]

They are quick to remind you that they are professional drivers. But for professionals a lot of them can't drive worth a shit.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Its from lack of sleep.

I heard that from a 'professional'.

And it mght be Obama's fault.

BKB

[Thumper]

I'd never seen one until I went to spy school up around Boston ('71). Once I got overseas, I found out how common they are worldwide. I don't mind them ... but not crazy about them, especially during heavy traffic. In truck driving school, part of our training was to go into downtown Tampa and hit a few traffic circles. A bit tough to do with a 27' long tractor dragging a 53' box. You put the steers on the outside curb and the tandems will be dragging the inside curb. If the circle is a bit too small, the tandems take out anything that can't get out of the way within the circle! To add to the excitement, there can be no other cars present or you'll drag your trailer right across the top of 'em and squish 'em like a bug! Not an easy task during rush hour!

We have some brilliant examples of government ineptitude right here in my little town. We have a couple of residential streets downtown (our "historical district") where they put a series of speed bumps in the streets to keep traffic slowed down. The uppity-ups in the area thought the speed bumps were "unsightly" and a general PITA. So, our brilliant City Commissioners decided to spend elebenty-bazillion dollars to remove the speed bumps and install "traffic calming circles". This is a residential area with fairly narrow streets anyway, so they put a big ol' "circle" in the middle of the block (we have 4 of them), landscape the heck out of them with trees and flowers, then widen the road a bit so it splits and goes around them. Mind you, these are in the middle of the blocks, NOT at the corner intersections like a "traffic circle". The residents loved them ... that is until they found out the hard way that firetrucks could not negotiate the damn things! Now if there's a fire, the trucks have to go 3 blocks out of the way (to avoid the same circles on the adjacent blocks) and approach from the opposite direction. Of course, before they do that, they have to know which side of the circle the emergency is on!

[Captain]

I'd never seen one until I went to spy school up around Boston ('71).

Why does that bring up the mental image of you talking to agent 99 on your shoe phone? :D


7435

[Thumper]

I would have LOVED to "talk" with Agent 99! ;)

[Chicken Dinner]

Security has been another interesting thing. I got a cursory glance and a stamp of my passport when I changed planes in Iceland. They asked me how long Id be in Europe, but my bags were transferred by the airline. Since then, I've been to 3 other countries and never needed it. When I drove into Switzerland, which isn't even in the EU, there wasn't so much as a speed bump to slow you down. At major tourist sights in France, there was sometimes a cursory bag inspection and bags were even x-rayed in a couple of places. But, it seemed very lax considering.

[Thumper]

I totally believe in profiling and you just don't have that terrorist look about you. ;)