Diary Of An ADI

Archive for November, 2009

A few weeks ago I wrote about the utter destruction that had been wrought on a country lane I frequently travel along. Nottinghamshire County Council had carried out some ‘maintenance’ – the first I have seen this year, and long overdue from a safety perspective. I pointed out, however, that this work went way beyond ‘maintenance’ and easily bordered on wanton vandalism.

I noticed I was getting a fair number of hits from the Council’s internal website – large organisations often have news harvesters looking for mention of their name, and then you get traffic once it is flagged.

Now, I also wrote to the Council to complain about what had happened. I got a polite response almost immediately, telling me it would be referred to the correct department for them to look into and to respond to in full. I went into some detail – providing photographs – and pointed out:

When [what I have said] taken into account **“ and allowing for ongoing concerns over disappearing hedgerows in the UK (not to mention the illegality of tearing them up) **“ you would expect any maintenance to be done with the utmost care.

Well, I have a reply from the Communities Department. This one doesn’t come across quite as politely as the initial response, and I get the distinct impression that they were not happy with my complaints. If anything, the detailed response is actually shorter than the one telling me it would be looked into!

It turns out that there is a considerable difference between a ‘hedgerow’ and things which are not designated as hedgerows (even though they look the same to me and also, no doubt, to the wildlife that chooses to live in them). At least as far as the Council is concerned. The Communities Department refers to ‘non-hedgerows’ with the euphemism self setting vegetation.

In response to my comments about the use of one of those tractor-mounted devices, it informs me that:

…it is not uncommon for a tractor to be used when cutting overgrown vegetation outside of Bird Nesting season.

Yes, I am aware of that. My point is how poorly operated these devices are. However, the important detail here is that the complex laws concerning hedgerows – so complex, indeed, that I suspect councils can twist the meaning as it suits them – means they can be mangled almost at will when the birds aren’t nesting (see Naturenet for more information on hedgerow laws). They go on:

I can assure you that no hedgerow or planted trees were destroyed during this routine maintenance, only self setting vegetation.

Hold on! This is a play on words. For a start, the ‘routine’ maintenance has pulled out or smashed down trees which must have been at least 5-10 years old and virtually eliminated the Dog Rose and Hawthorn amongst them. Most of the trees and bushes here, I can assure you, were NOT overhanging the road – and even if they were, there is a world of difference between cutting branches back and tearing whole trees out of the ground. Remember one of the photos?

Hedge Trimming - Image 3

Does this look like ‘routine’ maintenance? Where were they these last 10 years while the trees were just shoots?

It also doesn’t address what I told them about those damned tractors. They can be fitted with flails to deal with anything from cutting the bobbles off an Angora sweater to bringing down a helicopter. This one was clearly fitted with the latter: it was set to Maximum Death Kill Mode, either deliberately or because they don’t have the other parts available to set it up in any other way. They ALWAYS have the damned things set to this level of destruction.

And let’s not forget the fact that I have seen a grass snake, stoats, owls, and so on in the last 6 months slithering, running, or flying into that self setting vegetation the Council thinks so little of. I wonder what those animals will do now?

But worst of all is the frightening realisation that any tree, plant, or shrub – literally ANY of them – is liable to be chopped down by Nottinghamshire County Council if it isn’t officially a Card-carrying Member Of The United Alliance Of Hedgerows! And membership is, of course, determined ONLY by Nottinghamshire County Council!

Actually, this would explain a hell of a lot of the apparent ineptitude on the Council’s part over the years. Not one patch of land is safe from being ‘managed’ and having the underbrush cleared to make way for footpaths and fly-tippers. Often this is a precursor to a ‘Land For Sale’ sign going up at some point. So a patch of untouched land which is a haven for all kinds of wildlife (much of it not catalogued) is suddenly ‘maintained’, and becomes a dogs’ toilet for a while before being turned into an embryo slum estate.

But anyway, there you have it. On any country lane, only official hedgerows are protected in any way. Anything else – 50-year old trees, orchids, willows, whatever – are designated self setting vegetation can be torn down (badly) by the Council, at will. Unless they can prove they were ‘planted’!

Except… this is simply not true. It is Nottinghamshire County Council making things up! If you take a look at that Naturenet link to hedgerows and the law, it says:

A hedgerow is ‘a row of bushes forming a hedge, with the trees growing in it’. Where a former hedgerow has grown up to form trees, it is not covered by the regulations. The exact difference between a line of trees and a hedgerow is not defined in law.

