I'm NOT a Racist.....BUT!!!

ponyboy

ponyboy

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Hobbyvan AKA Jinks
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April 2012
Sorry sorry - bloody predictive text. I meant "Carist" and I'll tell you, so far my experiences in driving on Italian roads have left me no longer wondering at the number of bunches of flowers there are along the roadside here. From trucks pulling out in front of me on the highway to the almost beautiful but potentially lethal manoeuvre of overtaking everything in the fast lane before cutting back across all lanes to zoom off up the next exit. Oh and not forgetting the overtaking on the brows of hills and into blind corners. Like I said - flowers'r'us here in Italy. Holed up in Camping Village site near vatican city and seriously considering going in on Wednesday to see the Pope and tell him about the miracle of how I've survived so far - Mmm

Last blog entry:
http://slowponyblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/mv-matisse-new-zealand-to-panama/
 
LOVE Italy and the people big time:love:..They can be a little exuberant! shall we say with the driving:LOL:...but it's very charming and not malicious at all compared to here!:whistle:
 
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You should ride a bike in a big group !! Talk about an eye opener !!!!

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Judgemental said:
LOVE Italy and the people big time:love:..They can be a little exuberant! shall we say with the driving:LOL:...but it's very charming and not malicious at all compared to here!:whistle:
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Me too absolutely love the place great country full of great people and Rome is one of my favourite cities.
 
Tootles said:
Terrible place. :( Home of the thinnest volume in the world, the 'Italian Book of War Heroes'. (y)
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Just got to love you Tootles that piece of propaganda came from WW11 but during WW1 when they were our allies they fought very bravely especially in the mountains of Europe and on the Western front.
 
davidbaldam said:
Just got to love you Tootles that piece of propaganda came from WW11 but during WW1 when they were our allies they fought very bravely especially in the mountains of Europe and on the Western front.
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AH! But there lies the difference!! Nella prima guerra mondiale, hanno saputo che erano dalla parte dei vincitori!(y)(y)(y)
 
Tootles said:
Terrible place. :( Home of the thinnest volume in the world, the 'Italian Book of War Heroes'. (y)
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What about Julia Caesar , Hadrian etc...BUSBY:D:D

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ponyboy said:
Oh and not forgetting the overtaking on the brows of hills and into blind corners.
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No honking, no swearing, no flashing lights, no fingers, it just seems to work for them. I think they've slowed down since our first visit 20+ years ago.

But if you want real sport, chug down to Naples. They are on another level.

And well worth it for Sorrento, Pompeii and Herculaneum.
 
hilldweller said:
And well worth it for Sorrento, Pompeii and Herculaneum.
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Not to mention the buses on the Amalfi coast road, absolutely 'bonkers' as they say down here, but still our favourite European destination,we were in Pisa, Tuscany, Venice earlier this year, the roads were in the worst condition we have ever seen :Eeek: amazed we didn't get a blowout on the van or the toad.
Lovely people and fantastic food (y)
 
tremybach said:
the roads were in the worst condition we have ever seen
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A sign of their economy I guess. We came across a motorway on ramp that had collapsed, it's concrete legs buckled under. Just coned off and from the dirt abandoned. May have been on the coast road from Venice to Rimini. You can see exposed steel bars in a lot of their concrete. Grim.
 
The food enough reason to love em....Tuscany my favorite destination anywhere in the world. Just made made my mind up going again this summer!:)
 
We were on the bike travelling on the motorway north of Milan heading towards Garda. I was overtaking a car when it started drifting across the road, forcing me towards the central reservation. I sounded the horn at which point the driver put down the newspaper he was reading and gave me an apologetic wave of the hand.

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Like your piece Ponyboy, we almost killed about 5 people last year, who just stepped out onto zebra crossings when we were 10 feet away !! Not to mention the T shirted motorcyclist
who shot between a lorry and the central concrete barrier on a dual carriageway at about 100 MPH with 2 inches to spare each side..
But a beautiful place. We will be going through again next spring on route to a ferry to Greece, so if anyone has any advice about ferries from Ancona and the need to book etc we will be obliged...
 
The thing is, you expect them to drive like that, so it's not a shock when you get there.
Best place to train for going to Italy is mid Wales. My parents used to live there. For a few years, the RAC rally came through their village. People commented that it was nice to see cars driving sensibly for a change!
Allan
 
Driving along a causeway from Venice a good few years back with no parking places I had a black fiat uno so close to my rear bumper that he had no chance of seeing ahead to overtake,
But that didn't stopped him every few seconds appearing in my mirror then swerving back behind me before getting hit,
I said to my missus that the next available spot I would pull over to let him pass, But It never happen! On about his tenth trip to look he hit another car head on and died as a result of being inpatient,
The other people were also in a bad way but lucky that they had a much heavier car,
I have driven extensively in Italy since the sixties and love the country but there driving is some thing else!!
 
ok ok - the Italians are good cooks and the wine is great and who's going to argue about the sights but I just can't understand the lust for speed (mph that is). Oh and I'd forgotten to mention the zebra crossers - unbelievable, as if I didn't have enough on my plate just trying to avoid being sideswiped, they insist on hiding in doorways till they see the likes of me coming along. 3.5 tons of "hard to stop" camper, before leaping out from under their cloaks of invisibility and onto the crossing. Jeeeeeeeezus.

On the bright side - in Rome for a few days and got a call from Pont Max Francis. Apparently he's just back from Poland and wants to catch up over lunch on wednesday. Can't disappoint the Man in White!!

Latest blog:
http://slowponyblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/mv-matisse-new-zealand-to-panama/
 
And people dont understand why i refuse to drive in cities.

And on the subject of speed i heard, during the war, the Italian army had a special batch of superfast tanks built with 8 gears....one forward and seven reverse.
 
In Rome, we found it best to cross a road with a Nun, everyone stopped:)
 
Tootles said:
Terrible place. :( Home of the thinnest volume in the world, the 'Italian Book of War Heroes'. (y)
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Of course they did all their soldiering two thousand years ago when they conquered the entire known world, including us.

Apart from the Scots of course, but who in their right mind would take on the Scots on their home turf?
 
Love the Italian artistic flair, laid back attitude, and all round friendliness. But their driving generally sucks. Gave up around lake Garda, too bloody dangerous, got hit by a Fiat on our side of the road, driver didnt even stop, fortunately no damage to our vehicle but glass everywhere. Being right hand drive wife was freaking out so went to lake Maggiore, bigger roads.
Phil

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