OTish: Paging the DrivingAboutInEuropeisti

Precisely. Although services are more frequent they're cheap as are
general repairs.

I don't pay for labour costs. I re-shimmed the cams for £50, oil and
filter come in at £18 (this is done every 3000 miles which is a lot more
than modern cars).

A set of Vredstein tyres cost £500, Rebuilt front suspension - front
springs, shocks and roll bar rubbers was £140.

So there is some slither of economic rationale as maintenance/service is
good although more frequent but there's no deprectiation and the
insurance is very cheap (£150).

It's also a proper car.

 

I've driven or ridden a bike in all of the above, and never found them or
indeed the rest of Italy that bad. Although I did find myself last year
standing in front of a car in some small town in the south, banging on
the bonnet and shouting as the driver attempted to proceed through or
over my gf's bike.

There are a lot of towns in Italy which are rather the opposite - not
legally restricted to pedestrians but utterly impractical to traverse on
anything bigger than a small moped, especially in the tourist season. San
Gimigniano is a good example - my gf and I were pretty much reduced to a
static display of large motorcycles when we ventured inside the walls.
The Italians were very appreciative of a girl on a Harley, but for a
while it really couldn't be described as travel.

If you don't speak Italian you shouldn't discount the possibility they
were just exchanging affectionate pleasanteries. It looks and sounds
exactly the same.

The middle east, no contest. A unique combination of inappropriate speed
and utter fuckwitted incompetence. I have too many dreadful experiences
to recount, but I'll just mention the official driver of a UN car in
Jordan, turning around to talk to me and my gf who were in the back seat,
while approaching a stationary car in the same lane, which he hadn't
noticed, at 140kph. Oh, and there was the woman in Tehran reversing
across five lanes of fast moving traffic because she'd turned right then
decided she should have turned left.

(OTOH, I once had occasion to visit our vehicle fleet base in Dubai, and
I asked the guy who ran it (a very experienced British ex-trucker) what
he thought of driving in the UAE, expecting him basically to say
"dreadful". To my surprise his reply was much more nuanced,
distinguishing between the majority who were fairly attentive but a bit
agressive, the Bangladeshi minibus drivers who were totally clueless but
generally went too slowly to cause much damage, and the rich kids in
Lamborghinis who were too young to have any traffic sense, barely in
control of their cars, and basically a serious menace to anyone around
them.)

 

No worse than the IoM during TT week though, competing for roadspace with
50,000 riders who get out three weeks a year.

 

I was quite surprised at how sedately the Napolese drove compared to
what I was expecting

When I lived in Milan, locals were shit scared of being front seat
passenger in my car - steering wheel being on the wrong side and all
that

 

one of my favourite places, ever.

Though Pogibonssi (SP?) down the road is a hole.

 

Poggibonsi, I think. Some friends went there and named their two cats
Poggi and Bonsi.

OK, OK, it made sense at the time. It was a nice place 25 years ago.

 

I drove an old VW camper around Milan, Genoa [1], Florence [2] and Rome
and it wasn't too bad. As a pedestrian in Naples I was quite grateful I
didn't have the camper.

[1] A week post-riot
[2] Got stuck in a medieval street rammed with people - Fiona decided at
this point making a cup of tea would be a good idea.

 

After the first day of riding through Switzerland (Basel - Simplon) last
year, the overriding impression I got when arriving in Italy was "thank
**** I'm back in a country where people know how to drive"

 

Me too.

I feel faintly disturbed.

 

Is that the stock answer ?

<groan>

Paul.

 

clearly

 

lovely ice-cream shop on the main square.

Oh, and the torture museum.

You can see the common interest, surely.

 

a consommete answer.

 

I thought it a bit strained.

 

Really? Could you clarify?

 

you butter believe it!

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, darsy

<Bernie Winters Mode>

Gheee!

</BWM>

 

on a Turkey?

Oh wait, wrong Bernie.

 

you'll need more than wiz to revive that ****