So, nothing about being ‘planted’. And what constitutes a hedgerow covered by regulations?

Hedgerows on or adjacent to the following… Land used for agriculture [amongst others]…

Which is exactly what THIS former row of bushes and trees is bordering and acting as a hedge to.

You couldn’t make this up, sometimes. The Council is more than happy to do that, though!

I was on my way to a pupil last night during the rush hour. I was travelling south along the Nottingham Ring Road, just at the junction with Nuthall Road – here, the road is temporarily three lanes wide (or four if you include the right-turn only lane towards the M1), but it merges back to two as soon as you get past the traffic lights. I was in the 2nd lane.

The lanes were just merging when I saw this dark grey or black Volvo V70 approaching at extremely high speed in my mirror in the outside lane (reg. no. YP09 ZTF). The guy driving it literally forced me into the left-hand lane. He had no intention of stopping or of giving way.

Obviously, I used a variety of hand signals to explain to him the inadequacy of his genitals and the absence of anything between his ears. He seemed to understand this, because when I passed him he was holding his finger up in such a way that he recognised what he was. I should also point out that his physiognomy was most typical of his kind.

"Crybaby" Jim Breaks

I don’t know if anyone remembers a wrestler in the 70s called Jimmy Breaks (nicknamed “crybaby”). I don’t want to be disrespectful to Jimmy, because he was a great entertainer, but he did have a certain appearance which went in tandem with both his image and his profession. Essentially, he had a face which looked like it had just encountered a wall at high speed.

Well, the zygote driving this Volvo had exactly the same appearance – small and inferior-looking, with piggy little eyes close together. He also had the kind of hair and fringe which looked like someone had run some masking tape around his head, then farted on it whilst suffering from the biggest dose of the galloping gazungas ever encountered. You know what I mean: cropped short, dead straight fringe with no deviation, extremely dense (just like what was underneath).

But the speed he was doing in that 40mph zone must have been close to 60mph (they do it between the speed cameras when they try to queue jump in heavy traffic) and his driving so dangerous that if it were caught on film he would be looking at a jail term. Seriously, you had to see it to believe it! Oh, yes. And he had a woman in the car with him. I bet she was dead impressed.

Now, I know that this sort of behaviour is a growing problem – especially with the sort of pondlife which drives like the guy in the Volvo (reg. no. YP09 ZTF – I’ll mention it again so the search engines pick it up well). But I was out with a pupil today, and bearing right at Trent Bridge to go down Radcliffe Road there was this woman in a blue Renault Scenic (reg. no. FD07 POJ) who was in the left lane, and she forced us out in order to get past parked cars without stopping.

Once again, I used hand signals to explain the obvious weakness with whatever it was which passed for intelligence in her species – but I don’t think she saw because she was deliberately not looking in the mirror (like they do). I caught a glimpse of her face and she, too, bore a striking resemblance to the guy in the Volvo (with the exception of longer hair and no doubt something defining her femaleness (which would need to be determined in a laboratory, seeing as it wasn’t that apparent otherwise).

At the Lady Bay traffic lights she got behind another learner. I can imagine the cursing which was emanating from her front orifice – she had what appeared to be a young girl in the passenger seat – and when the lights changed she forced her way across several lanes to both over- and undertake at more than than the 30mph speed limit in force on that road.

These kinds of people – who really should be prevented from breeding – are a frighteningly growing phenomenon on our roads. They aren’t just dangerous, but dangerously illegal in their behaviour. Something really needs to be done about them.

When I first installed RC1, I had a few problems getting my HP Deskjet 1220C to run. The drivers wouldn’t install from disk.

Windows 7: Deskjet 1220C Installed

After reading some complete rubbish about how this printer isn’t supported – some of it on Microsoft’s own forums by people it elevates to MVP – I discovered that it IS supported.

Windows 7 will automatically install 1220C drivers when you plug in/turn on the printer. You do not need any extra software or drivers for the 1220c. Support is built right in to Windows 7.

The graphic here shows the 1220C installed and ready to go on my clean install of the commercial version of Windows 7 Ultimate. I can assure you it is printing perfectly.

It never ceases to amaze me how much bad information gets spread on the Internet. People say something, defend it, then evidence arises that totally contradicts their original statement… and they still defend it! You really do wonder what planet they are on sometimes.

Anyone listening to the idiot who claimed the 1220C wasn’t supported – and who also defended that claim vehemently - could have gone out and spent another £100+ on a printer unnecessarily.

