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

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

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 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.

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!!)

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 are in France, greatnan .

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

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

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

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

And they all join to enter the competitions.

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.

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 take my foot off the accelerator and let the car slow down gently. When it gets to about 20 mph I accelerate away. The other driver usually gets the message.

JO5. So you think lurkers just join for the competitions? Is it possible that some of them might happen to read one of the more acrimonious exchanges, or even a remark like that and be deterred from taking part?

I look at a few expat forums most days, but rarely post on them. Sometimes there is a thread that interests me, or I ask for advice on technical matters. Am I a lurker?

No, Greatnan, because at least you post on those forums, if only rarely. So many of the competition winners on this site are members whose names we have never seen on any threads.

Just catching up on the Forum after busy week/week-end!

I have a certificate for crossing the equator. apparently King Neptune will keep me safe if I fall into deep water!

Re University of Life.. we are all in it but, as 'me mam' used to say ' it's not the experience you have but what you learn from it that counts'

Does it mater whether members post? Are we really so mean that we don't want non-posters winning competitions. It's not even as if we are talking about lottery-style prize money.

nanaej I've got one of those somewhere and one for crossing the International Date Line.

Bah - you don't get one on airlines!

My International Dateline one was from an airline but is decades old – maybe 1950s. In fact, it was my father who crossed the line (and the equator) but he had my name put on the certificates. When he crossed the equator on a ship, there was a whole "ceremony" with Neptune coming aboard and men being "shaved" with a massive cut-throat razor made of wood. I can't remember what else but somewhere I have a Super8 cine film of the ceremony.

All I got from Singapore airlines was a damned apple which nearly cost me a fine of $400 - you would think an airline flying regularly into New Zealand would know the rules! I just put it in my bag and forgot it.

Greatnan I had a bag full of Walkers cheese and onion crisps which, at that time, you couldn't buy in NZ. I reduced one of the chaps in charge to fits of laughter when I anxiously asked if it was okay for me to bring them in as I didn't want to pay a huge fine.

Now I need to find out about importing things like a goose down duvet and pillows (I have the relevant web address).

Crossed the equator many times, by air, on the road and, several times, on foot, but still no certificates! And Air NZ didn't give me one for the International Date Line.

Well I have a certificate for passing through the Standedge Tunnel (4 miles long under the Pennines) in my narrowboat.
So there.

jane, I think that sounds slightly more scary than crossing the equator or the IDL! But then, I don't like enclosed spaces.