Going metric would not have made a difference

[Beer Sponge]

Church in our village was founded in 520 AD.

Also the approximate date Gob last set foot in a church!

[BoSoxGal]

[MajGenl.Meade]

Church in our village was founded in 520 AD.

Also the approximate date Gob last set foot in a church!

Oh, he appreciates architecture so you're wrong there.

What I notice (although with a lot more CDO - note the correct order) is that he didn't say 520 CE but instead referred to "our Lord". There is hope!

[Gob]

I was last in church in December, this one;

Brent Tor is a tor on the western edge of Dartmoor, approximately five miles (8 km) north of Tavistock, rising to 1100 ft (330m) above sea level. The Tor is surmounted by the Church of St Michael, the parish church of the village of Brentor, which lies below the Tor.

he Church of St Michel de Rupe ("Saint Michael of the Rock") atop the Tor dates to the 13th century, and measures 15 feet (4.6 m) wide and 37 feet (11 m) long. The tower is 40 feet (12 m) high and houses five bells. At one point, the Church may have been used as a Beacon tower, used to spread word of enemies seen out to sea (see also Spanish Armada).

The Church has a capacity of approximately forty people. Although there is a newer (19th century) church (Christchurch) in the village, which is used for many services, St Michael's is still used on Christmas Day, Easter Day and for Evensong during the summer. In 1995 the Church was struck by lightning, which caused extensive damage, but this has since been repaired.

and this one

The Church of Saint Pancras is a Church of England church in Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Devon, England. It is also known as the Cathedral of the Moor.

It has received the nickname "Cathedral of the Moor" because of its 120-foot tower and relatively large capacity for such a small village. The church was originally built in the fourteenth century, in the Perpendicular (late Gothic) style, using locally quarried granite. It was enlarged over the following two centuries, partly on the proceeds of the local tin-mining trade. Inside, the ceiling is decorated with a large number of decorative roof bosses, including the tinner's emblem of a circle of three hares (known locally as the Tinners' Rabbits).

Not only do I go to churches regularly when in the UK, I also collect religious music, I have several hundred CD's worth in my collection.

[Jarlaxle]

I'm pretty sure I learned the number of pounds in a ton before I was in eighth grade.

And how did she get a CDL without learning about load limits and getting "comfortable" with reverse gear?

Having a CDL...honestly, I do not think the word "ton" was ever used. It is ALWAYS pounds, never anything else. (The semi is-almost certainly-tagged for 80,000lbs...12,000 front, 34,000 tractor drive tires, 34,000 trailer.)

[Jarlaxle]

she wasn’t comfortable backing up her Volvo truck

You probably also shouldn't be driving something that you don't know how to drive in reverse....

Don't ever visit a boat ramp.

[Jarlaxle]

Swift, JB Hunt, CRST, May, etc etc. Trucks to avoid. Even other truckers (including ones that drive for those companies!) say to get out of their way. Inexperienced drivers. One of the CRST ("Can't Really Steer Trucks") drivers heavily damaged one of the race boats on the series I participate in at a fuel station by not making a wide enough arc, and hit the boat (destroying the wing fairings, shoving the boat several feet forward on the trailer until the rudder hit the bunk, and damaging the rear hydroshoe) with the side of the trailer, only stopping when the rear tires of the trailer hit the back of the boat trailer). Oh, and the boat was sponsored by a rival trucking company.

The only ones that are worse are port haulers. The guys picking up and dropping off containers. These are usually guys fired from big companies, and own worn out, often unsafe trucks that see little maintenance. These are the ones you see tipped over around here more often than anything else.

I wonder how much of that is because the containers aren't loaded properly? A guy I know used to do intermodal freight, and some of the pictures he showed me were just jaw-dropping. I saw one 40' container that had ALL the heavy stuff loaded above the center, and have no idea how that one didn't go ass-over-teakettle on the first curve.

I've known several truckers and most have the same compaint- their employers almost universally require them to break trucking laws. Sometimes it's false books, but mostly its undeclared hazardous chemicals. My neighbor quit his job with Allied (which is a long-haul MOVIING company) when they wanted him to haul undeclared, unplacarded flammable liquids on return trips.

Doesn't surprise me. England is great for that.

Of course, the flip side is you can't become an experienced driver without first being an inexperienced driver, and the only way to get experience is to actually DRIVE. A solution (of sorts) would be to require drivers to have "provisional" CDLs after passing the exams, and then have 500 hours driving with a non-provisional driver before being allowed to solo. Of course the shipping industry and the Teamsters would never go for that. I know I had maybe 30 minutes training before the Navy turned me loose with a 5-ton truck and 27 (later 33) foot boats on trailers.

Sounds about right. My brother is a Marine...he drove a 7-ton 6x6 (31,000lbs fully loaded) and a tanker truck...before that, the largest vehicle he had driven was a Chrysler Concorde. My stepfather went from a VW to a Transporter-erecter-launcher semi when in the Army.