Does parking on a closed road count as a live parking thread? 😁

Friend of ours used to work in a big company that was responsible for a roundabout that notorious causes traffic jams and bottlenecks. Apparently they only realised at a very, very late stage that someone had misread the plans - but the Queen was due to open it the following week and no-one dared admit to the cock-up. Apparently to this day the person responsible takes a perverse pride in it, and whenever he hears about traffic problems in that area is happy to announce "Ah, I did that".

I grew up in Little, near the church. Went to the school at the top of the hill in H. Still have family in St I.

She??

He'd have lost my business for that!

My dad's a mech fitter - he measures in metric and his tools are in imperial and he just knows. I mean, I can estimate, but he knows.

Oooh I've just had a man from the council at my door in a high viz jacket, and instead of being a miserable bastard to him I remembered the stick figures in the diagram and started grinning. In fact I was inordinately cheerful about the recent rubbish collection problems.

He must have thought I was mad.

Happy days

If you’re 6’ in height your arms outstretched & fingertip to fingertip is also 6’, fingertips to clavicle 3’, to elbow 1’ 6” & hand 6” & thumb 3”

Well mine are anyway. I worried about ageing & the shrinks but when that time comes I’ll get a walking stick with a hidden ruler instead of a hidden sword

Another fan of the stick figures in hi-viz, definite gold star diagram Daily

Definitely the tarmac spreader - love the smell and always wanted to drive a roller especially if it were steam powered.

The mention of WW Lane took me back. I was at boarding school for many years in the town up the road with the garden over the side near the place that sounds like Baldrick from Blackadder.

Looking forward to tonight - more towing ahoy!

Yes exactly this kind of thing 🤣

But (controversial) I think it's an inbuilt male trait... my DH is generally v good at DIY, but over 20 odd years, the mirrors that have been put up 5cm too low or high, as he didn't measure the back plate properly, edging strips cut half a centimetre too short (doesn't sound a lot, catches my eye every time I go up the stairs).

But in his defence, he gets a lot done.

I measure three times, don't get a lot done - but only need to do it once

Great thread op

my friend car was towed near a stadium on a match day once just disappeared noone contacted her she had to phone the local pound and go and get it

Now if only someone could invent some kind of standard way to measure. Like a long line. We could call it a ruler. Or an extra long one could be called a tape measure. Someone should come up with something like that for these guys.

Or a wheeled one that trundles along in a sort of wheely trundly fashion.

Brilliant thread! I have enjoyed reading through this. Fuck off woman certainly her come uppance.

This thread is brilliant. I mean, I'm supposed to be doing some work but this is more important...isn't it?

As for towing, round here they just put the cars in the next street when they did resurfacing. Neighbour had to go and find his car, I'm not sure if he got a heads-up as to which street they'd left it in or whether the council understandably decided he could find it for himself since he'd ignored the "DO NOT PARK HERE ON 27TH AFTER 8AM" notices that had been up for weeks.

I moved a whole building once

That you Supergirl?

I did a summer as a chain man (although I am a lady), setting out on building sites and I tell you back then (25 years ago) it's a wonder anything was ever built where it was supposed to be. These days it's all done with computerised kit for getting it millimetre perfect, and honestly some of it is very impressive.

I moved a whole building once with a crane and the new foundations were perfect, exactly where they were supposed to be to pick up the feet of the building being moved (prefab type on little feet, like a portakbin but BIGGER).

Love the measurement stuff!

our fancy kitchen designer ostentatiously measured our kitchen by eye/feet whilst brown-nosing my husband (professor therefore much more interesting than me his actual customer). When I said “aren’t you going to measure?” He turned to my husband and said “ooh she’s getting impatient with us now”.

when they fitted the kitchen the fridge extended 6 inches across the doorway.

twat.

Round here they tow them. However when they last did ours - a proper remove all the old stuff and start again, not just a patch it up and resurface - the workmen were great. Saw me pushing ds in his wheelchair laden with shopping, helped me home and subsequently let me park in solitary glory if it was safe to do so. [Grin]. They would knock the door if they needed me to move.

I second the nomination for classics. I have not laughed out loud at mumsnet for many a year.

Thread has it all, diagrams, photos and CF comeuppance!!

Yes! Now if only someone could invent some kind of standard way to measure. Like a long line. We could call it a ruler. Or an extra long one could be called a tape measure. Someone should come up with something like that for these guys.

Well, this thread has made my morning far cheerier! Very familiar with where you are, too! (Waving hello from St Evenage!)

Also used in the field by landscape archaeologists. I had my stride calibrated in training. I am short with tiny feet, so we settled on me doing mine in half-metre strides.

It definitely did, it was at the top of the list for a very long time.

Does he then walk away muttering “three-thirty-two” under his breath?

I can relate.

We only moved to this street just before Christmas and it was lovely!

Though we have to not name the town because its too lovely and everyone will want to move here 😉

My DP is a carpenter. If I ask him how big something is he will go very quiet, and then say a number without any indication if he's talking in metric, imperial, Roman feet or about the bloody time. Just that tradey silence, an indrawn breath, and "three-thirty-two".

It's a very dramatic way to discuss the size of the possible online purchase of a packet of biscuits.

Those baby steps and stride measurements have been in use for some time... they are called a 'foot' and a 'yard'. Until we went all metric of course.

(Waves to fellow hedgehogs)