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What the hell are they doing? There's a bridge over the M6 near me and every time I drive over it, there are 1 or 2 older/middle aged blokes with binoculars, sometimes cameras on tripods.
Anybody know what they're up to?
Truckspotters, traffic surveys?
First time doggers that haven't quite got it yet?
[paranoid voice]
They're part of the surveillance that the Government have running on you. No one else sees them but they are all around *you* 24 hours a day.
[/paranoid voice]
Old men watch traffic, its the rules!
Lorry spotting probably. Had one on Traffic Cops or whatever as someone had reported him and he was snapping shots of HGV's (reminds me of a joke but I'll leave that for another time).
Cheers
Danny B
Seriously??? Truck spotters????
Why? What do they spot them for??
This thread poses more questions than it answers...
Stobart's have their own fan club. The spotters get fleet lists from the club and try to tick off all the different ones they spot!
http://www.stobartclubandshop.co.uk/
They're a pain in the arse if you're a truck fitter trying to get on with your job and you've got a yard full of Stobart motors, they seem to think they have a god given right to wonder around the yard and in and out of the workshops to gawp at the trucks!
Thankfully I don't have that problem with them any more!
Surveyors with theodolites probably.
Way leftfield/OT but this topic sparked the thought of this brilliant old bloke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Ritchie
Like railway enthusiasts who aim to capture class and numbers I suspect the aim of lorry spitting would be similar, only make and model.
Some trucks are quite cool.
lorry spitting
😆
Hopefully an army of Middle Lane Hogging Monitors
Some trucks are quite cool.
... but there's absolutely NOTHING cool about sitting on a motorway bridge with a flask taking pictures of them as they trundle beneath you at 56mph!
Seriously, I thought that was just something for kids to do on long journeys, can't quite believe that grow adults do this!
They probably laugh their moobs off at 'the weirdos in lyrca riding circles' 😉
They probably have a mental image of Bikefox when they think of mtbers
us blokes really are sad aren't we?The spotters get fleet lists from the club and try to tick off all the different ones they spot!
I fully accept I'm a bike anorak and yes it is silly pointing and laughing at other peoples strange pass times, people watching football for instance, we're all pretty weird.
My wife is convinced that most men are on the Autistic spectrum.
When I read stuff like this I struggle to disagree.
... but there's absolutely NOTHING cool about sitting on a motorway bridge with a flask taking pictures of them as they trundle beneath you at 56mph!
When I was still at school I can remember my best mate being mortified one morning because his bus spotter uncle was standing at the bottom of the road to the school taking pictures and notes of the school buses.
In hindsight the "bus spotter" routine was probably a cover for kiddy fiddling...
i thought everyone was, not just blokes, OCD too, aren't there a lot of "conditions" that we all have it's just that most of us are a [b]long[/b] way down the scale?My wife is convinced that most men are on the Autistic spectrum.
A friend of ours was driving over local motorway bridge not long ago when a suited pedestrian put his bag down and casually hopped over the guard rail like he was looking for something up - 'cept he had hopped off the bridge to plunge his death.
Anyway shibs, its not the old blokes with binoc-u-lars that you want to be worried about, its the yoofs with paving slabs - years back they lobbed one off the next bridge down from suicide bridge and killed a truck driver for Ford.
Each to their own.
My wife is convinced that most men are on the Autistic spectrum.
When I read stuff like this I struggle to disagree.
http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/asperger-syndrome-autism?page=2
At least we get the reward of adrenalin, endorphines and higher fitness levels as a side effect of our strange obsession.
What the hell do these fat old blokes get from spotting a truck?? It's not like they've just discovered something rare and unique, it's a flippin truck!
Gotta catch 'em all
i thought everyone was, not just blokes, OCD too, aren't there a lot of "conditions" that we all have it's just that most of us are a long way down the scale?
No.
There used to be bus spotters outside East Croydon train station.
Maybe trains had got boring and they were after a new adrenaline rush.
