Mr Ionly has already been in local politics and guess what he certainly ruffled a few feathers of more well known activists.

In his new found venture I think it only polite to refer to hiom as Mr Ionly, as you probably know Hound, by his reputation, if you want someopne to FIGHT for you Mr Ionly is the man to vote for.

By the way, sorry fo falling into the Wisconsin vernacular, it should be him not hiom.

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And I cannot ignore this one. The Romans never got to the USA because they are just finding out about Roundabouts, but go round the wrong way. What amazed me when I was driving there is that when you approach a red light, you can turn right if there is nothing coming I was told. A bit stupid if there was something coming but they did not understand logic. I remember going for a walk one day, just nipped out to the shops and Yankee's wife told me to be careful because somebody might pull up in a car and try to rob me with a gun. Yankee and I just looked at each other and laughed............ Then I went shopping. No Romans there but some corner shops

NY and Ionly - When we arrived in Binghamton, NY in 1976 there was one roundabout in the county and locals knew how to use it.
A move to Connecticut in 1984 meant we did not have any.
We came west in 1989 and there were none in the Portland area there were none, but we now have three on the west side of town. The designs are strange - the approach roads are curved, I assume to make merging easier. The locals are still confused after three years!

My all time favorite roundabout was Hyde Park Corner before they put the traffic lights in. Once I was there with a colleague from Binghamton in a rental Ford Fiesta S and it was such fun I went around a second time. I think he wanted to send for brown trousers.
I've never attempted the Arc de Triomphe as that seems a little daunting - but I've never seen an accident there on several visits.

I was once in a taxi in Milan. I was new to the city and was a bit surprised when my wiser colleagues offered me the front seat.

4 G-Force on my face as my driver set off told me they weren't being nice. The bugga wouldn't let me put my seatbelt on. I didn't need it, he knew what he was doing.

He then flew through a red light. I politely pointed out to him that the light was red and his reply is one I'll never forget.

In Milano, green means go.
Yellow means go
Red means go if nothing is coming.

It was a blind crossroads so I asked him how he knew nothing was coming. What? You think I don't know this city? At this time, here, nothing ever is coming!

The Italians don't change. I was in Sicily in the summer. The lady who ran our hotel was nice enough to give us a lift into the local town. As I sat in her car, naturally, the seat belt warning sounded. She immediately went in her door compartment, took out a seat belt buckle and put it in the seatbelt socket to shut the warning up! Anything but wear your seatbelt

The turn right at the lights thing if the light is on red in the USA is a good thing i reckon.
You have to remember that they are driving on the opposite side of the road so it would be the same as us turning left on a red light if nothing is coming from the right.
I have driven there enough times to know that it works fine and keeps the traffic flowing nicely.
It is kinda like a left filter light but it just requires the driver to be diligent and make sure nothing is coming.
Given the amount of free space vision you get at most crossroads it usually isnt a problem.

Fuzzy, the taxi thing you mention reminds me of a similar incident in Luxor.
Me and a mate in a taxi approaching a red light at a crossroads.
The driver not slowing down and obviously going to go straight through but we could see a car approaching at high speed from the left.
Before we knew it we had gone through the red light and we could see the other car really close to us but thankfully the timing was good for us and we got through.
I have to say that i was expecting it to hit us.
Apparently that is normal behaviour in Egypt too.

I've driven round the Arc de Triomphe, Mickey - it is indeed daunting because you are never in complete control - you are relying on everybody else (as well as yourself) to do nothing stupid. However, that is nothing compared to crossing the road as a pedestrian in Hanoi - literally hundreds of motor scooters and a few cars and vans whizz past at full speed and nobody ever stops at a traffic light. The local rule is that you just have to step out into the road and walk and it is the job of the scooter, car and van drivers to drive around you. It's ok when you get used to it but a real shock when you're stood at the side of the road waiting to cross for the first time!

Ah - Egyptian driving. Now that's really something.

In Cairo, I saw a Ford Fiesta with bull-bars front and rear. The bull-bars were almost as big as the car. No need to explain the guy's driving style or parking method.

I also saw an accident where the entire rear-axle had fallen off a bus. The passengers simply got out, a little shaken and queued for the next bus.

The bit I liked though was chatting with my chauffeur for the day. I asked him how anyone in Cairo afforded insurance.

He said that it wasn't expensive because there were no accidents,

I pointed at the next car to round the corner. It had a smashed headlight; the next had a smashed in front; the next had a door that had seen some action.

"Oh , we have touches" said my Chauffeur.

"Touches?"

"Yeah - you don't claim for touches. You just tell the other driver that his mother was fooked by a goat. He will reply by accusing your father of oral with donkeys, the bystanders nod and applaud the insults. When you've both had enough you get back in your cars and drive away.

Simple solutions to every day problems!

They are learning all these tricks in Donny too