Rules are only for Brits

Tranona said:
That's interesting, as that is the opposite of the generally accepted findings.
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The example given in the guide had you travelling as a passenger in your US counterpart's car, through a flat desert landscape across which you can see that there isn't a car for miles in any direction. You come to a junction with a stop sign, and the driver comes to a complete halt before moving off again, even though you can both see that there is neither other traffic which he might hit, nor a policeman who might punish him for disobeying the sign. The explanation given was that most Americans tend to always obey the law regardless of the situation.

Then again, I don't get offended at other people's ties, nor gossip about pregnant secretaries, so perhaps it's all *******s!

Pete
 
Which suburbs? Not quite sure your sample is significant :)

elton said:
In the quiet suburbs of Copenhagen, in the dead of night, people wait patiently for a green light before crossing the road. In Nairobi nobody smokes in the street, outside of the designated zones, and nobody takes pictures near government buildings. We Brits are anarchists by comparison.
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Nostrodamus said:
We Brits like a good winge and it shows especially when we are abroad.

We pussy foot around like a cat on a pillow finding the exact place where we want to anchor and then set up our exclusion zone which we patrol with vigour. (after we have set our anchor ball of course and spent three hours observing every mark available to make sure we are not dragging).Should another boat dare to anchor within that zone then you will hear the call of "Too close, can't anchor there". This is usually done over the radio as the boat it question is too far away to be heard audibly.

Once we get to sailing or motoring it is wonderful. We can moan about every other boat out there not displaying a the Ensign (and of course the ones displaying the wrong one) as no other boat apart from the Brits know the rules of the road.

What has become apparent to me is that these "foreign" boat probably do know the rules but choose to ignore them. It is only us Brits who like rules and who love to quote and stick to them. We would like more rules so we have something else to winge about but we would still stick to them.

I don't know why we are the only ones following them but being abroad you can always tell the Brits, not by the ensign but by the way he shouts these rules at "Billy foreigner who must love it and be giggling himself to death as he anchors a ants cock hair away from your boat and then proceeds to pee over the side.

We Brits really do need to lighten up a bit.
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Surely that is applicable only to those with Blue Ensigns . . . . . .
 
If we lightened up anymore we'd be airborne. Amble in as close to shore as we can, drop the hook, lob the ball up, switch anchor light on depending on time of day, wait a bit and go ashore.

Hairy naked men bending over then peeing is a byproduct of cruising :). I'll try and stop the Boss (and dog) from doing this...

Just a thought, Brits abroad - surely we're the foreigners? I could also comment that Britian is one of the few countries where one can purchase a boat with no qualifications, scary as that undoubtedly is. I don't think it matters where you cruise, there will always be some twiddle nationality irrevevant who refuses to alter course.

As far as ensigns are concerned, have seen some tatty Brit ones lately.
 
2nd_apprentice said:
Never been to Japan then? Right on arrival at Narita International you'll be warned: "Enjoy your stay, but please follow the rules."
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That's a joke.
The Japanese tourists here have no concept of road safety or rules of the road. Just today Mrs Lakesailor saw an escort vehicle with flashing lights driving slowly ahead of a boat transporter in the middle of Bowness.
A Japanese family crossed the road behind the escort vehicle, in front of the transporter. People on the opposite side of the road were shouting "No! Don't cross!" but they carried on.
 
Lakesailor said:
That's a joke.
The Japanese tourists here have no concept of road safety or rules of the road. Just today Mrs Lakesailor saw an escort vehicle with flashing lights driving slowly ahead of a boat transporter in the middle of Bowness.
A Japanese family crossed the road behind the escort vehicle, in front of the transporter. People on the opposite side of the road were shouting "No! Don't cross!" but they carried on.
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Perhaps it was the imperial family. Surely they wouldn't listen to Gaijin.
 
Lakesailor said:
That's a joke.
The Japanese tourists here have no concept of road safety or rules of the road. Just today Mrs Lakesailor saw an escort vehicle with flashing lights driving slowly ahead of a boat transporter in the middle of Bowness.
A Japanese family crossed the road behind the escort vehicle, in front of the transporter. People on the opposite side of the road were shouting "No! Don't cross!" but they carried on.
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Bournemouth has a large number of EFL colleges which means a high number of foreign students in the town. They are referred to locally as Lemmings.
 
Had a naked French man came in at 2am this morning and tried to anchor on top of me. It is quiet difficult telling a naked French man that he is far to close especially with the wind really gusting. He didn't seem to understand the Queens English although he did understand when I took some photos of his boat and said they were for insurance purposes when he hit me... for some reason he moved elsewhere?
 
nigelmercier said:
"Britain is all about rules. If we had no rules where would we be?"
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Italy without doubt.

In fact the OP is wrong. We Brits often dont follow the rules not least because our lords and masters make shed loads of rules but often dont enforce them. We use mobiles whilst driving. We exceed all and every speed limit. We park where we shouldnt. We cheat the insurance companies. Ever seen anyone using a motorsailing cone? Or a fishing boat without the cones welded to the mast?

And as two posters have indirectly pointed out, its the well ordered rule following societies like Germany and Japan that prosper.
 
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Bosun Higgs said:
Italy without doubt.

In fact the OP is wrong. We Brits often dont follow the rules not least because our lords and masters make shed loads of rules but often dont enforce them. We use mobiles whilst driving. We exceed all and every speed limit. We park where we shouldnt. We cheat the insurance companies. Ever seen anyone using a motorsailing cone? Or a fishing boat without the cones welded to the mast?

And as two posters have indirectly pointed out, its the well ordered rule following societies like Germany and Japan that prosper.
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I'd largely go along with that. In general Brits are more like their Mediterranean cousins than most of their fellow North Europeans: laws are there to be stretched, and it's our inalienable right to stretch them. That said, amongst much of the boating community, there's perhaps an opposite trend, the reason for which might be wrapped up with notions of seamanship and the sense that many of the rules make sense and observing them is for the common good.

prv's mention of the Americans...they can be very rule-bound, following the letter of the law...also raised a few memories. Years ago I spent a couple of shifts with a California Highway Patrol car. Without exception, every citizen they encountered behaved obsequiously, something the cops in question clearly expected. Other encounters with US cops reveal the same, whilst in the UK we generally feel free to argue the toss with policemen if we feel they're mistaken (or sometimes not). That doesn't go down well in the US.
 
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