Despatch Magazine
You can read the latest issue of Despatch here. Despatch is the official DSA magazine for road safety professionals.
In this edition they discuss the 75th anniversary of the driving test, independent driving, the ADI code of practice, CPD, observer on test etiquette, and driver CPC.
The brief article about being an observer on test makes interesting reading. This is bound to fuel some debate in certain quarters.
I haven’t said anything about England in the World Cup for the simple reason that I was certain they wouldn’t get anywhere. To be honest, I’m surprised they even got through the qualifying stages after the showing in their first two matches.
You have to face facts: if you play like England did in the first two – and very important – matches, then add a marginally better third, you have effectively demonstrated your ability in toto. But now the recriminations have started.
England was let down by the players, and only the players. Not the manager, who is one of the best in the world. We have a dilemma, though.
The press has decided that Fabio is to blame (largely because he is a foreigner – they disliked him from the start for that reason, made worse by the fact that he couldn’t speak English). This means that the public will, on the whole, agree (the public is too stupid to have a mind of its own, and has to have one implanted by the media). So on that count, Fabio Capello is history.
Fabio is a hardliner. He stopped the orange hags – sorry, WAGs – going out to steal the limelight. Originally seen as a good decision, it is being questioned now as a bad one (after the Algeria match, pundits on BBC radio were arguing that the WAGs would have taken the focus – and pressure – off the players).
Fabio still cannot speak English fluently, and still has an interpreter handy. The press has repeatedly picked up on that – mainly because they can’t speak English fluently either – for entirelydifferent reasons, though – and so find it hard to understand what he is saying. This was especially evident in the post match interview yesterday, where they were asking him if he would resign.
Britain is inherently racist in spite of being multicultural. The media pundits have been demanding a Harry Redknapp or other good ol’ Brit to take the helm. The press and media forced Sven out – and he was easily the best England manager of all time. Now they’re trying it with Fabio.
If Fabio resigns, he will be getting himself out of a sorry non-football mess that he will probably never be able to resolve, and which will give him ulcers! But in all honesty, the England football team needs him. He is the best – the players just aren’t.
I read on the Rush website that they are getting a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame!
BILLY CORGAN TO SPEAK AT RUSH WALK OF FAME CEREMONY JUNE 25 IN LA
Billy Corgan, vocalist, lead guitarist and songwriter for The Smashing Pumpkins, will pay tribute to the band as they accept their Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Billy joins Donna Halper, former radio personality at WMMS Cleveland where Rush received their first radio airplay with Working Man participate as well.
The ceremony will take place in front of the Musician’s Institute at 6752 Hollywood Boulevard at 11:30 AM in Los Angeles this Friday, June 25th.
Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood is going to have special screenings of ‘Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage’ at their theatre this Friday in honor of Rush getting their Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame just blocks away. They’re giving special screenings at 2pm, 5pm and 8pm in their biggest auditorium.
Rush In Hollywood
Well, it may have taken nearly 40 years, but at least they are getting the recognition they deserve.
You can read more here, and here , and here, and here. And many other places online. There’s also a video on some of those sites.
The first of those stories confirms that the new album, Clockwork Angels, is due for release next year. My prediction is that that will coincide with the announcement of a World Tour. Note that there is also a new CD single (Caravan/BU2B) which is on release ahead of the album.
Remember – that comment about the World Tour is just a prediction, not a fact!
This story – and other posts relating to Rush – is still getting a lot of hits from people asking “will Rush tour the UK?” or “are rush touring the UK?”.
Well done DL, for passing today with 1 driver fault at Colwick Test Centre.
There are two ways of looking at this:
Obviously, I used the first option to begin with, then ribbed him mercilessly all the way home with the second.
The fault was for not noticing a traffic light had gone to green quickly enough. Plea in mitigation that the sun was in your eyes isn’t going to make me feel any better 
Seriously, though: well done!
Every now and then I get a craving for some Chinese-style ribs. Here’s a recipe for a suitable barbecue sauce when you’re making them.
| 2 tbsp | Olive Oil |
| 2 | Onions |
| 4 | Garlic Cloves |
| 2 | Chillies |
| 2 tsp | Fennel Seeds |
| 4 tbsp | Brown Sugar |
| 1 tbsp | Five-spice powder |
| 100g | Soy Sauce |
| 400g | Tomato Ketchup |
| To taste | Black Pepper |
| 400g tin | Chopped Tomatoes |
Put the oil in a large pan, add the onions (finely chopped), and fry gently until just beginning to colour at the edges. Add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time. Then add the chillies (chopped), Fennel seeds, sugar, Five-spice, soy sauce, and ketchup. Stir until everything comes together, then add the chopped tomatoes. Season to taste with black pepper. Simmer gently for about an hour, stirring regularly to make sure it doesn’t catch, then take off the heat. Once cool, it will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for quite a while.
