Agh!

[athersgeo]

I have a sucky drive to work, as has been noted in this journal many times. I've had articulated lorries attempt to pull over on top of me; I've followed articulated lorries being driven by people who clearly have no perception of how wide the road is compared to their vehicle; I've had cyclists overtake me on the right when I've pulled into the middle of the road to turn right and have my right hand indicator on (I have no objections to cyclists attempting to commit suicide, but I do object to them trying to use my car for the purpose - if nothing else, the paperwork would be hell)... Today's fun? A Smart Turbo (ok, that's a misnomer...) pulling out between the stationary vehicles going in the other direction without any regard for the fact that, although he can't see them, there ARE oncoming vehicles.

Let me give you the set up. Fishponds Road is one of the major roads in North East Bristol. I'm travelling North along it, out of the city, which is generally, reasonably clear and free moving. Traffic going the other way (into the city), however, tends to be rather blocked because every man and his dog is trying to either get into the city centre or get to the M32. Now, there are side turnings off both sides of the road (as you might expect) and it's difficult if you happen to be turning right out of any of them. If you're on the outbound side of the road, you're trying to turn into a lane that's just not moving and you end up blocking the lane that IS moving. If you're on the inbound side, you're having to turn between the stopped cars and you don't have the greatest visibility with regard to what's oncoming.

Most *normal* people trying to turn right inch out until they can see, because that avoids losing their front end in an accident that's entirely their fault. As you might be able to guess, Mr "I Want A Penis Extension But I Can't Afford Anything Sportier Than This Heap Of Plastic" didn't take the normal approach. No. He attempts to pull straight out. The drawback to this approach? I was oncoming at about 30mph. Fortunately for him, I saw him and had started braking (hard) before he'd even seen me. Even more fortunately, the guy behind me was far enough behind me that my sudden braking didn't mean I got smacked up the rear.

Needless to state, I was NOT a happy bunny.


In other news, either I'm getting very, very cynical, I've seen too many spoilers for it or Babylon 5 is about as subtle as a brick. I don't think there's been a plot twist in any of the episodes that I haven't seen coming from five miles away - the only exception to that would be the end of "A Voice In The Wilderness Pt 1" and about the only reason I didn't see that coming is because my DVD player has no timer display so I've never got a clue as to how long the episode's got to run. The other caveat to that statement is that I've still got two episodes to go and there are two episodes that I skipped (Infection and Grail) so's to avoid giving myself nightmares (I don't do alien-possession or snakes at all) - then again, I'd already sussed what was likely to happen in Infection from the teaser and first act so...not sure that one needs to be a caveat.

Comments

[ladyguinevere83.livejournal.com]

What season of B5 are you on? It's been a looooong time since I watched them and I've forgotton all the titles!

I love the name you gave the idiot who pulled out in front of you. I know the type all too well!

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

It's season 1 - sorry, should have said! I'm told that B5 gets better in season 2, but unless the entire writing crew changes, I can't quite see how the level of subtlty's going to improve! (Then again, as I said, it could quite easily be my inner cynic combining with a basic knowledge of spoilers.)

[ladyguinevere83.livejournal.com]

I think season 3 was my fave. I actually first watched season 4 (courtesy of my mum) so by the time I got round to the earlier ones, I already knew a lot!)

Can't recall much about the subtlty, but it gets darker! :)

[jonathlee.livejournal.com]

Actually, the lead actor (and certainly some of the writing crew) does change. JMS starts to take over the writing duties; come season three, he's writing every episode.

EVERYTHING picks up after season one.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. Jeffrey "I've got all the expression of a plank of wood" Sinclair. Give me Sheridan any day.

I know that JMS took over the writing - but several of season one's episodes are purely written by him, too, including "A Voice from the Wilderness", "Babylon Squared" and "The Sky Full Of Stars", all of which I figured out the surprises/twists within about two minutes of them being set up (if not sooner). Particularly "Babylon Squared" with who was in the space suit (which is surely a plothole, given I know Sinclair leaves the show in some way [and I'm guessing he's probably killed off]).

[jonathlee.livejournal.com]

*snickers* ... oh, you KNOW who was in the spacesuit, do you?

Season one's not particularily twisty, no. Later parts are. Other parts of it aren't. It's still hands down the best sci-fi series I've ever seen, barring Firefly. (I consider them equal, actually, if for different reasons.)

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Well, I know who was shown in the spacesuit in the episode - and yes, I knew from about the point where the character with the facial fuzz started talking about The One and then spacesuit guy showed up, who The One had to be. Whether it's subsequently retconned, I wouldn't like to say.

And it's not more twists or whatever that I'm looking for, it's better written ones. So that I *don't* immediately know that Lisa's married and pregnant when Garibaldi's been trying to speak to her for two episodes and before that information's actually revealed. So that when there's a sabotage attempt, I actually start when the bomb explodes rather than hearing the music cue it up. Heck, so that I don't immediately guess Delenn is about to be offered the leadership of the Mimbari (Minbari?).

[b-liz.livejournal.com]

*pokes the idiot driver*
I completely understand your objection to suicidal cyclists - I had a mopedist(?) do that to me - and yes it it lots of paperwork and lots of money too *grrrr*
I've not watched it for years but I don't remember that many surprises in Babylon 5.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

In someways, mopedists are even more lunatic than cyclists because they're powered, you can get one when you're 16 and you don't have to have a proper license...and it shows by the way some of the ones with L-plates are ridden round here abouts. You have my sympathies. *hug*

Sounds like it might not be me, then, as far as B5 goes. The annoying thing is that, on paper, I ought to really enjoy it - and I'm just not. It's kinda fun, and Ivanova has some fantastic lines, but I'm not sure I'd have got hooked when it was first shown and I'm very sure I'm not hooked now!

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

Season 1 isn't as good as the rest: it merely sets the scene. I'm not sure how twisty it was, though. I don't particularly remember being all 'Good Lord, I never saw that coming'. Seasons 3 and 4 are the best, without question.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

See, that's one of the things that I liked about Buffy; some (not necessarily all, but certainly some) of the plot twists episode by episode (and arc by arc) took me by surprise...and they even managed to do that when I knew they were going to happen (Tara's death's a great example of that!). If, within the first ten minutes of an episode, I can work out exactly how the climax is going to play out, I just don't totally enjoy what I'm watching. It's sometimes fun seeing how you get there, but not always. About the only episode I haven't figured the entire plot out in five minutes flat is the episode where Garibaldi's framed - and even with that, the explosion in the teaser was horrendously flagged up by the incidental music!

I'll keep persevering - and I know that there is a lot of setup going on for later seasons - but I can't quite see me ever becoming an absolute B5 groupie.

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

Echoing others on B5: Season one sets everything up, but is only really great in retrospect. You won't need Infection at all. Grail... not so big with the arc, but if it's the episode I think it is *checks* yeah. The B story? Totally worth the icky stuff in the preview. Actually, the icky stuff in the preview, is, in fact the B story.

(I like that episode.)

And the first season is much more predictable--the later stuff, as the arc gets going, is harder to call. Though this show has made me really, really good at picking up on stuff, so maybe there's a reason for that...