Roundabouts, bogroll and sexy, sexy toads
Three from the local paper.
The Roundabout Appreciation Society is coming to Sussex. To appreciate our roundabouts. Duh.
The society started in 2002 with a calendar. That’s what they do, roundabout calendars. Wikipedia dryly notes “At the moment the association is trying to attract more women members.”
That thing in the picture isn’t in Sussex, though. It’s in Wiltshire. It’s known as the Magic Roundabout. It is a roundabout made up of five roundabouts. It gives the Roundabout Appreciation Society wood. I am softly crying right now.
Toilet paper! This museum in Chichester owns these disc things that it has been confidently displaying as ancient gaming pieces. Now they think maybe Romans wiped their asses on them. Whaddya know.
Also, toads. They’re going to put some tunnels in place to allow horny toads to cross the road in safety. Not horny toads, but toads that are horny (or is it “which are horny”? I never got that rule straight). Formerly, volunteers scooped them up into buckets by hand and carried them across the road.
Woo-woo! All aboard the Crazy Train to Crazy Town…!
Posted: January 23rd, 2013 under animals, britain, personal.
Comments: 42
Comments
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: January 23, 2013, 11:42 pm
Huh!
Remind me who is POTUS?
🙂
Comment from Brad
Time: January 23, 2013, 11:43 pm
Roundabouts are of the devil.
And for some reason, it’s apparently the trendy thing for American engineers to make useless little micro-roundabouts to replace perfectly useful 4-way stops. Because it’s awesome and European (and therefore even awesomer!) I guess.
Myself and my extended family are confirmed roundabout haters. Maybe we should make a calendar.
Comment from Redd
Time: January 23, 2013, 11:53 pm
I saw some documentary where they explained that in a Roman toilet, they had a bucket of water with a sponge on a stick. I think it cost money to use it though. You sat down on the hole and there was a smaller hole below that you stuck the sponge on a stick into and cleaned you hiney.
They are always saying how wonderful Roman baths were but I think they were huge pools of disease and filth. Yuck!
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 23, 2013, 11:53 pm
A roundabout made of roundabouts makes me thing of “a goblin made entirely out of wicked genitals” — which is from Brad Neely’s Baby Cakes Diary.
Which is SO a pretty bizarre acquired taste, maybe try Brad Neely’s George Washington first and see what you think.
If you like it, then you can try Baby Cakes Diary. Here’s one, two, three, four and five. For a start.
Comment from Mrs Compton
Time: January 24, 2013, 12:02 am
We have a round about in our little town, they put it in a few years ago. To get to our mall or the hospital you have to go through it. Ours has water on 2 sides of it. I can’t begin to tell you have many people have now gone into the lakes because they don’t know how to drive on a round a bout. They made it a two lane one, they should have made it one lane, people would be able to understand that a lot easier.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 24, 2013, 12:06 am
There was one near where I used to work, in Massachusetts. I can’t tell you how many times I nearly got creamed trying to get onto it.
Brain not do round thing.
Comment from Redd
Time: January 24, 2013, 12:19 am
We had a small one in Berkeley and just thinking of it terrifies me.
Comment from Skandia Recluse
Time: January 24, 2013, 12:25 am
oh jeeze weezy..you’ve gone an motivated me to speak up…
…and everything I would post just comes out .. wrong…
this is….I mean.. it’s just….
Ah hell, what difference would it make anyway?
Comment from Mike James
Time: January 24, 2013, 12:54 am
Hey, somebody get me some more glory for the Hypnotoad in here, I’m all out!
We’ve got a roundabout called the Garces Circle in Bakersfield. So nyeeah, neener neener, other profanity as required.
Comment from Feynmangroupie
Time: January 24, 2013, 1:20 am
So glad it isn’t just me who fumes at round-abouts. They make me feel as though I’ve been spun about and then ordered to go a particular direction.
Comment from Some Texas Vegetable
Time: January 24, 2013, 1:23 am
Round here, in TEXAS we don’t do Roundybouts.
We have
“The The High Five”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/High_Five.jpg
Oh, and toads are on their own, pardner……
Comment from EZnSF
Time: January 24, 2013, 1:37 am
Roundabouts should be BANNED! And any city official that allows them TORTURED! A ‘five-in-one’? Nuke it.
Comment from JeffS
Time: January 24, 2013, 2:00 am
I loath roundabouts. They’re bad anywhere, but the ones I ran through in Kuwait and Qatar were death traps for the unwary and unlucky.
