Theory test
I passed my theory test today!
It consisted of two parts: The actual theory questions and a hazard perception test.
The first half was quite easy, given that you can buy a CD with all the questions and answers so that it’s “just” a question of memorising all 882 of them. (I got 50 out of 50 in this part, which is why I might be sounding a bit cocky.)
However, from the perspective of giving you knowledge that you’ll actually need as a driver, I’m not entirely impressed. For instance, consider this:
The cost of your insurance may reduce if you
- are under 25 years old
- pass the driving test first time
- do not wear glasses
- take the Pass Plus scheme
Isn’t this just an ad for the Pass Plus programme?
Other questions seem to be about the English language rather than about your abilities as a driver, e.g.:
‘Tailgating’ means
- using the rear door of a hatchback car
- following another vehicle too closely
- reversing into a parking space
- driving with rear fog lights on
Yet others can be answered with a bare miminum of common sense. For instance:
You see a car coming out from a side road in front of you. What do you do?
- Swerve past it and sound your horn
- Slow down and be ready to stop
- Flash your headlights and drive up close behind
- Accelerate past it immediately
I’m not much happier about the perception test. It’s not just because I only got 61 out of 75 in this part, but I think it’s fundamentally flawed.
They show you brief video clips of a car driving through actual traffic, and you then have to press the mouse button whenever you see a hazard.
However, there are no minus points for clicking too often (unless you really overdo it), and you’re not asked to identify the hazard, so I’m pretty sure you could just about scrape through if you just click every time you see something move.
In an ideal world, you should be sitting next to an examiner, telling them which hazards you spot and why you think they’re hazards, but even within the current system, surely it would be easy enough to make people click on the hazard itself.
Speed limits
In all other countries I know, motorways are the fastest type of road.
The speed limit is typically 130 km/h, but it can be as low as 100 km/h in some countries, but in those countries all other roads are then often limited to 80 km/h.
I think the Dutch situation on the photo is typical for mainland Europe: 50 in built-up areas, 80 on normal roads, 100 on dual carriage-ways, and 120 on motorways.
However, the UK is really odd (official speed limits converted to km/h and rounded): 48 in built-up areas, 97 on normal roads and 113 on both dual carriage-ways and motorways.
What’s going on? What’s the point of motorways if you can drive just as fast elsewhere?
A single European sky
I saw today that plans for a Single European Sky are progressing nicely.
This refers to regulating the airspace on a regional level, instead of doing it nationally.
According to the article, “when implemented, the reform would result in routes shortened by 50 kilometres for every 800 kilometres flown and in CO2 emission reductions of at least 12 percent.” That sounds pretty good to me!
It just sounds absurd that this is taking so long to implement – in theory, this should be a no-brainer, but it is probably too closely related to national security interests to make it easy.
I wonder whether this will lead to new cheap routes – in theory, certain routes will have been unprofitable because the obvious way to get there was not a permissible flight route.
What’s the hatchback made of?
Phyllis used to give me a few driving lessons in her old Citroën Picasso, and we bought L plates for that reason.
For various reasons, I stopped learning to drive temporarily, but I’ve now started again, this time with a real instructor.
However, we thought it’d be good to get some additional experience, so Phyllis has now added me onto her insurance (funnily enough, it’s cheaper while I only have a provisional license than it’ll be after I pass the test).
We were going for a quick drive after dinner, and we were going to put on the L plates when we discovered that the entire back end of our Citroën C8 is non-magnetic, so the plate won’t stick. The rest of the car is fine, but the law says that one of the L plates needs to go on the back.
We stuck in on with sticky tape, but it’s just such a hassle compared to having a car made of iron!
The consequences of crazy car taxation
The Danish car taxation that trebles car prices has some bizarre consequences.
See for instance this article (in Danish, Google translation here – “dollars” seems to be a mistranslation of “kroner”).
The problem is that lots of people would like to buy their cars in Sweden or Germany to save the tax. However, this would completely undermine the Danish system, so the Danish tax authorities will clamp down heavily on this, showering you in fines and potentially imprisonment, too.
To me, this just demonstrates that the system is broken. If Danish car taxes were adjusted to normal levels, nobody would want to circumvent the rules, and nobody would have to go to jail.
Another one from Edinburgh
Cimber Air that took over some of Sterling’s asset have now announced they’re opening a route between Copenhagen and Edinburgh, competing with Norwegian Airlines.
It’s nice to see so many connexions between Denmark and Scotland, but I wish at least one company would fly to Glasgow or Prestwick instead.
CPH-EDI
Jeg opdagede i dag, at Norwegian er ved at oprette en rute mellem København og Edinburgh.
Det bliver jo et godt supplement til Ryanairs nye rute mellem Billund og Edinburgh.
Blot en skam, at der ingen direkte forbindelser er til Glasgow fra Edinburgh Lufthavn, men det kommer måske også en dag.
Oxygen for babies
There was a story today about a Ryanair flight which lost cabin pressure as a result of which oxygen masks were released.
Fairly standard stuff that doesn’t worry me overly.
However, it made me wonder what to do about babies under two. You see, you can’t book individual seats for them, they have to sit on your lap.
So what do you do if you need oxygen and you only get one mask for your baby and yourself?
I asked in the comments section in the article I linked to above, and somebody relied:
It depends from aircraft to aircraft but all aircraft have 4 masks on certain rows, and therefore on a full flight passengers with babies should be checked into a row which has 4 masks. If in doubt check with check-in staff who should be adequately trained to know the aircraft configuration and also with cabin crew. It is a part of basic safety training that you know which rows have 4 masks, but again I can’t give a general comment on this as every single aircraft type I have operated on has differed in this respect.
However, a different person followed up:
However we flew on a Ryan air 737 over the weekend with our small baby and asked to sit in a row with 4 oxygen masks. The cabin crew didn’t seem to know what we were talking about!
So what do you do if the crew can’t help you and you can’t find a seat with an empty seat next to it?
Suitcase on wheels
Kiddie suitcase on wheels
While we were waiting for our suitcases in Stansted two days ago, two kids walked past me sitting on pink suitcases.
This looks like a great idea! Suddenly carrying their own luggage becomes a game for kids…
Only problem I can see is to keep them away from slopes in all disguises, or your kids might suddenly travel a bit faster than is advisable at that age.
Stranded
I’ve very often gone via Stansted on my way to Denmark, and I’ve always made the connexion, although Ryanair don’t guarantee it.
Today seemed OK – we were supposed to land around 6pm, and the check-in didn’t close till 19:05, so it didn’t seem likely it would be delayed more than 30 minutes.
But it was!
We arrived here at 19:15, so now we’re trying to find another way to Denmark.
Unfortunately, all flights are full, so the next affordable plane to Denmark is on Monday!
We might have to go via Bremen!!!
Update (4am): Yes, Bremen turned out to be the best bet. Ryanair were willing to book us onto that for a “missed flight fee” of £250 for all of us. The flight is at 6:40am, and we’ll arrive there around 9. Hopefully it won’t be too expensive to get the train to Denmark.
Because the flight is so early, we didn’t think it made sense to get a hotel room, so we’ve all been sleeping on the benches or the stone floor of Stansted Airport. I guess it’s all an experience for the kids! 