Saturday 25 July 2015

Ouch!



In 'ye olden tymes' it wasn't necessary to build houses further apart than the width of two oxen. This example, above, is about 300 metres from our house, and the two buildings are certainly less than 3 metres apart. 

I drive between these houses almost daily, and have to be quite careful. I live just down the road to the bottom right.


Signs of folk having tried to force wide vehicles through the narrow gap are obvious. Many of the subsequent scars are well aged.

Not so long ago, the French land army were holding serious manoeuvres in our area, and we were all warned to expect unusual goings-on (helicopter landings, white flag waving, bangs, etc). What I didn't expect to find was a huge tank wedged-tight between these two buildings.

It had become totally stuck, and decisions had to made quickly whether to cut away at the stone on the one side, or simply put the tank into reverse and hope for the best. They eventually chose the latter.

Nothing fell down. The tank had some very nasty dents and wounds, but the building just shrugged it off with the few scars that you can see, below. The soldiers parted 'red-faced'.  


N.B. There is a clause written into the deeds of the house in Picture No 2 and top left, that The State has the right to demolish part of the wall if it so desires. So far so good.



12 comments:

  1. This reminds of a time in my youth... The army National Guard (U.S.) was moving heavy equipment via semi trailer on the interstate next to the farm my family owned. Someone, apparently, had no head for numbers and mis-figured the clearances...

    Several arrmoured vehicles suddenly became 'convertibles'. They had to let the air out of the semi's tyres.

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    Replies
    1. You'd think they'd have detailed maps of such things. Maybe they do NOW.

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  2. The army here uses the area around for navigations, sometimes i find lost soldiers in my yard.

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    Replies
    1. Get them to do some gardening for you, before letting them go!

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  3. Fascinating. I love that there is evidence around you of ages past. Here everything (man-made, at least) is new, and rather ugly.

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  4. It reminds me of the1960s and 50s problem with American servicemen trying to drive their (air-liften in) cars over hump-back bridges in places like Devon.

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  5. Sat Nav doesn't care, send 'em down there anyway....

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  6. Can't believe that cars don't run into it all of the time. They are having those kind of secretive maneuvers in Texas and rumors abound that the government is taking control of Texas. The governor even commented about it.

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  7. We have similar roads here in the Dales Cro but there is almost always an alternative route. A problemhere is that our cottages were all built without garages in the days when there was no such thing as a car. Now parked cars in the evenings, when everyone is home from work, are a real problem.

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    Replies
    1. Weaver, what you failed to point out is that most of the Dales roads are less than 3 yards wide...
      and the stone walls on each side aren't nearly as smoooooth as these.
      We used to do an annual run from Leeds to the Tan Hill Inn... the run continues, but we are now in France...
      it involves around 100 Citroen 2CVs and takes place on the first available Sunday in January...
      in a 2CV we can avoid Dales cottage walls as we pass via Buckden, over Fleet Moss and into Hawes...
      then via the Buttertubs Pass, a 1 in 3 climb up Keld Bank and across the moor to the Tan Hill...
      we know those roads...
      Cro's walls are too smooth and snow free!!
      Grassington is occasionally a problem...
      for anyone coming the other way that is!!

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  8. Cro, this post reminds me of when a friend...
    a car collector...
    was having an Anglia towed back to his.
    He swung onto the pavement outside his house...
    the tow car... an elderly Mk3 Escort...
    couldn't stop fast enough...
    the Anglia hit the lamp post outside my friend's house...
    and stopped both cars.
    The concrete lamp post fractured and slowly and gracefully toppled...
    onto the roof of the Escort...
    it stove in the roof and popped the front and rear windows... without breaking them!!

    The driver of the tow vehicle got out...
    walked over to the Anglia and looked at the totally unbent front bumper... the chrome was scratched, but no dent, no bend...
    he looked at my friend, patted the Anglia and said...
    "They don't make cars like this any more!!"
    In the case of this post of yours...
    substitute "houses" for "cars"!!

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    Replies
    1. It's true; a modern brick or block built house would have been demolished!

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