[quote...its the yoofs with paving slabs - years back they lobbed one off the next bridge down from suicide bridge and killed a truck driver for Ford.
Ford asked them to kill a trick driver? 😯
That's scandalous, why hasn't more been made of this industrial espionage/assassination?
What the hell do these fat old blokes get from spotting a truck?? It's not like they've just discovered something rare and unique, it's a flippin truck!
It's an interest that stimulates their grey matter, they are out in the fresh air (debatable), it passes the time...
Thats not bird poo on your car roof!
it passes the time...
If my time ever becomes so unbearably dull that spotting trucks enriches it, I will throw myself off a motorway bridge!
lorry spitting
The timing would have to be impeccable from a motorway bridge.
Sounds like fun. I'm in.
I work in an office full of ex British Rail employees, next to Crewe Station.Like railway enthusiasts who aim to capture class and numbers I suspect the aim of lorry spitting would be similar, only make and model.
You should see them twitch when a steam whistle goes off, quite amusing sometimes.
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Depending on the old man, they may be sea-gulling and filming their filthy exploits
You get coach spotters looking around Wembley at all the riches on show... automotive coaches not football coaches I hasten to add.
Those aren't actually old men. They are the ghosts of long dead highwaymen lamenting the passing of their time.
I work in an office full of ex British Rail employees, next to Crewe Station.You should see them twitch when a steam whistle goes off, quite amusing sometimes.
More like they think the kettles boiled and youre making them a brew !
Check out ebay - truck pictures from bridges go for £1.50 a go, can make good pension support if you have the time and can be bothered
When i was younger used to ride down to the local long distance truck park and take pictures of various trucks still got the slides of them.
There are also a surprising number of sentances that came from some drivers as to where they would insert the camera as they thought i was from the vehicle inspectorate.
Met some intresting people and some a bit dodgy but you do in all areas of life.
Goes off to drole over Volvo f86 and f88 tractor units, and a lot of scammell constructors and crusaders along with the leyland t45.
It's an interest that stimulates their grey matter
Not much, surely?
Not much, surely?
I've no idea, I've never done spotting of any description. And of course whether a given pastime is mentally stimulating to someone largely depends on their mental capacity.
Surely this is a good thing. Old men with binoculars are watching stuff on the motorway instead of getting in its way whil doing 49mph in the middle lane.
bus spotter uncle was standing at the bottom of the road to the school taking pictures and notes of the school buses.
I once had a few drinks with a very senior university professor who confessed that when young he used to collect bus numbers, all a bit boring until he revealed that he got cautioned by the police for it, turns out him and his little mates were actually removing the numbers from the buses and running off with them!!! 8)
And of course whether a given pastime is mentally stimulating to someone largely depends on their mental capacity.
You might want to try telling the parent of an Aspergers child that!
when I was about 10 I used to cycle up to the main crossroads and stand there with my notebook collecting car numberplates...
I especially liked the new car plates and they got a star next to them.
thankfully that new hobby didn't last long and I discovered that jumping off kerbs and going down the woods (where I wasn't allowed) on my BMX was more fun.
lucky escape I think.
Not quite the same as truck spotting but when I'm out walking the pooch round the woods with Mrs. Pinkster I often find myself tyre track spotting, trying to identify different tread patterns in the mud.
Not quite the same but just as weird Pinkster!
(I have to admit to doing the same... Even saying things like "Ooh look, such-and-such has ridden this today - nobody else uses Small Block 8s at this time of year...")
May be auto car reporters ?
They get paid a fortune for the first snap of a new Range Rover evoque or new discovery 5 or even a new defender !
Not quite as exciting as some of the other suggestions tho :-0
Spoters for the snipers hiding in the bushes.
I hate seeing people standing on motorway bridges over the traffic. Never sure if they're going to drop a brick onto the car or if they're about to jump.
You might want to try telling the parent of an Aspergers child that!
OK, did that. They said "Obviously"
Its not just old men.
Bikes do it too.
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