BETTY GOES ON....

BETTY

Here is Betty at 18 years young with 149,000 miles on the clock. She has just flown through the NCT (MOT) without any bother whatsoever, in fact she has never failed her road worthiness test in all the years we’ve had her.

Our Betty, named after an old aunt of mine who was a nonagenarian, is a 1998 Toyota Starlet 1330 cc and as lively now as she has always been.

Her driver now is Lady H who passed her driving test last year which is why we have a N plates front and back of the car. They will remain there for two years and indicate that the vehicle is being driven by a newly qualified driver.

Other road users and drivers of more modern cars are often surprised by her acceleration when we over take them, not that we make a habit of driving fast but the power is there when needed. We often have people stopping at the house, especially young men, wanting to know if we will sell her. Our answer is always “No” as Betty is far too useful to us.

When the back seats are folded down she becomes a mobile kennel for Toby our dog who often travels with us. He is carefully attached and restrained by the rear safety belts to prevent any injury to him, or to us, during an emergency stop.  He considers himself to be a rear seat guard dog barking at the cars behind when they get too close to us.

On sunny but windy days Betty becomes a reading room for Lady H who is always accompanied by her faithful Toby. 

Armed with a mug of tea and a book she has been known to spend an afternoon immersed in a good story surrounded by sunshine and birdsong.

Well now that Betty has clean bill of health we can look forward to sunny days and more adventures for me to tell you about.

Ludicrous !

New Speed Limit Sign for Minor Local Roads
A Speed Limit is the maximum legal speed, but not necessarily the safe speed at which a vehicle should be driven. It is the responsibility of a driver to obey a Speed Limit and to ensure that the vehicle speed is appropriate for the prevailing circumstances, even if that speed is lower than the Speed Limit applying.
Ireland’s road network is extensive and inconsistent, which means that a ‘one size fits all’ solution for Speed Limits for the 99,100km of road network is not possible. Additionally, Local Authorities (in conjunction with the National Roads Authority in respect of National Roads) are able to amend and set Speed Limits as appropriate and in accordance with Guidelines on Special Speed Limits for different sections of the road network as required.

Arising from the recent Speed Limit Review the Working Group recommended the introduction of a new ‘Rural Speed Limit’ sign for Local Roads, a generic sign that does not display a numeral value, to replace the 80 km/h signs on minor local roads (boreens). This new sign is a ‘black circle with diagonal which is in use internationally under the Vienna signage convention and which was used in Ireland prior to 2004. The new sign means that drivers must use their own judgement but must never exceed 80km/h in any case.

In my opinion the decision to introduce this sign was a dereliction of duty by The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar TD, who launched the new sign on 19 March 2015.

It is in itself a misdemeanour, especially when one considers that most towns have an inner speed limit of 30km/h. 

This could easily have been made common for all local roads which in a lot of instances are very narrow with blind bends and are frequented by pedestrians and farmers moving animals.

The speed limits on the edges of some towns are bad enough already, when on leaving a town's outskirts with a 50km/H limit and on approaching a  roundabout the speed limit goes up to 60km/h! 

If common sense were applied it would stay the same or even go down.

Once again we shall be made a laughing stock by the rest of the world for the lack of professional comprehension by our political leaders!

Hot and Cold

I am not really a gadget person, though from time to time I do get a hankering

for an item which I see as useful. 

Quite a few years ago a friend treated herself to a new car a Yaris and I was quite

taken with the thingy that gave the outside temperature - brilliant I want one

So when browsing in Lidl the other day I saw a gadget which would show not only 

the outside temp but also the interior temp too and being in a reckless mood 

I bought it and installed it yesterday.

So here it is >

Fortunately there was an available short blind shelf just beneath the radio

into which I placed the gadget. Note the temps 21.1C interior and 12.6C

outside at 8.1pm last night.

I fed the long cable around the dash on the passenger side hiding 99% of it

out of sight and free from being interfered with by rambling fingers or wayward feet.

Following the advice of a friend I have relocated the sensor to a void within the inside of the wing as it gives a more accurate reading and is not effected by the heat from the sun.