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Source: (consider it) Thread: Lost in the fog.
Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755

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The fog was thick around my mountain home this morning and it reminded me of driving to my grandfather's farm on an old country road with no lines. It was impossible to see beyond the front of the car and although I knew the road well I was soon in a ditch.
Another time my husband and I were driving on a two lane mountain road and ran into very thick fog so we were going slow as were all the cars in front of us when a car passed us going about 70 miles an hour and all we could think was how in the world could he see where he was going. I was listening for a crash into on coming traffic but thankfully all was quiet.

Shipmates do you have any fog stories?

Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004  |  IP: Logged
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528

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Lots of fog out here lately, particularly with the Meramec River just down the bluff. I love it EXCEPT when it's freezing fog, which means that every thing it touches (like the road) gets the tiniest glassy coating of ice, invisible but lovely for skidding on...

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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!

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Bishops Finger
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# 5430

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Another Fog Fan here - it must be something to do with returning to the womb.... [Ultra confused]

I've never personally got lost in fog, though I have had some scary driving times (especially with the fuckwits who don't seem to notice that visibility is down to a few yards - perhaps they're afraid their graves will get cold before they get to them).

My late father-in-law told the old canard about cycling in the fog (in Liverpool), following the tram lines, and ending up in the tram depot... [Paranoid]

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004  |  IP: Logged
Moo

Ship's tough old bird
# 107

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It's much easier driving in the fog when there are white lines painted along the side of the road.

Moo

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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.

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Barnabas Aus
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# 15869

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When our children were in primary school, we decided to take a spring long weekend in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. We were to stay at Blackheath which is almost 3500 feet AMSL. As we drove west, we reached Springwood at about 1200 feet AMSL, and encountered misty weather. The higher we went, the thicker it got, and that's the way it stayed for the next 48 hours, until we dropped below Springwood on the return journey and saw the sun again. I don't think the kids have forgiven us for that cold grey weekend away.
Posts: 375 | From: Hunter Valley NSW | Registered: Sep 2010  |  IP: Logged
Boogie

Boogie on down!
# 13538

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I was brought up in South Africa in the 60s. We returned to England by boat - the Edinburgh Castle.

When we arrived back in Southampton there was thick fog and we were stuck at anchor for two full days. I'll never forget the sight of the ghostly ships also waiting to dock and the sound of all those fog horns.

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Garden. Room. Walk

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Baptist Trainfan
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# 15128

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The most frightened I've been was driving down the M$ one crisp sunny morning when we suddenly hit a fog bank. I tried to slow down to what I felt was a safe speed but was acutely aware of traffic passing me at higher speed and was really worried that someone would run into me from behind.

On holiday in Madeira 18 months ago we went on a bus tour into mountains. The higher we got, the thicker the cloud. We went to a famous viewpoint (Eiro de Srrrado) but could see nothing. Then, almost miraculously, the clouds parted, the sun came out and we could see into both the valley, many hundreds of feet below, and the peaks around - awe-inspiring! ( Like this but the clouds made it more dramatic).

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sabine
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# 3861

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Just a few days ago, while caregiving my mother, I noticed how the fog seemed interwoven with the trees and houses at varied intervals throughout her hilly neighborhood. It was as if someone had gone through and draped blossomed in random ways.

Btw, I don't really like the word gossimer but it seems appropriate to describe the magical effect of the fog that day.

sabine

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"Hunger looks like the man that hunger is killing." Eduardo Galeano

Posts: 5887 | From: the US Heartland | Registered: Dec 2002  |  IP: Logged
sabine
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# 3861

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Somehow autocorrect changed "gossimer" to blossomed in my last post. Maybe autocorrect knows about my aversion to the g-word. There's a preview option for a reason. [Hot and Hormonal]

sabine

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"Hunger looks like the man that hunger is killing." Eduardo Galeano

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cliffdweller
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# 13338

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I used to live in the San Joaquin Valley (California) which is known for it's extraordinarily thick, low, Tule fog. Tule fog is not patchy like coastal fog, it doesn't move. It just settles in and completely envelops and conceals pretty much everything, including the sun, for weeks and weeks on end. It's as if someone came in during the night and painted grey paint over every window in your home. Very depressing.