EDIT 2/12/09: I’m getting a lot of hits for this post – I’d be interested to hear from people about whether it helped them or not. Did you get your printer working after reading this? What problems had you had which made you search for it? You can use the contact form.

EDIT 08/07/2010: I’m still getting a lot of hits for this post. I should also point out that when I installed the commercial version of Windows 7 Ultimate, my printer worked perfectly first time. Any problems I had with RC1 seem to have been specifically to do with RC1, and not Windows itself.

I’ve been getting a few hits from people asking what happens to AA driving instructor cars once they go back.

From what I have been told by AA instructors, the cars are supplied by a company in Kent called Ambrosetti. Until a couple of years ago it was via a company in Leicestershire. The AA pays for the cars, but no one seems to know how much or if they actually buy them or just lease them.

Instructors keep the cars for 6 months, and then they are collected by Ambrosetti when the new one is delivered. The old cars are auctioned off, but I don’t know who to or the mechanics involved. Since Focuses hold their value quite well (and are expensive to begin with) I would imagine that there is little financial loss as far as the interested parties are concerned. After all, the AA charges its franchisees around £200 a week and is unlikely to be paying anywhere near full retail prices for them, and Ambrosetti would be able to sell the cars on for probably more than was paid for the 6 month lease on each car.

If anyone is genuinely interested in getting hold of one, the best thing to do would be to contact Ambrosetti to start with on 01304 611023 (the webpage seems to be down as I write this).

Just a quick post…

I’m working on my computer before my first lesson (last minute cancellation gave me some time free), and a TV programme has called Country Tracks has just started. It has some woman on a bicycle visiting different places.

Right at the start she was interviewing the Veteran Cycling Club in Meriden, West Midlands. She asked them why they were in Meriden, then a few other pointless questions. One of them mentioned the Penny Farthing cycle and how it had no gears, so speed was governed by the size of the front wheel.

She asked:

Why did they call it a Penny Farthing?

I’ve switched over now. If ever it was possible to get cramp in your brain, BBC shows like this give it to me!

Saw this story in the Daily Telegraph today. Apparently, two of the directors have finalised a £10m buyout from Arques - further details, such as which cars will be used aren’t available yet, though I would expect any recent deals would have to be honoured. The Arque deal was only completed in February, so this comes less than a year later:

The report says:

Mr Shafi and Mr Kesting intend to expand the Bristol-based business… by hiring 3,000 new instructors within two years, despite the recession causing a shortage of candidates for the job.

I’m sure that this will get a few peoples backs up.

The report finishes:

The pair hope to reopen high street centres closed under the previous ownership to raise the company’s public profile and achieve sustained capital growth by 2011.

I had a pupil on test this morning, and she failed. She’s a good driver, but gets nervous on test (she is dyslexic and has to try very hard to carry out the manoeuvres correctly). She’s a trainee nurse and, on the bursary she has to live on, cannot afford to keep taking lessons or paying for tests. She bought a car, but she’s going to have to sell it because she can’t afford to keep it sitting on the road if she can’t drive it. Her result was actually quite good – she just made a simple mistake.

Like I say, she’s a good driver – easily safe enough to drive on her own, but obviously you have to perform better than that in order to pass the test.

I was driving her home and she was struggling to keep the tears in check. We came to a mini-roundabout and I waited to let a lorry and a couple of cars coming the opposite way turn right. Behind them was a grey 4×4 being driven by a woman (reg no. AJ57 AHC). You know the type: she could barely see above the steering wheel, but having a big, kick-ass 4×4 that you can’t handle properly is an essential status symbol for a lot of very insecure people (and women in particular, it must be said).

She wasn’t indicating, but she WAS turning right! She started to turn, THEN indicated, and it became clear she was also on the phone judging by the way her mouth was going and the way her head was cocked to hold the phone between her ear and shoulder!

My pupil asked the question: “why do THEY get licences when they do things like that?”

And that is the question to which there really is no satisfactory answer.

I thought I’d added this, but I can’t find it. I’ve commented recently about the Windows 7 drivers (or lack thereof) for my new HP Scanjet G4010, and how I got round the problem by using W7′s XP Mode.

I was angry that HP had apparently programmed the installer not to work on anything other than Vista or earlier, but had told me via Tech Support that W7 drivers would be released once W7 was itself released. Well, on the day W7 was released I checked HP’s site and it had definitely been updated. There was a link to ‘how to get W7 drivers’ but nothing downloadable at the end of it, and nothing of any use from a technical perspective.

