There's also a fascinating and super detailed video how to drive from West Germany to Berlin as member of British military during Cold War times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS1xvtLV8Xw
It's also interesting to see how many things this "advanced motorist" does that would result in a test fail or fine nowadays. Like at 8:21 when he flashes his lights and honks at traffic to get out of the way(!) A pointless manoeuvre at 12:14 and a very poor overtake at 15:05 that forces oncoming traffic to slow down. Baseline standards have certainly improved since then..
The British "V-sign" is equivalent to the US "middle finger." The only difference is the former represents open legs, while the latter represents the male member.
If the "V-sign" is given with the palm forward, then it could be either of the (antiquated) "peace" or "victory" signs, but if it is given with the back of the hand forward, it's the "legs open" version.
That's the first time I ever heard that explanation (open legs) -the most common is it is a sign of defiance from English archers to French who it was said would cut off the two right fingers from any captured archers.
That is pretty rigorously debunked but is still popular
I think ultimately it's an arbitrary rude gesture that became popular and stuck.
As my seven year old is delighted to learn, it's rude enough to shock but nowhere near as rude as a middle finger.
Interesting. I've heard the archers version too, but what I related above was taught to me by an acquaintance from Birmingham nearly 50 years ago. (Obviously I'm a yank and it's certainly possible that I was misinformed.)
I quite like the French autoroute approach to this situation. They sit in the outside lane with their indicator on to indicate they want to go around you but can't. Somewhat less aggressive but makes the point.
Not having an “in town checkin” system like Hong Kong (or, indeed, the London Airport of the past!) is one of the most miserable things about flying out of there. Imagine how much easier it would be to take the Piccadilly line without a suitcase…
It's amazing to see these old videos. The roads were busy than I expected, I thought cars were incredibly expensive back then? (not that they aren't now).
In 60 years time when we're all driving hover cars like the Jetsons imagine how much footage they'll have of us. Dashcams everywhere
About 5 million cars in 1960s vs over 30 million now. But that journey done today would be practically all on the M4, a 3 lane uninterrupted motorway, so capacity has massively increased.
Cars were already mass-produced 60 years ago and, compared to contemporary cars, rather simple. (No electronics, no airbags etc.) So they couldn't have been that expensive.
Also, parking was mostly free, no congestion duties when driving into London... IDK if there were taxes on gasoline and how high.
Not quite the same time period :) but I enjoyed it when it happened: Sigur Rós doing a whole day loop around Icelandic Route 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G54tllj-SKI (with their soundtrack)
I didn't watch it all, but I was struck by the absence of traffic lights - both at junctions and pedestrian crossings, where they're ubiquitous in urban areas now.