One day I was visiting a friend less than a mile from home, the fog came in during the evening. When I left her house-- again, just a few blocks from home-- I made a wrong turn. With no landmarks, street signs or anything else visible I drove for miles & miles before I realized my error-- very disorienting.

More whimsically, one day the fog was even lower than usual-- only a few feet high rather than completely engulfing everything. So I could navigate easily because you could see the tops of landmarks, cars, pedestrians and street signs over the fog. But the bottom two feet of cars, pedestrians, etc. was completely hidden so it looked like everyone/thing was floating around magically on clouds.

And then there's the memory of walking thru the intense fog to the hospital to give birth to my first child 32 years ago this week. That baby will be giving birth (though not in the fog) next month. Good foggy memories!

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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner

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Baptist Trainfan
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# 15128

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Another experience was driving west along the M40. The mist thickened as the road left London and climbed into the Chilterns. But when we reached the top at Stokenchurch (the section of the road that is seen in the opening credits of "The Vicar of Dibley") we burst out of the cloud into the sunshine. Ahead of us lay the flatlands of Oxfordshire, wreathed in cloud; in the distance columns of steam rose from Didcot power station.

It was at this point that I turned off onto a minor road which slowly descended the scarp slope into Watlington and Wallingford. To my right, cloud (which , of course, I soon entered again). To my left, sunshine. Magic!

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Bishops Finger
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# 5430

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Magic, indeed!

Don't like the sound of that Tule fog, though - reminds me that I'm old enough to just remember the sort of thick soupy stuff we used to get, compounded of 'proper' fog and coal smoke....

The sort of low mist - just a couple of feet high - with everything rising above it is reminiscent of a magical barge holiday one autumn on the Stratford Canal....

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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Piglet
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# 11803

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We lived in St. John's, Newfoundland, which is affectionately known as Fog City, for 13 years; while I think the nickname was maybe a bit harsh, when they got fog, they got fog - you could watch it swirling up the Narrows (St. John's harbour is really a fjord) and settling over the city.

Having said that, my own "fog" stories are actually from other places: we were singing for a wedding in the cathedral here in the summer, and when we were driving across the bridge, the fog on the river was so thick you couldn't see Fredericton at all. When we got to the other side, it was like turning a light on, and the sun was splitting the trees.

Fog isn't all that common a meteorological event in Orkney, but a rare blanket descended the day before we got married. D's sister (who was to act as "groom's supporter") had intended to fly up from London, but only got as far as Aberdeen. They put her up in a nice airport hotel, and we hoped that the fog would lift so she could get over the next day - we even had the airport manager (who sang in the Cathedral choir) getting on to his colleagues in Aberdeen saying that they had to let her on the Shetland flight, and it had to land in Kirkwall. However, it became apparent fairly early on that this wasn't going to happen, so she took the 12-hour ferry from Aberdeen instead, which meant she missed the ceremony and most of the reception. [Frown]

As it turned out, when I arrived at the Cathedral at 4:00 p.m. it was still like pea soup, but at the end of the ceremony the sun came out and we emerged to a beautiful Orkney summer evening.

[Axe murder]

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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music

Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006  |  IP: Logged
Tree Bee

Ship's tiller girl
# 4033

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Once upon a time I had an interview for Aberystwyth library school.
My lovely Dad opted to drive me there and back to Norfolk in a day.
Coming home in the dark the fog descended and it was very hard to see.
For a large part of the journey we followed the tail lights of the car in front making Dad's job easier. After a while Dad overtook and returned the favour. If I remember right we took turns till we parted ways.
A lovely memory.

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"Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple."
— Woody Guthrie
http://saysaysay54.wordpress.com

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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528

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More fog, fog, fog here as I drove home in the dark. Keep expecting a deer or three to jump out in front of me.

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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!

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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927

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quote:
Originally posted by Barnabas Aus:
When our children were in primary school, we decided to take a spring long weekend in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. We were to stay at Blackheath which is almost 3500 feet AMSL. As we drove west, we reached Springwood at about 1200 feet AMSL, and encountered misty weather. The higher we went, the thicker it got, and that's the way it stayed for the next 48 hours, until we dropped below Springwood on the return journey and saw the sun again. I don't think the kids have forgiven us for that cold grey weekend away.

