Jump to content

Horseboxes don't float!


David Mack

Featured Posts

6 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

People cannot be saved from their own stupidity ALL of the time....

Although, to be fair, the article does cite language difficulties as the reason for the driver not understanding the sign. He may also have been stupid - that's not purely an English preserve. (Marmalade might be.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Although, to be fair, the article does cite language difficulties as the reason for the driver not understanding the sign. He may also have been stupid - that's not purely an English preserve. (Marmalade might be.)

 

And being even fairer, is a sign really needed?  Did the bloke not see the sea nearly level with the road when he set off? The sea was quite big last time I saw it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

And being even fairer, is a sign really needed?  Did the bloke not see the sea nearly level with the road when he set off? The sea was quite big last time I saw it!

There was an update a bit later you may not have seen - turns out the horse was driving! ;)

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Tumshie said:

I would also be really surprised if there wasn't some form of pictorial sign showing water flowing over the road but the tide was probably coming in faster than he realised. 

 

 

 

Yes I think you're right. Again! 

 

I reckon he decided to go for it and misjudged it. 

 

Or the horse did, rather....

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

I would also be really surprised if there wasn't some form of pictorial sign showing water flowing over the road but the tide was probably coming in faster than he realised. 

 

 

The sign is merely words and says:

 

DANGER

HOLY ISLAND

CAUSEWAY

_______________

Look at

tide tables

for safe

crossing times.   

30 Yards ahead.

 

All apart from the 30 Yards ahead is in uppercase making it more difficult to read particularly if your grasp of written English isn't too good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Jerra said:

The sign is merely words and says:

 

DANGER

HOLY ISLAND

CAUSEWAY

_______________

Look at

tide tables

for safe

crossing times.   

30 Yards ahead.

 

All apart from the 30 Yards ahead is in uppercase making it more difficult to read particularly if your grasp of written English isn't too good.

A quick look at instant street view shows that just before that sign you've mentioned is a sign with danger written in big red letters and just past that sign is a red sign with warning written on it and pictures of the causeway under sea level. Grant it it is not a good pictorial sign but does this really look like a road that you want to cross with the tide rushing towards you. ?

fullsizeoutput_8f4.jpeg

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

 Grant it it is not a good pictorial sign but does this really look like a road that you want to cross with the tide rushing towards you. ?

 

Does history relate to which way he was going?   I can see somebody taking risks to get off the island rather than on to it.   Having crossed the causeway numerous times the island end doesn't look so intimidating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The article says ""We suspect that language problems may have contributed to this incident."

I beg to differ.

I recall from school that Canute getting his feet wet was down to irrational thinking and had nothing to do with the English language.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Jerra said:

Having crossed the causeway numerous times the island end doesn't look so intimidating.

That piccy is a screen shot of instant street view looking from the island towards the mainland. It doesn't look remotely intimidating but it does look like it might end up under water, not to mention, the big red on yellow signs at the side of the road. I appreciate that I don't know the area as well as you obvious do but I stand by my original post he chanced his hand and made an oopsie.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

That piccy is a screen shot of instant street view looking from the island towards the mainland. It doesn't look remotely intimidating but it does look like it might end up under water, not to mention, the big red on yellow signs at the side of the road. I appreciate that I don't know the area as well as you obvious do but I stand by my original post he chanced his hand and made an oopsie.  

From memory (and it is a distant memory) if the causeway is just awash as you start and you "go for it" you'll probably get across - locals certainly used to do this when I was in the area for a few weeks several years ago but I never did it myself. There are two problems, first is judgement, how far has the tide come in?  Second is if you are going to try this you must not be cautious, seconds count. A horsebox is probably not the right vehicle for flooring it across a causeway already awash

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not the first.  I must have seen dozens of pictures like that in the local paper over the past 70 years!  First horsebox, though.

If you're a pilgrim, there's a separate pedestrian route staked out across the sands.  This is from the island end.

Causeway.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Although, to be fair, the article does cite language difficulties as the reason for the driver not understanding the sign. He may also have been stupid - that's not purely an English preserve. (Marmalade might be.)

poor grasp of the English language?   perhaps he was a Geordie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.