by Paul » 19 Mar 2023 10:26
1400km with a break for a cup of tea in the middle (now that is very British )
Not really, mate, I have Barry's tea bags in the larder and an unopened jar of coffee, should anyone prefer that to a real brew. Add a toasted ham sandwich or curried chicken pie- and a re-sup of all-important iced coffee- and that's the standard pitstop for a drive to Adelaide (and repeated on the way back). One thing that impressed me about driving around the UK were the tea vans on the motorways. A nice cuppa and something to eat (usually a pastie or sandwich) for two and only a couple of quid.
I was rather less impressed driving on Welsh B roads, though. Near Llandyrnog I crested a hill to find a semi coming the other way. I really like Welsh farm gates- nice and roomy.
If "The System" is the answer, who asked such a bloody stupid question?
Spanner wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 11:40 pm
I was rather less impressed driving on Welsh B roads, though. Near Llandyrnog I crested a hill to find a semi coming the other way. I really like Welsh farm gates- nice and roomy.
You get used to driving in the "celtic fringe" of the UK.
In rural Scotland lots of locals drive in the centre of the road when there's no one coming the other way*. Mainly because there's so many beasties that like to jump out and try to kill themselves and you. I think parts of Oz are much the same with suicidal wildlife?
*..and sometimes when there is!
We have the occasional suicidal 'roo, wombat, rabbit or fox on the roads, so driving down the centre is not unknown here, either. Not that it works with a truly suicidal animal....
I didn't mind the Welsh roads most of the time, though those bloody hedges don't leave much scenery to see. Last trip I stuck to trains. It's much easier to admire the passing country, or have a kip, if you're not driving.
If "The System" is the answer, who asked such a bloody stupid question?
Spanner wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 12:16 am
I didn't mind the Welsh roads most of the time, though those bloody hedges don't leave much scenery to see.
I've mentioned it before, but the constant American complaints about being 'unprepared for the Bocage Country' seem more than a little weak when you see where they trained for the months and years leading up to D-Day...
FreddBloggs
I would love to find similar quality on the American side.
Good luck with that. Carlo D'Este is still the best of them, I think, but even he delves into Monty bashing (not necessarily a bad thing) and overlooks some of the less glorious US episodes.
Based on the little that I've read, Jonathon Gawne is quite good. He used to appear on TMP (JGawne) but seems to have been driven away by Bills BS... https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jonathan- ... abled=trueSpearheading D-Day gets very good reviews.
Two other American authors that I find balanced are Charles MacDonald, who not only was one of the US Army's Official historians, but fought in the Bulge as a company commander (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._MacDonald), and Peter Mansoor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mansoor), whose The GI Offensive in Europe gives a lot of insight into the less glamourous fighting done - it wasn't all Patton and Airborne! Both are former US officers.
Last edited by Etranger on Sun Mar 19, 2023 2:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Spanner wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 11:40 pm
I was rather less impressed driving on Welsh B roads, though. Near Llandyrnog I crested a hill to find a semi coming the other way. I really like Welsh farm gates- nice and roomy.
You get used to driving in the "celtic fringe" of the UK.
In rural Scotland lots of locals drive in the centre of the road when there's no one coming the other way*. Mainly because there's so many beasties that like to jump out and try to kill themselves and you. I think parts of Oz are much the same with suicidal wildlife?
*..and sometimes when there is!
You can have much the same experience driving in Tasmania, dodging the logging jinkers on what passes for main roads can be quite 'exhilarating', especially coming over a crest to find one such 80 tonne load coming straight for you on the wrong side of the road.
The problem with the Australian wildlife kamikazes is that a lot of them are quite large and lethal. Apart from Deer, most UK wildlife is smallish, unlike buffalo or kangaroos, who will end up coming through the windscreen.
FreddBloggs
I would love to find similar quality on the American side.
Good luck with that. Carlo D'Este is still the best of them, I think, but even he delves into Monty bashing (not necessarily a bad thing) and overlooks some of the less glorious US episodes.
Most of the others I read have been the same sort that you'd probably know- basic pop histories supporting mythology, such as how the US gave the Japanese their first defeats on Guadalcanal and at Milne Bay (there was a US airfield construction battalion there, therefore it was an American victory). There was a good book on the Ardennes that looked at the 106 US Division in particular (just found it on the netThe Golden Lions: The battle of the Bulge), but also the factors that led to the Bulge.
Mind you, our "military history" seems to be going the same way, so I shouldn't point fingers.
Best book on Americans in the war is Nordykes, All American, All the Way.
a complete telling of 82nd Airbornes war.
Fascinating and factual with very little jingo'ism, if slightly tunnel visioned, but that is from the Divisions point of view of the time rather than the wider picture.
Etranger wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 2:37 am
You can have much the same experience driving in Tasmania, dodging the logging jinkers on what passes for main roads can be quite 'exhilarating', especially coming over a crest to find one such 80 tonne load coming straight for you on the wrong side of the road.
The problem with the Australian wildlife kamikazes is that a lot of them are quite large and lethal. Apart from Deer, most UK wildlife is smallish, unlike buffalo or kangaroos, who will end up coming through the windscreen.
)
