That was my fear when I was starting to drive after about 10 years of almost no driving. Somehow it wasn't a problem save for few cars that needed a longer time to get accustomed to or outright some special handling.

@djasa is this meant to be a reply to something?

@liskin @djasa it's mysterious
🧠🪓👻

@liskin
Yes, in-reply-to: @ljs https://social.kernel.org/objects/742a1dc5-12dd-4143-835c-07480b8394c3

😅

@djasa @liskin yeah it's like riding a bike, like I can absolutely drive it, it's just some gear changes are clunky and sometimes (actually surprisingly rarely... so far) I stall.

More like 'I need to smooothly driving a manual car again'.

But I did like 50k miles in a manual years ago so it's not like I don't ahve experience :>)

@ljs stalls are a situation where start-stop engine is a very nice thing to have, it stalls, you depress the clutch and voila, it's running again! 😀

I have far less mileage (never owned a car, then that 10 y gap) thus my uncertainty and then a pleasant surprise. Driving diverse cars also helped, it makes one feel the car better and adapt to its actual behaviour as opposed to say learning the position where the clutch starts biting.

@liskin

@ljs and riding a bike also helped, it keeps current the skill of reading the signs, it makes one "read the road" better (because a non-danger for a car driver is a danger for pedalling driver) and last but not least, the experience of being honked just for driving through some narrow stretch of the road makes one quite indifferent to some impatient honking arsehole when I get stalled in a car that requires full restart to get moving again.

@liskin

@djasa @liskin I got caught out by the stall thing since I went to hit the off/on switch and relaly turned it off lol

@djasa @liskin WAIT NOOOOOO

@ljs 🥲

@liskin

@ljs well since my return to driving, I sometimes say half-jokingly that people are such a poor drivers because they don't do utility biking at the same routes as they drive. Do you want some more examples? 🙂

@liskin

@djasa @liskin tbh you are brave if you cycle in the uk at all

@djasa @liskin infra here is not great

@ljs @djasa @liskin > it's like riding a bike,

yeah? can you drive it intoxicated?

@ljs @djasa @liskin oh come on, we're used the eastern way of driving. the only rule is you mostly ride on the right side.

no bravery needed. coming to terms with with one's own mortality helps. embracing it, and looking forward to it makes it fun!

@lkundrak @djasa @liskin ok taking notes here -

✔ drive on right in UK (mostly)
✔ drill hole in skull
✔ replace brain with pond water
✔ install fish

OK got it! Thanks!

@ljs @djasa @liskin cyclist meets another while riding on the wrong side of the road:
- so sorry sir. i'm tired, intoxicated and got a fish pond for brains
- no worries, me too *shriek*

driver meets another on the wrong side of the road:
- *dead*
- *dead*

@ljs @djasa @liskin - use arch linux btw
- *shriek*

@lkundrak @djasa @liskin SHRIEK *DOMINANCE EMPTY BRAIN DISPLAY*

SHRIEK SHRIEK SHRIEK!

@ljs have you already seen Brno? 😆

@liskin

@djasa @liskin not yet but I had better before I die (probably in a sewer in Brno)

@ljs @djasa @liskin if gear changes clunky, adjust dérailleur 🐔

@lkundrak @djasa @liskin oh hail him 🐟

@lkundrak @ljs @djasa @liskin so how do you actually feel about your favorite social media influencer getting a new car, and specifically one that's intended for having fun driving a car and not a boring tool to travel from A to B.

@vbabka @lkundrak @djasa @liskin it's powered by climate destruction too

@vbabka @djasa @liskin @ljs not only fine with it, i support it, as long as my favourite social media influencer doesn't become an entitled brat, drive drunk, park in a bike lane or on a crosswalk

@lkundrak @vbabka @djasa @liskin No I drive safe actually

Never drink drive

I am nice to cyclists

Mostly

@vbabka @djasa @liskin @ljs and as long as they realize that if they can't overtake me, they shall put the width of their vehicle compared to mine into consideration, and then punch themselves into their face instead of honking like a 4 years old

@ljs @djasa @liskin @vbabka congratulations, you've successfully passed the not-a-total-psychopath test. chances are we're not going to yell at each other when we meet on a road

@lkundrak @vbabka @djasa @liskin I very very rarely honk.

I'm not a fucking goose

I hate it when people honk unnecessarily which is basically 99.9% of all honks

I do leave big wide gaps nearly always yes

@ljs @djasa @liskin @vbabka yeah why cant they shriek like a normal ape when their place in a social hierarchy is shaken by a drunk bicyclist

@lkundrak @ljs @djasa exactly this - after cycling in Eastern Europe for a couple years the UK feels safer in every way

@liskin @djasa @lkundrak wow that's quite something

@lkundrak @ljs @djasa I believe @katka would say that our dérail-leur is well adjusted.

@ljs @djasa @liskin bruh in norway you just walk on a sidewalk minding your business and a car passes by at their usual 10 mph, then stops and you just feel obliged to cross to the other side even if you didn't intend to, just so that the driver wouldn't feel bad

@liskin @kawen @djasa @lkundrak hail clutch satan!

@lkundrak @djasa @liskin lol what? Fuck norway

@ljs @djasa @liskin yeah, right

now everybody, perhaps short of oslo and stavanger, got a suv there otherwise you can't even do basic shopping

they really need to learn how to grow their egos

@lkundrak @djasa @liskin I am not a big fan of SUVs, nearly everybody who has one doesn't need one.

A farmer I accept having a big vehicle (as long as they ACTUALLY DRIVE IT IN A FIELD).

Everyone else, fuck off

@ljs @djasa @liskin same feelings here. also about MMUs

@lkundrak @djasa @liskin also SMP

also cyclists

@ljs @djasa @liskin *rides a bicycle in the field* fuck yeah!!! 🧠 🪓 🐟

@lkundrak @djasa @liskin no no no INSTALL WHEELS INSTEAD OF LEGS

@ljs @djasa @liskin @lkundrak Real farmers around here drive things like 1990's single-cab chevy pickup trucks, equipped with a tow bar on the front so they can hook it up behind the head trailer and tow both out to the field behind the combine harvester.

@acsawdey @ljs @djasa @liskin what? no cybertrucks?

@lkundrak @ljs @djasa @liskin 🤣

@lkundrak @ljs @djasa @liskin You'd think cybertruck would fit the bill given the amount of solar installed around here but no, I've seen more F150 Lightning than Cybertruck.

@lkundrak @ljs @djasa @liskin Of course, everybody is out and about on the township and county roads in those "side-by-side" ATVs. I particularly like that you can get one from Mahindra that is a clone of the original WW II Willys Jeep.

@acsawdey @djasa @liskin @lkundrak good lads (and ladettes)

@ljs Most of my honking in recent years was unintentional with car stationary when pulling my backpack from front passenger seat. 😜

I think that the only honks I used when moving were for some arsehole on motorway when he changed lanes right in front of me and making me brake a second time and another for some very smart truck driver who didn't bother to got into the slow vehicles lane when climbing a hill at 60-70 km/h (he did after I honked when passing his cab) .

@liskin @lkundrak @vbabka

@djasa @liskin @lkundrak @vbabka yeah similar to me, if I honk at you you're doing something really really really bad.

I remember one time a guy had just stopped in traffic at a green light for a minute thinking he could turn right (big 'no right turn sign in front of him') and I honked, he looked at me furiously haha, classic

@djasa @liskin @lkundrak @vbabka leave the honking to these creatures