I can’t remember what made me do it – or even what it was exactly that I did – but without downloading anything at all, the drivers now install. The scanner works under W7.

On the one hand, I am happy. But I don’t like how HP did this, or what they apparently did to unlock the installer. I mean, what DID they do? I didn’t authorise any download, but something obviously got through.

EDIT 06/11/2009: I’m noticing a few hits for this. If this post helps anyone, could you drop me a line using the Contact Form to let me know?

One thing I will point out is that although the scanner works, the toolbox which contains the OCR software doesn’t. However, take a look at this link for SimpleOCR – a freeware OCR program.

I’m waiting for my copy of W7 Ultimate to arrive, and when it does I’ll be doing a clean install on my Vista partition. If anyone is having trouble with their G4010 scanner, I will check out what I do for them and post back here.

EDIT 13/11/09: I’m still getting hits for this. Note that the HP website says that the G4010 is definitely on the list referred to by the following:

The following list of scanners already have, or will soon have, full software support for Microsoft Windows 7. The Microsoft Windows 7 solution can be found either in the CD shipped with the scanner or at the HP support web site (www.hp.com/support)…

So stop worrying and wait… THEY DON’T YET EXIST, SO STOP KEEP LOOKING AND DON’T DOWNLOAD ANYTHING EXCEPT FROM HP!

EDIT 21/11/09: Just to point out that mine has stopped working even under Virtual XP. My PC just tells me the scanner isn’t connected or there is a problem. If you connect it under W7 you are likely to get a Blue Screen.

FOR THE HARD OF HEARING: THE G4010 DOESN’T WORK WITH WINDOWS 7 BUT HP IS SUPPOSED TO BE PRODUCING DRIVERS.

EDIT 2/12/09: Let me also clarify that SimpleOCR does not magically make the scanner work under Windows 7. The G4010 does not have W7 drivers, yet. Period. I mentioned SimpleOCR because it DID work for me whilst the scanner was functioning under Virtual XP. Seeing as it doesn’t anymore, SimpleOCR is just a separate piece of software.

EDIT 19/1/2010: There is an updated post detailing a possible workaround here.

EDIT 28/02/2010: For anyone too lazy to search properly, drivers are now available and mentioned in this post.

EDIT 21/06/2010: This post is proving very popular. Someone just found it on the search term “how to use ocr in hp g4010 scanners”. It’s easy – if you have installed the W7 drivers from HP which I linked to above.

Make sure the scanner is turned on and connected, open the HP Solution Center, then click “Scan Document”. You can then select from a list of different file types from TIF, through PDF and email, RTF and Word, all the way down to lowly WordPad. Then click “scan”. The rest is self-explanatory.

I wondered if we were approaching a full moon again (full moon was Monday, so not far away).

No Right Turn Sign

This morning on the A60 in Nottingham, I came round a bend with double white lines and a No Right Turn sign (the bend and the white lines are why it is no right turn) only to discover a silver 4×4 (reg. no. FP09 DVY) doing… you guessed it: a right turn.

Then later, on a lesson with a pupil, a silver Vauxhall Astra (reg. no. KD02 VZS) overtook at traffic lights on the inside, using a left turn-only lane to do it, and well above the 30mph speed limit in force on Bilborough Road at the Trowell junction.

Shortly before the prat in the Astra, we were overtaken at speed and then cut up at the Strelley junction as the lanes merged into one by a learner in an Elliotts school car – and it WAS a learner, so God only knows what the idiot in the passenger seat was thinking of. It wasn’t as if my pupil was going slow, and the incident quite worried her.

And shortly before that, as we joined Sandhurst Road down at Hucknall, an idiot in a truck (not one of the big ones that has to turn wide, but a small one who was just in the wrong place) decided that the best place to be was the left hand lane – when he actually wanted the right hand lane in order to turn right at traffic lights. Of course, this meant cutting across the middle lane and nearly taking us out at the same time (his peanut-sized brain was probably shouting “learner – therefore we have right of way”). Again, my pupil wasn’t going slow, and this probably caused his brain to overload.

And before that, as we were crossing the roundabout from Bells Lane to Cinderhill Road, a pillock driving a Nottingham City Transport bus decided the left lane was the best place to be to cut across the two lanes of the A610 and cut in front of us on the roundabout. Once again, his miniscule brain probably freaked out when he saw a learner drive off at normal speed. So we had to stop on the roundabout/traffic light queue to let him in.