by Sea Breeze 39 Replies latest social entertainment
I remember in the '80s when speedometers didn't go higher than 80 mph!
I don't take my car faster than 100 mph now. It has more left, but my mortality calls.
But 80 to 90 is commonplace on the highways and byways around Washington DC. I try to stay under 80 because the speeding penalties are more than I want to pay once you hit that mark.
Which is all to say that I'm becoming an old fogie.
Which is all to say that I'm becoming an old fogie.
GT: here is the contradiction: when we are young we are willing to throw away 80 years of our lives for a thrill like 120 mph. ( 56m/sec) whizzing by. when we are 80+, we are afraid to lose balance, the next second of life. .
120? at that speed , you are basically out of control, you can not brake and stop before 250 meters 800 feet down the road, unless you use a tree, truck to shorten that distance. and remember, trees hit cars only in self defense.
Jimmy Stewart said: "the safest way to win a race is at the slowest speed possible."
take a lesson from the pioneer's, walk : as slowly as possible between the N@Hs,
youall boasters here are lucky survivors, to live and tell. , nobody has proven the resurrection hope/wish yet.
@ Waton yes I may have been boasting and yet I can still remember the feeling of laying on the tank and feeling the fear and beautiful excitement of that one time and still exhilerated by the memory 50 years later. I can also remember the sick feeling of close calls ,yet here I am an old man with the wonderful knowlege I took a chance and succeeded ,the alternative was living a life of regret that I was too fearful to enjoy the thrills of life ,the only one you get.
Wozz a newb Do bored German Witnesses take a spin on the Autobahn while in service?
🤣😂😂 Yes!! For me the one and only time it was on the autobahn in Bremen when my girlfriend's husband was dropping me off after field service at the train station on his motorbike. A huge-BMW -I-have-no-clue!
Waton In a training aeroplane practicing how to recover from a spin.
My husband's father was a top dressing pilot. Only 6 ever got to retire as far as I know in new Zealand. Dangerous job for a pilot.
Used to teach, always in old planes with low stalling speeds.
Waton: "Trees hit cars only in self defense."
Hysterical!
And, as usual, you've made me think, and what I've thought of is a story from a few years ago when, in actuality, was the last time I've gone 120 mph.
My husband was driving, yet I approved, and we had two teenagers in the back of the car, my son and his girlfriend.
We had planned to go on a nice kayaking expedition. The sky was brilliant blue and the sun was bright.
My husband got a frantic call from this young girl's father. The grandfather, who lived with the family, had suddenly felt ill and had chest pains out in the acreage that they rented as hunting property. He called the son, presciently, who told him to hang up and call 911 immediately. The grandfather was taken to a hospital local to the farm but about 25 miles from our location.
The father called us and begged us to get the girl to the hospital to hopefully see him one last time if he didn't make it. He also asked us not to tell her the reason why so she didn't fall apart without her family there to support her.
So, we said we would. It was a matter of life and death. So, we sped off down the highway and on back farm lanes as fast as we could without flying off the road. The speedometer was surely over 110 mph and more. It was a new car with All Wheel Drive and excellent brakes. The adrenaline kept us alert and reflexes as sharp as could be. We got there in record time.
We risked additional lives in the process. It's hard to admit, but seeing someone for the last time, or rather, not seeing them was a terrible risk, too. We felt we had to try.
Her family met us at the door, and, yes, he had had a massive heart attack, got medical care in the ambulance, but, ultimately they were unable to resuscitate him. It was a widowmaker they said. Not survivable. So, we had delivered the poor girl to the hospital and it was too late. She did hear the news from her family, she did get to see him and say goodbye physically, though he was already gone. At only 69. He had just retired the previous year and bought a large family home for the 3 generations to live in. A tragedy.
My dilemma was not with the speeding this time, though. It was that I had to lie to the poor girl. Lying doesn't sit well with me. It's a really shitty thing to do to kids, in particular. I debated with myself at the request to not tell her about her grandfather's illness. I am good, in general, in emergencies, and at making executive decisions. I considered her possible reaction to the news and, ultimately, agreed with her father that the girl would need her family to process the outcome, no matter what it might be. I weighed that against her possibly resenting me for lying to her, and accepted that as a risk I must take.
So, I lied. I told fantastical stories about the kayaks being unseaworthy, that a friend had called and needed help right away and it was an emergency, etc, etc. I don't even remember all the lying I did. Still lying as we pulled up to the hospital. I lied her right into her family's arms. And then I wept with them. For the terribleness of it all.
Later on, I told my son that I felt so awful for the lying and asked him to tell his girlfriend so. A day or so later he reported to me that the girl was not angry and thought I had done the right thing. I felt better, but would not have been angry if she had been angry with me. I did lie, and lie, and lie some more to her, and right to her face. It felt so terrible and slimy, yet I did it because it was the lesser of two evils.
My son and she are still together and I think she is a wonderful person.
I'm sorry for the sad bedtime story, and all from a fun post, of which we need more.
GT
Used to teach, always in old planes with low stalling speeds.
DS: probably the Tiger Moth, fully aerobatic, always kept me sick for the week after the weekend's gyrations at altitude.
Just want to say that there's a helluva difference between 120+ on an urban freeway, beltway, expressway versus a straight and perfectly flat desert highway with neither a tree nor vehicle nor anything else visible for miles and miles....
Gulfstream G550
I just wanted to pop back in and let you all know that this thread inspired this past month's worth of YouTube binging on airplane flying videos.
I can now land a 747 in an emergency.
Just kidding!
There are some really interesting channels that replay air traffic control communications from interesting situations: scary takeoffs, landings, pilot unconsciousness, etc.
The ones with the sassy Kennedy Steve are funny. He had quite a following until he retired. Look these up, they're fun.
It takes a little bit to learn the lingo, but it's been enjoyable to learn something new. I tend to play these before bed and my husband keeps asking, "What the hell is that you're listening to? I can't understand any of it!"
So, now I know, if the pilot dies, I'll have to be the one to land the plane. I'll let him tackle the beverage cart and deploy the emergency slides!