We have two here, in semi-remote southeastern Washington, one on either side of a new highway turnoff leading to the local shopping complex (not a mall, though people like to pretend it is). Poorly designed, and routinely misused by everyone, even the cops — I watched one in front of me.
It was built to be “trendy”, but it comes across as “stupid”. They haven’t built any more since.
Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: January 24, 2013, 2:34 am
Uhm, Uncle Badger, ahem:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-snow-build-a-snowman-to-help-1551250
Comment from Nina
Time: January 24, 2013, 3:10 am
We have an increasing number of them in these parts–roundabouts, that is, not horny toads or ancient Roman buttwipers–and although there seems to be a never ending procession of idiots who don’t know how to use them, I’m not aware of there being any major problems with one. But ours are easy compared to some of the ones I saw in England, and even Norway–which at least uses the right side of the road–has some annoying right-of-way rules that I inadvertently flouted on New Year’s Eve (which is not a good night to be inadvertently flouting traffic rules).
Comment from Mitchell
Time: January 24, 2013, 3:16 am
I think roundabouts have been proven to be overall safer and move traffic more smoothly – provided of course that the people who drive in them know what they’re doing and how to properly use them. A five way roundabout is pretty nuts though.
Comment from Scott Jacobs
Time: January 24, 2013, 5:33 am
“At the moment the association is trying to attract more women members.”
Which is to say any women members…
Comment from Feynmangroupie
Time: January 24, 2013, 8:12 am
They’re all too busy with the Creative Manhole Cover Society and the Double Left Turn with optional U-turn Appreciation Association.
You should see the calendars.
Comment from Oceania
Time: January 24, 2013, 10:18 am
Looks like old Holmes is about to check out – now I have him on that last list somewhere 🙂
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/8215865/Sir-Paul-Holmes-being-nursed-at-home
Comment from Bob Mulroy
Time: January 24, 2013, 3:26 pm
I’m hoping the statute of limitations has run out on this:
One rainy spring evening, my buddy and I were on our way to our favorite bar. We collected five gallons of toads along the way, and put them in some guy’s car.
Always lock your car, children. -Even in small towns where things like that aren’t supposed to happen.
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: January 24, 2013, 3:27 pm
You know, Some Vegetable – that’s probably my worst nightmare 🙁
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 24, 2013, 3:36 pm
I think he means the interstate flyover, not the snowman, Some Veg. On the other hand, he’s pretty weird.
Comment from mojo
Time: January 24, 2013, 4:01 pm
“WHOO-HOO! Man, I’m goin’ for ALL FIVE roundabouts in one go!”
Comment from Christopher Taylor
Time: January 24, 2013, 4:39 pm
This is one of those European, especially British, things and they are just awful. Naturally, being European, they are popular with city planners and other lefty types.
In other news, Flemish Belgium outlawed snowball fights. 100 Euro fine.
http://themoscownews.com/international/20130122/191163744.html
Comment from surly
Time: January 24, 2013, 5:11 pm
We hates it, nasty round-aboutses
it’s as if the traffic engineer said “f-it, you’re on your own”
Comment from Can’t hark my cry
Time: January 24, 2013, 5:27 pm
Stoaty: “toads that are horny” is the version folks who get all prissy about supposed grammatical rules would prefer, because the relative pronoun in the phrase is definite (separating a certain subset of toads from the set of all toads)rather than indefinite (stating something true of all toads).
Well, at least, presumably “toads that are horny” is a subset.
Comment from mojo
Time: January 24, 2013, 5:50 pm
BTW, Weas: you’re wasting your time trying to get the denizens of Popehat to define “torture” in a consistent manner. It’s full of lawyers, for whom straining at gnats and passing camels through the eyes on needles is undergrad coursework.
My position: if I decide to torture you, you won’t be in any doubt about it. You also are unlikely to survive the experience.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 24, 2013, 6:01 pm
I knew it was a den of lawyers, mojo, so I’m genuinely surprised by the imprecision with which several of them approached my argument. I didn’t expect them to agree, but I was surprised to see them mischaracterize what I said. I thought they were sharper than that.
Still one of my favorite blogs, in the “check every week or so” category.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 24, 2013, 6:02 pm
So it’s toads that are horny, as opposed to toads — which are knobbly.
I don’t suppose I’ll remember. Again. But thanks for trying.
