A propos not crossing a road except at a designated crossing, that might be ok in large towns but certainly not in a small one in Ireland... my nearest designated crossing is nearly 2 miles away.
One thing I have noticed, and I hope this is just not confined to Rutland, is that pedestrians almost universally give a little wave of thanks or mouth ‘thank you’ when I stop for them at zebra crossings, or motion them to cross in front of me when it’s safe to do so.
Beppe, my Italian friend, could not believe it when I slowed right down as we approached a zebra crossing as there were pedestrians close by who might have wanted to cross. I like the unhurried pace of life round here.
We tend to let pedestrians cross at zebra crossings in sarf London too. Most pedestrians even say thank you. If they don't, there is a rich variety of descriptive language available to the driver.
I'm not sure if I should moan about this weather or not It's depressingly flat and grey but the alternatives could be worse. We went for a walk on Saturday and could see sun in every direction but we were stuck under an unmoving, grey cloud. It felt personal
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I think the reaction to drivers who stop to allow people over zebra crossings is pretty widespread. It's certainly rare when I stop, not to get acknowledgement. I don't know if the wording will change in the updated Highway Code, but the current version says pedestrians have right of way once on a crossing. On that basis there is no requirement to stop to allow anybody to cross if they are standing patiently on the footpath.
Also something to be annoyed about today is bird food. There was a queue of eight blackbirds waiting for food this morning. The ground feeder still had a pile of wheat in there though which no one is particularly desperate enough to bother with. This bird food mix is a 'no mess' mix but is bulked out with the wheat which does end up making a mess if the pigeons don't turn up to eat it. I just stocked up on 25kg of this stuff but the company have emailed me since then saying they're now offering the same mix with no wheat. It's an extra £13 for 25kg though. Do I pay £30 for my regular mix and watch 1/4 go to waste/pigeons or stump up the extra on the new stuff and assume they'll eat more of it?
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Can't help you there @wild edges. Our wild birds are currently eating 4 times the usual daily quantity of ground fed seed mix but they do get occasional help when our chooks are roaming free in the pm. On the other hand, there are also sparrows and wood pigeons who happily fly into the hen house and eat the hen's food. The only difference I can see is that the hen mix has pigeon peas and linseed in it.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I just buy sunflower hearts.. They can take them or leave them. They usually take them. A mix I bought once seemed to have a load of porridge in it. I've already got porridge. None of the birds were interested. There also seemed to be hard yellow bits which I assume was corn. They didn't want that either. They also chucked out the flax seeds but I got some lovely plants out of that .I decided not to bother with a bag that was mostly filler. I reckon offering you a premium mix is an admission that the other one is a rip off.
Collard doves and magpies hoover up the ground feeders so I have two covered with guards and one smaller one for them left uncovered, but unless you buy very expensive mix here it it all padded out with wheat and corn. Just opened my 20kg of sunflower hearts for the hanging feeders, currently about 35 Gold finches visiting daily plus the tits.
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You would be fit
I reckon offering you a premium mix is an admission that the other one is a rip off.