Diary Of An ADI - A Driving Instructor's Blog

Norman Wisdom Dies Aged 95

05/10/2010

This is a bit of bad news – comic Norman Wisdom has died at the age of 95 after a series of strokes.

Norman Wisdom

This is one of those times when phrases like “comic genius” and “legend” cease to have any real meaning. Wisdom really was a comic genius and he will easily take on legendary status now he’s gone.

I remember watching his films during the summer holidays, and I never miss a chance to watch them now. He still cracks me up whenever I see him.

His style was slapstick, but never crude or vulgar. His most famous character was Pitkin, the downtrodden nobody who was always at odds with the establishment. Along with his accidental trip (which he apparently did in front of the Queen when he was awarded his Knighthood), he made millions laugh from the 60s onwards.

He was a national superstar in Albania, of all places, and he is being mourned over there. Albania showed his films at a time when all other western movies were banned.

As an update to this story, I saw an advertisement in today’s press for a boxed set of his films. Mine’s on order.

Farm Shops

05/10/2010

DOAADI

Food

I’ve written before about farm shops, and how you can get some good stuff from them.

I often use Red Down farm shop in Highworth, Wiltshire for my eggs, although I must admit to having had a couple of dodgy experiences recently – once with about 50% of the three dozen eggs I’d bought being bad (green and smelly), and then with two dozen eggs being several weeks away from freshness (they ran across the entire pan when you cracked them, then I found a bad one after I’d had them a week or two).

You do expect “fresh” eggs to have been laid… well, if not that morning, perhaps a day or two before.

I have a new pupil at the moment who lives out at Bleasby. I noticed there was a farm shop – Gonalston farm shop – on the A612 on the way out there. They used the right bait to snag me: a chalked sign on the road saying “2kg beef rump £20”. So once when I had time, I went in.

It’s quite a big place, and the staff are extremely helpful. The meat counter is a full-on butchers. I bought some of the meat they’d advertised and a couple of dozen eggs. The meat was local, and as tender as anything when cooked. The eggs were obviously very fresh, sitting pertly in the pan when cracked.

Highly recommended.

Independent Driving: Day 1

04/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI, DSA

So, the big day came. Then went. Was it a problem in the end?

I had a pupil on test today and the silly sod failed for not checking his mirrors when changing lanes (and he said he knew he’d done it). Otherwise he’d just got 4 driver faults. The examiner told him at the end that his independent driving was fine.

While I was in the test centre waiting (I don’t see any point scurrying along like a trained poodle just because of independent driving), I asked one of the examiners how it had gone. He said there had been no problems and people seemed to be driving better – I just wish he hadn’t added that “everyone was passing”, or that I hadn’t taken that as literally as I did, given the result 15 minutes later for my pupil!

He said he regretted the loss of a manoeuvre (ditto that), but he couldn’t see that it would have much effect on KSIs.

It’s a huge storm over nothing. If pupils are taught properly they can drive independently – or independently enough to pass the driving test. Simple as that.

And even if KSIs don’t fall by hundreds of percent, it doesn’t mean it isn’t a valuable part of the test.

Classic Lessons In A Moggy

04/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI

Another reader-supplied link to another Autoblog story.

An ADI in Taunton is giving lessons in a Morris Minor – or Moggy. The only part I disagree with in the story is that they say the car is “30 years old”.

It is an “H” reg – and that was issued in 1969/70. So the car is actually 40 years old!

You still see quite a few of these around, and they fetch decent prices. They’re beautiful cars – I can remember when a neighbour has one with a split windscreen and (I think) little flip out arms as direction indicators.

Mind you, although it is a great gimmick, I can’t see how learning to drive in a car like this is preparing young drivers for their life on the road – especially when the first car they get is likely to be at least a 1.4 Corsa.

Official: First Time Test Pass Means Safer Drivers

04/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI

A reader sent me a link to this article in Autoblog.

…first time passers that are the lucky recipients of the title of ‘safest drivers in the world ever’, but this report seems to have official government backing.

A study by TRL, formerly the Transport Research Laboratory, claims that drivers that passed first time were “15 percent less likely to be involved in a collision”.