Comment from Can’t hark my cry
Time: January 24, 2013, 6:28 pm
Don’t let it fret you, Stoaty–it’s a fairly petty rule, probably more honored in the breach than the observance by even good writers. But if you want a handy little tester tool, try Fowler’s:
The river, which here is tidal, is dangerous.
The river that flows through London is the Thames
Notice the commas.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 24, 2013, 6:38 pm
No, now I’m confused again. Still, I suppose it’s not the most important grammar rule I’ll never grasp.
Comment from Can’t hark my cry
Time: January 24, 2013, 6:48 pm
Actually, “It’s toads that are horny, but toads which are knobby” is a pretty nifty little tester itself (but it took me a few minutes to realize that–slow on the uptake, I can be.)
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 24, 2013, 6:50 pm
Well, I took it to mean, only some toads are horny (so “that” is appropriate), but all toads are knobbly (so “which” is appropriate). But then your second example made that seem backwards.
It’s not that I don’t have the instinct to be a pedant. I just don’t have the grasp.
Comment from scottthebadger
Time: January 24, 2013, 7:16 pm
The “traffic circles are cool” movement has reached Wisconsin. While tractor-trailers can actually use them, being articulated, the designers never bothered to measure a Snorkel, which is not. http://www.piercemfg.com/en/trucks/aerials/platforms/Sky-Arm.aspx
Badgers like Toads, we just don’t have much patience with them. They drive so atrociously.
Comment from mojo
Time: January 24, 2013, 7:21 pm
“I had the right to remain silent, but unfortunately not the ability.”
— Ron White
Comment from tomfrompv
Time: January 24, 2013, 9:15 pm
And you people drive on the wrong side of the road too! It must wake up the senses to navigate one of those things. I’m looking for youtubes of car crashes and stuff.
The only place I’ve seen with traffic circles is Sedona. Because of the vortices and other tantric influences in that part of AZ. But not recursive like yours. Nicely done!
Comment from Gibby Haynes
Time: January 24, 2013, 9:47 pm
How do bikers in America learn to get their knee down without roundabouts? Track days?
Moar gaming updates pls, Sweas.
Comment from Can’t hark my cry
Time: January 25, 2013, 2:42 pm
That/which: You were right (horny/knobbly); stick with that, as it should be sufficiently memorable to be easy to retrieve when needed, and erase mine. It’s all about finding a mnemonic that works for you.
Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: January 25, 2013, 9:41 pm
They’re going to put some tunnels in place to allow horny toads to cross the road in safety.
“Well, ya gotcher dead cat and ya gotcher dead dog
On a moonlit night ya gotcher dead toad frog…”
– Loudon Wainwright III
As to roundabouts: Chicago has put a lot of them in at side-street intersections, to slow down traffic. I like them better than speed bumps.
As to HMG’s suggestion about building snowmen: amazingly stupid. If five million British families all built snowmen and used two cubic meters of snow … that would equal 4″ of snow over an area of 100 sq km. Britain is a little bigger than that.
Comment from naleta
Time: January 27, 2013, 11:07 pm
I don’t like roundabouts, either. My first experience was in Massachusets when we were headed for Cape Cod for our honeymoon vacation. There is a new roundabout just west of Toledo, Ohio. I don’t take that route into or out of Toledo any more.
Comment from Chuck S
Time: February 8, 2013, 10:25 pm
Catching up, going backwards through your posts…
So, I read a post Weasel-Raging (insert trademark/copyright thingy here, since I don’t know how) about the Mail pulling the ol’ ‘hey, check out the nose growing from a guy’s arm’ trick, without pictures of said nose.
Then I click on a Weasel-Link (trademark/copyright thingy, again) that purports to be about Romans wiping their butts with checkers…and there’s no picture of the guilty gamepieces.
I’m SO disappointed. Not to see the butt-token. Our hostess has spent so much effort suppressing our expectations, and I’ve accepted that enough to not be disappointed that she would link us to a non-illustrated non-bogroll article.
Still seems a bit double-standard-y though. 😉
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 8, 2013, 10:41 pm
You’re lucky I saw this one, Chuck. We’re in the middle of a Dead Pool, and those shove comments off the bottom of the page real quick.
Smarty pants. I did look for a picture. I really did. Mostly because it was unclear what shape they were and I was trying to imagine what shape they’d need to be for their function to be so bizarrely unclear.
If you’re reading backwards through my posts, this won’t be the last inconsistency you bark your shins on.
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