Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 5]

[V8mate]

Frank7 said:

omniflow said:

Frank7 said:

Okay, I haven’t ALWAYS wanted to know this, but since my German resident son told me that he’s driving over for his mother’s, (my ex wife), birthday next week, I’m mildly intrigued.
He maintains that according to the U.K. government website, he won’t have to quarantine in U.K. after driving through Netherlands, IF he hasn’t made a transit stop.
Do the authorities just take people’s word for that, and wouldn’t his arrival at Hoek van Holland ferry port constitute a transit stop, (checking in etc)?

Lots of detail on this in the Holidays and Travel section. If he's coming by Ferry, then he SHOULD quarantine. If he comes via Eurotunnel and doesn't "mix with people" in NL, Belgium or France, then he's ok. Not sure what the level of checking is if you arrive by Ferry. Aachen to Calais is easily do-able in one go.

I think the logic is that you have to get out of your car before the Ferry departs, and at that point you're not in the UK. Using the tunnel, you don't get out of your car, and also you go through UK border control in France, and once through that you're nominally in the UK.

Thanks omniflow, makes sense I guess, he normally uses Le Shuttle, via the Eurotunnel, as it’s only around 50 minutes from my place in Rotherhithe, but as his mother lives in Norwich, I think that he’s toying with coming in to Harwich, and going to see her first.
It’s fair enough, it is her birthday.

Yep, a ferry counts as a 'transit point', as you leave your vehicle and mix with people who have had differing journeys to that point. The Shuttle seems to be the only way round that.

He'll have to give an address in the UK where he and his party will be spending the 14 days' quarantine. Given the problems in Norfolk, he can be pretty sure that the local authority will look him up during that period.

[Lily the Pink]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I thought the discussion was actually about which side of the petrol pump symbol had the hose and nozzle, in cases where there was no little arrow.

[BigBen]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Likewise, I misread the OP and assumed the topic was the side the hose and nozzle were on. That said not all cars have the arrow so my point stands.

[Frank7]

V8mate said:

Yep, a ferry counts as a 'transit point', as you leave your vehicle and mix with people who have had differing journeys to that point. The Shuttle seems to be the only way round that.

He'll have to give an address in the UK where he and his party will be spending the 14 days' quarantine. Given the problems in Norfolk, he can be pretty sure that the local authority will look him up during that period.

Before this gets too boring, my kid now tells me that Stena Line, (the ferry outfit), have told him that according to their systems, if he doesn’t get out of the car in Holland, he’s golden, no quarantine in U.K.
He quite rightly said to me, “How do I prove that?”
He says now that he’ll see what happens when he arrives in Harwich.

[V8mate]

Frank7 said:

V8mate said:

Yep, a ferry counts as a 'transit point', as you leave your vehicle and mix with people who have had differing journeys to that point. The Shuttle seems to be the only way round that.

He'll have to give an address in the UK where he and his party will be spending the 14 days' quarantine. Given the problems in Norfolk, he can be pretty sure that the local authority will look him up during that period.

Before this gets too boring, my kid now tells me that Stena Line, (the ferry outfit), have told him that according to their systems, if he doesn’t get out of the car in Holland, he’s golden, no quarantine in U.K.
He quite rightly said to me, “How do I prove that?”
He says now that he’ll see what happens when he arrives in Harwich.

Well, I found the government guidance on the matter clear, but decided to double-check with Stena during the week. For some reason, they even answered me twice!

[Frank7]

V8mate said:

Well, I found the government guidance on the matter clear, but decided to double-check with Stena during the week. For some reason, they even answered me twice!

Thanks for that, seems pretty clear, as you said.
I copied and pasted it and sent it to my kid in a WhatsApp, he said that it doesn’t look good for dodging quarantining, but he’ll turn up at Hoek van Holland and see what happens.
He added that if he’s told that he and his wife will definitely have to quarantine in U.K., he’ll swallow what he paid for the ferry fare, and head home to Germany.
If you think that that makes him seem impetuous, he gets that from me, however if it seems bloody minded, he gets that from his mother, God Bless her!

[jonwm]

OK, here's one that I've wandered about since a kid.

Why when the front windows are down on a car its perfectly fine yet when the rear windows are put down with the front up it sounds like its going like a ....well i dont know what it sounds like but really buffety?

My kids asked me yesterday after i told them to shut it due to the noise and i didn't know and made me think of this thread and my 40 years of not knowing!

[StevieBee]

jonwm said:

OK, here's one that I've wandered about since a kid.

Why when the front windows are down on a car its perfectly fine yet when the rear windows are put down with the front up it sounds like its going like a ....well i dont know what it sounds like but really buffety?

My kids asked me yesterday after i told them to shut it due to the noise and i didn't know and made me think of this thread and my 40 years of not knowing!