Autoblog appears to be sceptical of this research (it points out that it was commissioned by the Department for Transport). The story continues:

“First time passers were on average more confident about their driving abilities,” the research noted.
“They also reported making fewer inexperience errors, but more violations and more aggressive violations when driving.”

A separate report by TRL revealed learner drivers who had had lots of practice driving in town centres and in the rain had more chance of avoiding an accident in the six months after passing their test.

Whenever anything like this appears it always seems to start up some sort of war. If it isn’t the people who commissioned the report it’s one of the researchers, or some equally silly quarrel. Everyone else always seems to know best.

My opinion is that it is just proving the obvious. I mean, it must be pretty clear that people who can confidently go to test and pass it are, by definition and on average, more confident drivers with a better understanding of how to apply their skills. Better, for example, than the white knuckle drivers who eventually scraped through their tests after cracking under the pressure on the first few, and who hate driving and always will.

I suppose it is also obvious that some people who pass first time are likely to be proud of that fact and – again, on average – see themselves as superior. It is understandable that they tend to drive accordingly.

It is also blindingly obvious that experience in some topic lends skills that those who haven’t had the experience will lack. Notably, driving in bad weather and in towns.

The overwhelming problem with the survey (or is it the reporting of the survey? I don’t know for sure) is that it is a gross oversimplification of the real situation. Driving skills and attitude may well mix to form a lethal cocktail, but they are completely separate entities. You need to be an arrogant little sod in the first place to drive arrogantly once you pass your test, and passing your test doesn’t specifically make you any more or less arrogant.

It just gives you another way with which to express your arrogance.

And one more thing: the research isn’t suggesting that those who don’t pass first time shouldn’t be on the roads. OK, some shouldn’t – but some first-time passers shouldn’t be, either. It is simply pointing out how innate ability as a driver is reflected generally in test success data.

Parents

04/10/2010

DOAADI

Computers & Tech

I am installing a second Sky box in my dad’s house – the cable and LNB are already there from a previous multi-room installation, I just need to route the existing cable from downstairs to upstairs.

The Existing Sky Cable

Here is a schematic of my dad’s house.

The red line shows the location of the existing Sky cable going neatly down the side of the house and into the front room through a hole in the wall.

The cable is neatly pinned to the wall using suitable cable clips, parallel with other neatly pinned cables for the Virgin Media facilities and a standard roof-mounted TV aerial. Overall, it is a pretty tidy job all round.

Anyway, I explained to him that all he had to do was drill a hole in the same horizontal position on the house – but into the upstairs bedroom just above the skirting board. We could then unclip the existing cable as far as needed up the wall, thread it through the hole, and then I would route it neatly along the skirting board inside the house to the planned location of the second Sky box in that room.

The Proposed Cable Routing Plan

This schematic on the right shows the simplicity of the planned cable routing operation. Red line = cable outside the house, yellow line = cable inside the house.

Now, at this stage of the story I should also explain that the wall above the door and ground floor windows of my dad’s house is pebbledashed – small white and terracotta/red stones embedded in mortar. You’ll see the relevance of this in a moment.

I saw my dad this morning and he was getting ready to drill the hole. I went off to work, and when I went back around 4.30pm I saw that he had finished the job. As I went in he said “we might need a junction box because the cable isn’t long enough”. I wasn’t sure what he meant, because I knew that there would be enough cable to reach the location of the Sky box.

The Finished Job!

This third schematic shows what he had done. He had decided to drill the hole close to the place where the Sky box is located. This meant that outside the house there was a sagging arc of cable from the point on the house where it was properly routed and pinned into the hole he had drilled the other side of the upstairs window.

It looks a bloody mess! I told him he may as well get a few old cars to dump in the front garden and buy a Staffordshire Terrier.

One thing that just doesn’t work is a solid, geometric shape or line cutting across the random surface of a pebbledashed cladding. It sticks out like a sore thumb, whether you’ve pinned it or not. And to make matters worse, where I said to drill the hole just above the skirting, he misjudged it and went straight through the bloody skirting.

