Friday, September 22, 2006

Road Rules and Cat Herding

Yesterday I had to drive up north again for a Steering Group meeting on my project. The trip proved to be highly informative and I thought I might share some of the pearls I picked up....

Pay attention to your loved ones hobbies and passions, you never know when you'll be able to use what you've learnt to bond with someone on your Steering Committee over that same passion.

If you've prepared a document or process for review by a large group of academics, submit your idea, wait for them to banter around other ideas for a while, for them to start forming a different view, decide on a different approach, for them to then try and work out how'd that idea would work in the real world and then an hour later decide that what you'd proposed originally is in fact the best way to proceed. During this time remember to nod, make nice affirmative noises and pretend to take notes while preparing your shopping list.

Accidentally hitting a large bird at speed, with your car and the resulting gore and feather splatter is a good way of getting the blonde bitch tailgating you to back right off.

Not all driving speed rules are covered in the New Zealand road code. For example, it isn't outlined that when approaching a speed limit sign which orders a decrease in speed, drivers do not slow down until they are precisely next to said speed limit sign, however when approaching a sign which shows an increase in speed, drivers will increase their speed as soon as said sign is just visible. Failure to observe these rules can result in tailgating, engine revving and filthy looks.

And finally, the only thing that will make someone who consistently drives at 80kms in a 100km zone suddenly speed up, is this sign:



5 comments:

mist1 said...

Once, S & I hit a goose on the way back from the lake. Her horn, which hadn't worked in months, suddenly developed a creepy goose-like honk. Terrifying.

Meredith said...

That is seriously creepy....although I guess it could have been worse if your car had started driving itself South for winter

Mark said...

Hiya Meredith,

So, you blog... your secret is safe with me, and I promise not to alert other SC members!

Meredith said...

Aha. I owe you large, large sums of money nicthus

Meredith said...

And you know I'm kidding right? Mostly. ;)