As the air moves around the car, it creates vortices. When the windows are opened, some of the air in these vortices enter inside the car, slow down slightly before spinning out again. It's the rapid changes in pressure between air going in and air coming out that you can hear.

[glazbagun]

Slang question for oldies- when Public Enemy talk about a Bum Rush in their 80's stuff, what do they mean?

Running backwards? Bad curry? An army of deadbeats?

[MartG]

glazbagun said:

Slang question for oldies- when Public Enemy talk about a Bum Rush in their 80's stuff, what do they mean?

Running backwards? Bad curry? An army of deadbeats?

The 'bums rush' referred to pushing all the drunken bums out of a pub at closing time

[popeyewhite]

glazbagun said:

Slang question for oldies- when Public Enemy talk about a Bum Rush in their 80's stuff, what do they mean?

Running backwards? Bad curry? An army of deadbeats?

Google:
to attack or seize with an overpowering rush
defines it similarly: “to attack or seize with an overpowering rush,” as in “bum-rush the stage.” M-W dates the expression from 1987, though it doesn't give the origin. However, 1987 was the year the hip-hop group Public Enemy released its first album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show.16 May 2012

[Calitri]

If all sports cars on the road/track have low profile tyres for aesthetics and performance related reasons.....why do F1 cars have such large profile tyres?

Is it just for regulation compliance, or to compensate for minimal suspension components, who knows....not me!?

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Calitri said:

If all sports cars on the road/track have low profile tyres for aesthetics and performance related reasons.....why do F1 cars have such large profile tyres?

Is it just for regulation compliance, or to compensate for minimal suspension components, who knows....not me!?

Partly historical. But also because a lot of the F1 car's suspension is in the tyres, although of course that's cause and effect. There's no reason that couldn't be recalibrated so that the springs & dampers do more of the work.

Other formulae such as Formula-E use lower profile tyres and personally I think they look awful. But I think it is inevitable that F1 is going to get da blinged up alloyz at some stage sadly.

[Halmyre]

popeyewhite said:

glazbagun said:

Slang question for oldies- when Public Enemy talk about a Bum Rush in their 80's stuff, what do they mean?

Running backwards? Bad curry? An army of deadbeats?

Google:
to attack or seize with an overpowering rush
defines it similarly: “to attack or seize with an overpowering rush,” as in “bum-rush the stage.” M-W dates the expression from 1987, though it doesn't give the origin. However, 1987 was the year the hip-hop group Public Enemy released its first album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show.16 May 2012

I've got a book by Billy Connolly (Gullibles Travels), dating from 1983. In it he talks about cocaine suppositories, asking if, when it melts, do you get "the bum's rush"? Not the origin of the phrase but BC is definitely referencing it.

[Europa1]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Calitri said:

If all sports cars on the road/track have low profile tyres for aesthetics and performance related reasons.....why do F1 cars have such large profile tyres?

Is it just for regulation compliance, or to compensate for minimal suspension components, who knows....not me!?

Partly historical. But also because a lot of the F1 car's suspension is in the tyres, although of course that's cause and effect. There's no reason that couldn't be recalibrated so that the springs & dampers do more of the work.

Other formulae such as Formula-E use lower profile tyres and personally I think they look awful. But I think it is inevitable that F1 is going to get da blinged up alloyz at some stage sadly.

I think next year F1 is switching to road car sized rims and low profile rubber, as F2 has this season. The F2 cars do look weird, but you get used to it.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Europa1 said:

I think next year F1 is switching to road car sized rims and low profile rubber, as F2 has this season. The F2 cars do look weird, but you get used to it.

Oh, I'm sure we will. I barely notice the halo device now, for example.

I really will miss the fat rubber though.

[glazbagun]

Theres something about fat rubber, like on dragsters, that looks great on exposed wheels.

[Frank7]

MartG said:

glazbagun said:

Slang question for oldies- when Public Enemy talk about a Bum Rush in their 80's stuff, what do they mean?

Running backwards? Bad curry? An army of deadbeats?

The 'bums rush' referred to pushing all the drunken bums out of a pub at closing time

If you drunkenly weaved your way to the bar, and slurred your words when asking for a drink, then the barman either ordered, or escorted you out, you’ve had the bum’s rush.

[popeyewhite]

Halmyre said:

I've got a book by Billy Connolly (Gullibles Travels), dating from 1983. In it he talks about cocaine suppositories, asking if, when it melts, do you get "the bum's rush"? Not the origin of the phrase but BC is definitely referencing it.

I've always wondered what the point was of cocaine suppositories. or the blowing the straw thing. I mean surely everything will just go as numb as your mouth/throat and you'll lose feeling rather than have a mind bending sexual high.

[coppernorks]

I thought bum's rush was the cartoonish image of being grabbed by the scruff of the neck and the waistband
of the trousers and unceremoniously ushered out of an establishment for;

1. Not paying the bill.
2. Touching up the waitress.
3. Being Norman Wisdom.