Anyway, cutting a long story short – and without detailing the argument which ensued – he is going to do it the way I told him to tomorrow.

Are You Ready?

03/10/2010

DOAADI

DSA

An email alert from the DSA ahead of Independent Driving, which starts tomorrow:

‘Are you ready? A guide for learners’ updated on YouTube

DSA has updated its ‘Are you ready? A guide for learners’ playlist on YouTube.

The playlist is the official step-by-step explanation of the driving test. It’s been updated to include information about independent driving. It also confirms that car test candidates will only have to complete one reversing manoeuvre.

If you’re a website owner, please feel free to put any of DSA’s YouTube videos on your site. You’re also free to put them on forums, blogs or social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Watch the updated playlist on YouTube

EDIT 2/11/2011: Please note the updated/shorter video just posted by the DSA.

DSA Website Address Change

02/10/2010

DOAADI

DSA

This is an OLD story.

An email alert from the DSA:

DSA’s corporate website address has changed

DSA’s corporate website address – dsa.gov.uk – has changed to dft.gov.uk/dsa.

From now on, if you try to visit the old address you’ll be taken directly to the new one.

The content on the website hasn’t changed, but it looks slightly different as it’s now using the Department for Transport’s green colour scheme.

If your website mentions the dsa.gov.uk address, please update it to dft.gov.uk/dsa.

Reducing government websites

The change is part of the programme to reduce the number of government websites. Most of DSA’s information has already moved to Directgov and Business Link.

From now on, the ways to access DSA’s information and services are:

Directgov – direct.gov.uk/drivingtest – for information about learning to drive and ride, and to book and manage theory and practical driving tests

Business Link – businesslink.gov.uk/transport – for driver trainers, bus, coach, lorry and taxi drivers

Department for Transport – dft.gov.uk/dsa – for corporate information such as our business plan and press releases

Linking to DSA’s information

DSA has published some guidance to help you update links on your website.

read the ‘linking to our information on Directgov’ guide

read the ‘linking to our information on Business Link’ guide

BSM On The Rocks?

29/09/2010

DOAADI

ADI

I’m hearing a lot of rumours at the moment that BSM is close to going under.

If anyone knows more on this, please drop me a line via the Contact Form.

EDIT 1/10/2010: A reader has commented that whilst at the test centre recently, there is a BSM instructor who is also working as a taxi driver who has admitted to being desperate for work (that’s worth mentioning, because BSM used to supply a lot of work generally). Still no official information, though.

Anyone reading this please note: I’m just trying to find out what is going on so I can report on it. I don’t want BSM to fold – in any case, someone would buy them up quickly (you don’t lose a name like BSM just like that). If they are on the rocks, maybe getting it over and done with and into new hands is the best way forward?

Microsoft And WordPress

28/09/2010

DOAADI

Computers & Tech

I saw this story today in PC Mag. Microsoft is ditching Live Spaces and moving to WordPress as its default platform for Windows Live.

Strangely, the Guardian version of the story seems to suggest Microsoft is giving up on blogging altogether and paints a rather more negative picture.

Even more strangely, this post on ConceivablyTech on the same story seems to suggest that Microsoft is about to take over the company that owns WordPress. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I use WordPress to run this blog, and I host it completely independently on my own web space. However, you can get a free hosted WordPress blog quite easily. In fact, I’ve had quite a few people say that they wish they could set up a blog as well. I try to explain how simple it all is – even the way I’ve done it – but they never seem convinced.

Creating a free blog is as simple as signing up and starting to write!

It doesn’t even have to be with WordPress. There’s blogger, blog.co.uk, and dozens of others. However, I’ve tried several in the past and quite honestly WordPress is the best by a million miles! It’s best if you self-host.

One thing I do notice when I am reading peoples blogs is how fast – or rather, how slow – they are, and what they look like. You get some nasty orange ones and they load really slowly. Navigation is also a bit flaky – at least with WordPress you have thousands of themes to choose from with different navigation schemes attached.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this Microsoft/Wordpress alliance develops – and to see who is right about what is actually happening.