Can I just warn any lurkers out there...........

I had a really bad experience with a tailgating HGV when I dropped Anno at Geneva airport. There are a couple of longish tunnels with a limit of 100 kph and a very large lorry came right up to my back bumper and turned on his main beam and sounded his horn all the way through the tunnels. He could have overtaken me easily on the road between the tunnels. If my timing belt had snapped there was no way he could have avoided ploughing into me. I was fined €90 a few months ago for doing 61 kph in a 50 zone on the same airport road, and I wasn't going to exceed to please him.
I don't scare easily, but I think some people might have panicked. I was surprised, because he had a Swiss number and I somehow expect them to be more law abiding!
The British are very good drivers compared to most of the rest of Europe.

I just wave a friendly finger out of the window at tail-gaters. They obviously appreciate it as they usually wave back, flash their lights or even toot at me, and often all three.

Maniac "(I think she said 15,000 ! ).So there are an awful lot of lurkers!"

And they all join to enter the competitions.

I sometimes flick the lights on so that it looks as if I am braking!

I want a pop up sign that says "Back off you are too close"

You are in France, greatnan .

It's always a bit of a shock when back in the UK and car drivers acknowledge road-kindness.

Can only agree about having a sorry sign in my car! As for the rest of life, I just think I should have 'sorry' tattoo'd across my forehead.

You could have pop up sign in the rear window - I have often wanted to say "Oops, sorry" when I freely admit it has been my fault. (but just as often want to say something along the lines of "What do you think you are doing you somewhat irresponsible individual" only those are not exactly the words I would choose!!)

I would like one for my car, for the very unusual occasion when I make a mistake in my driving - but mainly I would like one that said 'Don't you ever say thank you' for all the times when I let people into a queue and they don't acknowledge.

Sorry - I feela bit left out of all this apologising - sorry if I have not been keeping up
(Could we have a sorry emoticon, perhaps?)

I think (hope) that we have now established that nobody is apologising for anything!

HildaW I hope you don't mean that I have suggested that people should apologise for having degrees. Far from it. One of my cousins got an OU First in Humanities and had a great time doing it. Of course it is delightful spending time devoted to a subject of special interest. Nor should those who don't have them apologise for not having degrees.

Well done, Hilda - you must have felt a great sense of accomplishment.

I am not a lurker, never seen the point - why just sit and watch when its much more fun to join in?
And appropo above - I have a degree. I slogged away for 7 years to get my OU B.A. Hons in Humanities with English Literature. I enjoyed every moment of it even when dealing with death, desease, dyslexia and near divorce. I have no use for it as such - it was just great fun and has increased my understanding of many aspects of culture and history. I rarely refer to it but am damned if I'm going to be made to feel as if I should apologise for it by certain folks. End of!

But do they have degrees Maniac?

I wonder if they join for the entertainment on the forums or, as jingle once suggested, possibly under one of her other names, for the competitions.

At our NW meetup we heard from Cari that GN has thousands of members
(I think she said 15,000 ! ).So there are an awful lot of lurkers!

Jeni Damn, damn, thrice damn. In one of those boxes in the glory hole must be my piano exam and ballet exam certificates – and I thought I had disposed of all evidence of my education.

My DDs degree is chemistry. After a varied career in cleaning, bar work,accountancy and teaching assistant, she finally got her pg cert and is teaching science in a school in Cheltenham (not THAT one, a comp)

I agree, Jess. My grandon's MSc is in marine biology and of course he wanted to do research on sharks, like almost everybody else in the field. I am no longer in contact with him, but his sister tells me he is now applying for jobs in commercial fisheries all over the country. They certainly have to come out of their ivory towers.

Oh goodness me absent maths and sciences very much in demand. Problem with some PhDs is that they are so specialised and if research funding cut in their area, they can be a bit stuck up the twig referred to re physicists. But they still have an extremely useful training if they are willing to get out of pure research and use their brains in business.
There are some branches of science that are being oversupplied with places as universities are profit motivated. e,g, marine biology.

I have found in the houses of friends I have visited that that "place of honour" is usually the downstairs loo

My brother has just texted me to say he has found my grade 5 violin exam cert amongst our late mothers things.
In view of this discussion I am going to have it elaborately framed and hung in a place of honour.