meauxna

How about amending that to "People are trusting and gullible/naive at times'.. I have met (online & RL) plenty of Brits who I felt shouldn't be let our of the house without a minder.

What you say about your brother was a surprise though.. for a long time I thought I had imagined it all myself and that it was just my DH who was like that!

tamms_1965

"Wanktards" Nice word!

tamms_1965

I've got one too! DH was just saying the other night about how much he has changed in just 18 months of living here. He said that although he was never on edge here as much as he was in the UK, he was still in that frame of mind for quite a while after he moved here.

He couldn't believe people were nice to him or smiled at him in restaurants, shops, etc., and that in general everyone seemed to be fairly happy and/or pleasant.

englishinfl

[QUOTE=Steerpike;7040640]Do you really have such a low opinion of Americans? If so, are you happy to be here, surrounded by them? Americans are trusting and gullible/naive at times, but I believe that adds to their charm and contributes, overall, to the much better attitude you encounter here.
QUOTE]

Reading things the wrong way again Steerpike? You seem to do that a lot. Don't think I ever suggested that I had a low opinion of americans at all. Not at all sure where you picked that up in my messages.
It's a fact that people that manage to rip other people off think of the people they do it to as "dumb suckers".
You openly say yourself that americans are "trusting and gullible/naive" which translates in "dumb sucker" to a street vendor that is selling the ordinarily 99 pence burgers to everyone else, to a tourist for a fiver. If the person is american, it makes them a dumb american... get it?
Actually, I'm perfectly happy being here and surrounded with the american people, but I don't feel the need to have to go into raptures about the place and its people like you seem to, and neither do I think that the attitude is any better here than in the UK. That's where we differ.

englishinfl

He must have lived in a particularly bad place in the UK.

mickybrit

Ok so this is more what happened.

Cop travels behind me for over a mile just me and him road clear in front.
We comes to a slight bend when I come out of the bend my side is still clear on the left of me is a school bus approaching it puts its yellow lights on as it is slowing down.

Now I thought it was flashing to turn to its left, which is on my side of the road. Now I have right of way and a cop car behind me, so its safer for me to carry on.

When asked by the cop " why didnt you stop for the bus" I reply and hes wrote it on my ticket "I thought the bus was on the other side" meaning I have right of way to carry on driving.

Then for the dl "I dont have a NY dl as of yet" because in the high way code book it says I have 1 year before I need one.

I still find it strange that a bus would let kids get off a bus on the side of a railway track with crash barriers on it. Obviously the crash barriers are to stop cars skidding off the road onto the railway tracks and yet its ok to drop kids off at this potentially dangerous place.

When I saw the bus it never occurred to me that the bus had its yellow on to stop at this obviously dangerous place (the crash barriers and rail track 40mph limit say it all) I thought it wanted to turn left.

I'm writing a recommendation to the mayor and school govenors to make sure the bus stops on the other side of the road ( the house side) even if it means spending an extra 20 cents in fuel and the driver get back to depot 10 mins later.

mickybrit

The crash barriers are there because it has been seen fit that the particular area of road is/could be highly dangerous, yet the school bus drops school kids there.

I'm sure every body agrees it is far safer for the bus to come in the other direction and drop the school kids off on the houses side of the road.

tamms_1965

He worked for the police and knew how much crime there really was compared to what was disclosed or officially documented.

tamms_1965

You've got to be joking (about writing to the mayor/school governor) surely? (I'm sure they'll get a kick out of it anyway.) You just don't get it do you? You were in the wrong...ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Don't you think if there were a better way for the buses to complete the route it would have been figured out already. This is how it is done all over the US. Just because one foreigner is too lazy to learn the driving laws of his state doesn't mean a school district (or the state) is going to change how they do business.

This is why you should have your US license....then you would have known the law.

mickybrit

So you believe its safer to drop them off that side of the road, or you just believe in doing what you are told regardless of health and safety.

Yes Iam writing its up to them whether they do anything about it or not if there is a future incident its there heads that will roll.

I aint saying I was not in the wrong its an explanation why I was in the wrong.

Yes there is a better way of the route at the moment its the quickest cost effective way not the safest.

I aint a lazy foreigner I know the rules I wasn't expecting the bus to stop there.

Theres another law and its give way to pedestrians at a crossing, 99% of drivers break the law by ignoring that.

Another broken law 100% including school bus drivers ( ive seen them) go over the speed limit.

So don't preach to me about being holier than thou because it doesn't fly.

Rete

Because it was.

Of course, everyone knows that when a school bus is flashing all its yellow lights that it is making a left turn.

Thought wrong, didn't ya.

What highway code book? You have to go by NYS law as outlined at the DMV site. You are a resident of that State of New York. You were suppose to apply for a NYS license 30 days after taking up residency in NYS.

Crash Barriers? Are you talking about the guardrails on the side of some roads or the actual railway lever that warns you to stop?

That is your opinion and that counts for nothing. The law says if the yellow lights on a school bus are flashing you are to stop.

Please go on an write to the Mayor and the Board of Education. You have been here a while apparently and must know there is no "school governors". You might also want to write to the owners of the school bus and caution them that they driver is endangering the well being of school children by letting them off, in your opinion, on the wrong side of the road.

Rete

Not a law in all towns and cities of New York State. Only in those towns that have adopted that particular law. For instance it is not applicable in my town but is in my daughter's town 20 miles north of me.

mickybrit

Yes and has a ballard in the center of the road clearly stating "State Law give way to passengers" so you are one of the drivers admitting you break the law deliberatly because you cant be bothered to stop for passengers. Yet come and preach to me.

In England we have a thing called free speech, where we can suggest topics of our liking, they may act or may not. Its a fair suggestion. I aint suggesting everyone speaks Spanish.

What highway code book? I'll find it out.

Crash Barriers? The type you see on a highway. These are on a bridge but the same things. http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5...ardrailwi6.jpg

You didn't comment on the breaking the law by speeding, I'd like to hear what you have to say about that.

mickybrit

Forget the "foreigner" thing, I've lived in Australia and they are Kings at Pommie bashing so join the queue.

One things for sure if you was in a dilema and wanted help from "Johnny Foreigner" you wouldn't be so zenophobic then.

tamms_1965

I am holier than thou...I know the law and I follow it. I have put 2 kids through school in the US and my brothers and I went through school here. I am also a teacher here, know how the system works and why, and know what I am talking about.

Stopping for a school bus is probably one of the most emphasized laws in driver's ed courses across the country. There really is not this huge safety problem (as you think there is) because people know the penalty is stiff if they break the law