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Ed Does anyone here believe that Princess Diana's car crash was suspicious?

Carrot Flower King said:
Damn! I missed that bit.

But were any werewolves of London involved? With their perfect hair and all.

Guess what I've just been listening to!
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I'm afraid not, we they were all at Trader Vic's drinking pina coladas.

Or so I hear.

Actually no I didn't hear. I know nothing about it.

Anyway, it was dark and I was wearing sunglases.

Nothing to see here.

Move along. Move along.
 
P.J. Denyer said:
Not just when parking. Merging, negotiating roundabouts, indicating turns...
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I had the unnerving experience of witnessing Parisian driving about a year and a half ago. We were around places at night that had wide open paved spaces, almost like parking lots. Then we saw them playing bumper cars in them during the day. The concept of "lanes" is lost on the French, I gather.
 
Thermal said:
Point taken, but I'm running with a page from OP's book and creating a reality of my liking. Why entertain facts when imagination is more entertaining?
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And Jake Blues fulfils the Rule of Cool, unlike shilling for Mohammed Al-Fayed's paranoid fantasies.
 
P.J. Denyer said:
Not just when parking. Merging, negotiating roundabouts, indicating turns...
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As someone who held a French driving licence for over twenty years, I can confirm that this is completely accurate.

A couple of remarks on the Fiat Uno front. Firstly, a lot of sources estimate that at least one car in four on French roads is illegal because of registration, insurance, roadworthiness or driver licence issues. You wouldn't expect anybody involved in an RTA to get in contact with the police unless they were immobilised at the scene because the paperwork thing could get tedious. Secondly, there's no way anybody in Paris would go to a bodyshop to get repairs done after a fender bender. There's no point because some connard is going to smack into you again in the next couple of weeks anyway.

Also a comment on the hotel tips thing. A cousin of mine has long been an operations manager for a couple of very upmarket hotels, in a swish mountain resort in the winter and in a well-heeled seaside town in the summer. He's the man who can get you a last minute table for six in the most expensive restaurant in town, that kind of thing. And the amount of money he's made from tips from their very very loaded guests is frankly obscene; €500 for obtaining a dinner reservation and taking care of parking the Lamborghini is nothing unusual.
 
malbui said:
As someone who held a French driving licence for over twenty years, I can confirm that this is completely accurate.

A couple of remarks on the Fiat Uno front. Firstly, a lot of sources estimate that at least one car in four on French roads is illegal because of registration, insurance, roadworthiness or driver licence issues. You wouldn't expect anybody involved in an RTA to get in contact with the police unless they were immobilised at the scene because the paperwork thing could get tedious. Secondly, there's no way anybody in Paris would go to a bodyshop to get repairs done after a fender bender. There's no point because some connard is going to smack into you again in the next couple of weeks anyway.

Also a comment on the hotel tips thing. A cousin of mine has long been an operations manager for a couple of very upmarket hotels, in a swish mountain resort in the winter and in a well-heeled seaside town in the summer. He's the man who can get you a last minute table for six in the most expensive restaurant in town, that kind of thing. And the amount of money he's made from tips from their very very loaded guests is frankly obscene; €500 for obtaining a dinner reservation and taking care of parking the Lamborghini is nothing unusual.
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In a funny sort of way I actually quite like that attitude to minor dings. Admittedly I'm saying that after having someone pull up behind me and stop while I was in motion pulling out of a parking space where a van had parked next to me and blocked my line of sight, £2k for a single dent. Yes I was at fault, but I use that carpark several times a week and if I see someone reversing out of a space and know it's going to be hard for them to see me I hold back for five seconds dammit!
 
P.J. Denyer said:
In a funny sort of way I actually quite like that attitude to minor dings. Admittedly I'm saying that after having someone pull up behind me and stop while I was in motion pulling out of a parking space where a van had parked next to me and blocked my line of sight, £2k for a single dent. Yes I was at fault, but I use that carpark several times a week and if I see someone reversing out of a space and know it's going to be hard for them to see me I hold back for five seconds dammit!
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I primarily drive a utility truck that looks like 3 1/2 tons of angry steel that gained malevolent sentience while arising from a radioactive junkyard. I am afforded right of way with remarkable frequency, as others seem to feel confident that I have nothing to lose.
 
Thermal said:
I primarily drive a utility truck that looks like 3 1/2 tons of angry steel that gained malevolent sentience while arising from a radioactive junkyard. I am afforded right of way with remarkable frequency, as others seem to feel confident that I have nothing to lose.
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22 year old 4x4, I actually love it and am very protective of it, but I'm happy to give the impression I have no ◊◊◊◊◊ to give.
 
Andy_Ross said:
Maybe the driver was wearing Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses.
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It was like a magic trick, I checked over my left shoulder, clear, started to move checked over my right shoulder (swinging past my driver's side wing as there was a pavement with potential pedestrians), clear, looked back to my left, still clear and crunch. She'd literally pulled up in the time my head was moving following my blind spot to miss all three observations.
 
When my in-laws lived in the centre of Grenoble my FIL, who is a proper petrolhead, drove a 30 year old Citroen with virtually no paint left on it and distinctly uneven bodywork. His impeccable reasoning was that it was pointless trying to keep a decent car in good condition when driving and parking in a city like that.
 
malbui said:
When my in-laws lived in the centre of Grenoble my FIL, who is a proper petrolhead, drove a 30 year old Citroen with virtually no paint left on it and distinctly uneven bodywork. His impeccable reasoning was that it was pointless trying to keep a decent car in good condition when driving and parking in a city like that.
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Good wine though. Which might not be entirely unrelated to the driving...
 
Thermal said:
I had the unnerving experience of witnessing Parisian driving about a year and a half ago. We were around places at night that had wide open paved spaces, almost like parking lots. Then we saw them playing bumper cars in them during the day. The concept of "lanes" is lost on the French, I gather.
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I was in Paris once and saw a sight that even made a gendarme shake his head in disbelief; there was a car double parked, on a pedestrian crossing.
 
I still think that while demanding proof is a good thing, some things can be deducted based on "I know that's how the world works."

I know that when you embarrass the powerful by banging the princess, bad things happen to you.

Dodi's dead. Barry Manakee is dead. Hewitt was sent to Germany and later Iraq. James Gilbey was put under surveillance. His phone calls were leaked to the press. A total violation of his privacy.

I still think the rich and the powerful have the ability to humiliate you at the very least!
 
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