Almost six years ago, Uncle Pete paid a visit to NZ and some of Australia. In February, hot and humid. Another Shipmate kindly took him and me as well up the Mountains. By the time we were at Blaxland on the edge of them, the fog came down and became thicker and thicker. When we reached Echo Point at Katoomba, Pete had to go into souvenir shop to buy postcards to see what he should have been looking at. No echoes, either, buried in the fog.

It lifted as suddenly as it had descended and about in the same spot.

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Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged
Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927

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Tried to edit but was interrupted and time passed,

Mum and Dad were driving in Snowy Mountains and found themselves in a very heavy fog on Mt Talbingo. Dad did not know the road so pulled over till a well lit truck went past. Dad followed it and found at the bottom when they came out of the fog that he had been following a truck loaded with high explosives.

The road was dirt, narrow and winding with no guard rails and nasty drops at the side.

[ 17. January 2017, 07:37: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]

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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.

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Sipech
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# 16870

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Does descending cloud count as fog?

If so, then I do have a tale. I was fortunate to be able to have a holiday last year. I took myself hiking in Switzerland. I was in the mountains above Davos when the clouds came down and visibility shortened to about the length of two cricket wickets.

While I was walking, others were cycling on the paths, evidently less worried than I was about the worsening weather. Only one got a bit blase and crashed, fracturing his collar bone. His friend went down the mountain to get help but I just came across this guy, slightly in shock, sat on a bench in this near silent environment, holding his arm awkwardly.

There wasn't much I could do but sit with him for a while and chat while help was on its way, but to try to offer him some comfort, I introduced the guy to Kendal Mint Cake - a 2kg supply of which I had taken with me.

I may be a rubbish evangelical, but at least I can spread the gospel of Cumbrian confectionary as far as central Europe.

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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile

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daisydaisy
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# 12167

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On foggy days when I lived close to Cadbury-land the fog tasted delicious.
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no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

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We've had a go at -35 weather. Respite now. Lots of ice fog - where the bits of humidity in the arm freeze into ice crystals and then reflect sunlight. Sundogs are the result.
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Eigon
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# 4917

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I remember a Christmas journey from mid-Wales to the Midlands to visit family, in fog all the way, except when we crossed the Malvern Hills. We came out into an island of bright sunshine, with a fog sea stretching off in all directions as far as the eye could see.

And one evening, when on camp for a historical re-enactment, knee high mist came rolling in across the field, with a wood behind it. One of the re-enactors also had a costume with him for Merlin from the 1980s film Excalibur - black with a silver helmet and a big staff. He worked his way round the field under cover of the woods and came out through the mist, walking slowly, and just waiting for people in the camp to notice him. He really did look quite magical.

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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

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Jengie jon

Semper Reformanda
# 273

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Thought people might enjoy this photo from last November. I did not take any of the fog while I was in it. It was beautiful, a pale purple colour with trees and buildings taking darker shades but the contrast was not great and it was getting dark rather quicker than I would have liked.

Jengie

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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge

Back to my blog

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Pangolin Guerre
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# 18686

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Two quick fog tales. Many years ago I was in Venice in late October. With the very poor lighting after dinner (though, I was slightly lit) I was trying to navigate back to my pensione through the warren and ups-and-downs. I almost walked into a canal.

A few years ago a friend of mine and I were walking the South Downs. I forget the name of the forest, but we were a little east of Arundel. It was about 7.30 am, and as we walked the road, we heard a rolling drumming. Suddenly, just in front of us were about six deer emerging out of the fog at full speed, not more than 3m ahead of us. Startled the hell out of both of us, followed fright. As we moved on, we realised that they had been frightened by hunters shooting fowl (Pheasant? grouse?).

So, one near drowning, one near collision.

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Stercus Tauri
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# 16668

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There was heavy fog on the infamous 401 highway in south west Ontario today. This is the signal to turn off your headlights and put the boot to the floor. Driving is so much more fun that way.

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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)

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Bishops Finger
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# 5430

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Getting misty/foggyish here as night and another frost descend.... [Ultra confused]

No slacking of speed on the M2, though. I guess peeps are afraid their graves will freeze before they get to them.

IJ

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004  |  IP: Logged


 
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