History, Politics And Current Affairs

Over the last 3 weeks saw us taking an extended summer vacation, driving from central UK to southern Turkey via France, Switzerland, Italy and Greece.

Final stats:

5117 miles.
841 litres of diesel.
88 hours of driving.

Motorbike Maniac?

No, because Diesel. Brother of a friend did that on a bike.

M.Becker wrote: ↑Sun Aug 31, 2025 6:33 pm Motorbike Maniac?

No, because Diesel. Brother of a friend did that on a bike.

No, this was the whole family, wife & I and all 4 children, in an SUV.

Bravo !!

Back in the 20th Century, we drove/camped to Greece and back several times.
Once via Bulgaria.
Watched Yugo-land claw itself from 3rd-world to 'European', before later imploding in faction fights.
Still remember how coils of rebar shed by a side-swiped truck became giant, car-eating 'Slinky Springs'...
Ick...
Nearly got conscripted at Greek border after the Colonels' coup: Fortunately my passport was 'UK', not the optional 'Dual'. To check I was genuinely a Brit, not a local teen travelling on my passport, the Border guys wheeled in a 'Master Sergeant' who swore at me in language you'd have to steam-clean off walls it left standing. Happens I recognised some as epithets from their 'Classical' roots, insults that were old when 'Helen of Troy' was flirting. I was too surprised to recognise their antiquity to be offended...

Several, I was unable to reverse-engineer thus: Back in the car and away, I mentioned them. Mum went very pink, declined to translate...

Any-how, after 1979, fuel prices soared, UK Pound devalued, so we ventured abroad no more...

Hope it went well.

I've loved my drives over to Poland, even if it's sometimes been a fraught experience.

Zen9 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 04, 2025 8:39 am Hope it went well.

I've loved my drives over to Poland, even if it's sometimes been a fraught experience.

Aside from Italy, which was unpleasant, the rest of it went very well indeed!

Italy...
Aaah...

Our route came through Austria, cut across the corner of Italy into Yugo-land.
We'd stop for snacks --Bread rolls & cheese-- and, yes, fresh pizza.

I can honestly claim that even that short run on Italian roads was scarier than anything Yugo-land drivers or commuting Turks could throw at us. Which included the car-eating 'Giant Slinky Spring' incident...

IMHO, those [REDACTED] Italians were even worse than the Athenian kamikases...

Nik_SpeakerToCats wrote: ↑Sun Sep 07, 2025 3:35 pm Italy...
Aaah...

Our route came through Austria, cut across the corner of Italy into Yugo-land.
We'd stop for snacks --Bread rolls & cheese-- and, yes, fresh pizza.

I can honestly claim that even that short run on Italian roads was scarier than anything Yugo-land drivers or commuting Turks could throw at us. Which included the car-eating 'Giant Slinky Spring' incident...

IMHO, those [REDACTED] Italians were even worse than the Athenian kamikases...

This was the route returning home… This was the trip computer as we arrived… that was all done in the same day, three stops for toilet and food breaks. I was <tired>