When cooking ribs, although you can use proper ribs if you want to, it is far better to use belly pork. Make sure you cook the belly pork (or ribs) before you start coating them with the sauce, otherwise it will burn and taste bitter.
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 or 5. Rub the belly pork with a little Olive Oil, then season well with salt – especially the rind to make it go crispy. Ideally, place it on a rack in a roasting tray and cook for about 30-60 minutes, then turn over and cook for a further 30 minutes.
Coat the pork ribs with the sauce on one side and cook for another 30 minutes, then flip them over and repeat for the other side.
Obviously, timings are approximate and will be hugely different if you try this on a barbecue.
I may have had a pupil fail today, which is always a downer, but well done to AK who passed with 8 driver faults yesterday, at Chalfont Drive.
That 17 mile journey to work will be a lot easier now!
I was driving back after dropping off a pupil (who’d just failed her test, so I wasn’t in the best of humour). I stopped at a set of traffic lights at the junction of Bentinck Road and Radford Road in Hyson Green, going straight ahead. Opposite me was a silver Mercedes driven by what appeared to be someone from a geriatric ward ( reg. no. S573 BVO ). To be honest, I don’t think he was indicating, but he was in the right turn lane.
Now, I just knew he was going to do it – his fossilised brain was unable to comprehend the change of circumstances separating “learner car” from “learner car driven by instructor” – but as the lights changed and we both moved off, he cut the corner by as far as it was possible to cut it (virtually hitting cars waiting up his road) just so he could go ahead of me. He had no right of way by any stretch of the imagination.
A new Rush DVD is due for release – it’s a documentary about Rush, from their beginnings all the way to the present day. Mine’s on pre-order from Amazon. Here’s the official trailer for it:
It apparently has a lot of unseen material, so definitely one for the fans and collectors.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a World Tour next year, once they release the new album “Clockwork Angels”.
I saw this report on the BBC today. Southwark is trialling a countdown timer system near the tube station, and a total of eight busy crossings across London will also be involved in the trial.
Crossing Timer In Southwark
Half of me thinks it is a good idea. According to the BBC report, Transport for London (TfL) found that half of pedestrians crossed even after the red man appeared. I’m not surprised – it’s the same here in Nottingham (only yesterday I was with a pupil on a lesson, and at the top of Huntingdon Street two Neanderthals and a Neanderthaless – with a very small child – waited at a crossing, and after the red man came on and the lights had gone to amber they just walked across in front of us (the one holding the kid’s hand had his face buried in a mobile phone – probably trying to work out what it was)).
But the other half of me thinks it will have little effect. A bit like those “YOUR SPEED” displays, I suspect that initially people might take heed, but if the timers become prevalent then people will just ignore them the same as they do for the red man.
It would make far more sense (and make far more money) if people were pulled up for jaywalking! You can’t just keep widening the goalposts to cater for the growing stupidity of the general public.
Someone found the site through the search term “unlikely to pass driving test without adi”. I’m not sure what exactly they had in mind, but it’s worth a few words.
Yes. Obviously, in the vast majority of cases this would be extremely unwise. You need to be able to drive reasonably well to pass the test.
No. Anyone can teach you – but they have to be teaching you the right things in order for you to pass the test and be safe on the roads afterwards.
The DSA says:
It is illegal for a person to provide driving instruction for a fee if they are not suitably qualified and registered with the DSA.
Remember that this applies to private practice as well. If you are being supervised by a qualified driver then they are providing driving instruction – and that applies equally to nipping to Tescos with you driving as much as it does to going out specifically to practice.
Yes. It just needs to be up to standard (head restraint for examiner, fully roadworthy, etc.) and insured properly. You have to make sure you have a separate rear view mirror for the examiner and L plates fitted – though in many cases the examiner will provide these if you don’t (I’ve seen jokers turning up with handmade L plates having to put ones on the examiner has produced so the test can go ahead).
In the past I have had pupils who have been taught by their parents (or friends), and those parents have done a bloody good job. The reason they then decide to hand over to professional tuition is because they don’t know enough to complete the job to the required level (and that’s just because they aren’t as up to date with everything as ADIs are).
I get far more people who have been taught by parents or friends who are absolutely awful, though. You can’t teach someone to be a better driver than you are, and most people are just not good enough to pass the test themselves these days, so they’re hardly gojng to be passing on best practices to those they are trying to help.
That’s not meant to be insulting: it’s just honest. Most people wouldn’t pass the test if they took it tomorrow, so they aren’t going to be able to teach someone else to drive or pass the test.
However, part of the problem here is that although most people wouldn’t pass the test if they took it again, most of those firmly believe they would.
I like to take one of the parents out with me at some point so I can show them what to look for when they are supervising the pupil. A bad habit can be formed in an instant, but it can take many months to get rid of, so it makes sense that the pupil doesn’t get mixed messages.