Category Archives: opinion

Talking without listening.

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Britain seems to be an increasingly angry place. Were talking about it since the Brexit vote of 2016. The papers, online, radio and TV are filled with people expressing opinions. They are talking but not listening.

Here is a letter to the local paper that characterises the Angry Letter Writer. See below.

His opinions certainly don’t reflect my 30 year’s experience cycling with clubs. However, there were times when drivers made it clear that they were angry with us. I used to notice their reactions when I lived in Bristol, but not in Staffordshire.

My strongest disagreement is with the assertion that club cyclists are the biggest problem on our roads. He has not considered motorists speeding, running red lights, having no insurance, tailgating and so on. In his mind, the nuisance of overtaking club cyclists is greater than the loss of life associated with the driving offences listed above. It is so easy to refute each argument that I won’t bother. The overall theme is anger.

The same letter was published in the Southport version of this paper but the name was withheld. In that case it was signed off as

Angry motorist, (name and address supplied). Has the paper slipped up and accidentally released his name?

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A fixie and bagpipes.

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8°C, brightening up with increasing SW wind.

1, The birds were lively today. I heard curlews, lapwings and another strange one. The latter’s sound carried a very long way but eventually I got there. A guy stopped his van and had just finished playing his bagpipes. I stopped for a chat; he played in a band in Liverpool and couldn’t practice at home.

2, Look, this is creepy;

On a lamp-post in Formby.

“WAKE UP WHITE PEOPLE

SAVE THE WHITE RACE.

Er what? Save them from what exactly? A quick search using those words returns white supremacists in the USA. What is going on in their poor little minds? I’m not offended by this crass slogan, I’m disgusted by it. Needless to say, I scraped it off.

3, Later, a puncture. The tyre is something that the rubber delaminated from the case. How did I let it get so bad? There followed a nervous ride home, it could so easily puncture again. It didn’t.

4, new pedals:

Swapped from the Arrow winter bike, semi-platform SPDs seem a more natural option on a fixed gear bike.

The black cage is actually plastic and weighs very little. Clipping in feels no different. Shimano do a very wide range of SPD pedals and I may slowly phase in this style as others wear out. It’s only the cross bike that needs the extra mud clearance offered by the minimalist design.

Occasionally, I may ride this machine in ordinary shoes so a wider footprint is necessary. They feel better too and I can see a smoother movement of my knees with less side to side motion. I had no twinges in my knees today. Problem solved!

Why I hate shopping.

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10°C, cool easterly dry wind.
It’s mostly the disappointment. Shopping is about making choices, you go into a shop and either choose something that doesn’t fit, or you choose to leave the shop.
It doesn’t matter whether I want clothes or  a sleeping bag. Most clothes are either sized for medium people, or for fat people. Clothes for larger men are the same as medium except that have fat belly space. Sleeves are usually the same length as are trouser legs. Short sleeves and legs don’t have adjustable hems any more.​

A capella, acapulca, a poodle-goat, as you can see.


Sleeping bags are sometimes available in long lengths. I say available, but that doesn’t mean any shops have them in stock, it doesn’t even mean the importer has any either. The sleeping bag I want may be available by the end of February.
Are you getting a sense of why I don’t like shopping?

‘Good grief’.

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5°C, negligible N breeze. Clear sky white dry salty roads.
Commute with MapMyRide+! Distance: 25.08mi, time: 01:43:03, pace: 4:07min/mi, speed: 14.60mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/1360056929

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Strange encounter: the ride home took me through Weeford. Weeford has a short part climb which is a bit narrow. Tonight, a cyclist started the hill before me with a weave to the right. His bike has a big plastic bag hanging by the back wheel.  I called ‘on your left’ so I could pass as he swerved right. But at the last moment, he veered left forcing me to swerve right. ‘Okay, on your right’ I corrected.
Then, as I overtook, I said ‘good grief’. The guy is a hazard, mainly to himself, and to others.
As I rode up the hill, a tirade began:
‘Excuse me, what did you say?’
More incoherent shouting, the word ‘light’ came out. The shouting continued as I got to the top of the hill. Bizarre.
It’s no good to me to discuss the matter, I don’t care what the nutter thinks. He’s probably plucking bits of his bag out of the rear spokes as I write.
If he’s that annoyed then shut up, and get up the hill much faster.

That wasn’t the only encounter tonight. On Rosemary Hill Road, I passed a guy with no lights of any sort. At least he wore a tabard, but otherwise- darkness, car headlights often don’t reach high enough.
We stopped on a red and I said: ‘you ought to get lights,’ he said ‘I know’.
Let’s hope he does. Nobody wants to pass a cyclist lying in the road with a coat over his face one night.

Shopping is annoying.

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13°C, grey.
Fact: shopping is annoying. Shops stock a large range of trousers for guys with a fat arse and bamboo legs. Another shop I tried, sold trousers in only one leg length, that was a short 34″ so alterations are not possible. I hate shopping and I envy those who can go into a shop and choose colour and fabric. My choice is between- buy something that doesn’t fit, or leave the shop.

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To be doing?

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-2C~? Clear

I know language is an organic thing that evolves over the decades. But there is a trend that doesn’t rest easily with me, the prevalence of the passive present continuous voice. It’s everywhere and sounds so weak and excessively wordy. One day, not too far in the future you’ll hear this:

Will you be taking this man, to be having and to be holding…?

Yuk! Sometimes this form is necessary but more often it’s clumsy , wordy and just glaringly ugly.

Why the need?

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18°C, Light SW, mostly sunny. CR:63 miles

Why the need to park like this? There is a guy in the corner house that has a pushchair for two kids. I presume he has to divert into the road, but that’s okay because your car is all white and perfect and lovely and new and you are so so proud of it. And it cost you all of your money.
This was on a quiet residential side-road. There is hardly any traffic on this road, the other parked cars provide some form of shelter and swiped side-mirrors are not a problem here. I can see that you have folded the mirrors so that people who have to squeeze passed don’t hurt them.

80

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27°C, clear & still

Two loosely related news stories this week have caught my attention with their retrograde trend. One, proposes to raise the speed limit on motorways to 80mph. This has sparked numerous threads on forums (or is that fora?), interviews in TV and is said to be opposed by “environmental groups”. What worries me about the debate is its one-dimensional nature. MPs and most commentators seems to think there is only one reason against a change- safety. It’s almost as if they haven’t considered that there are other reasons at all. As I get older I am increasingly pushed towards the view that our leaders & decision makers are just plain stupid.
Look guys, here are some factors to consider just so you don’t have to think any up yourselves: fuel consumption (oil is going to run out eventually), noise, wear (on cars and on the roads), fear (cars full of kids because mums fear the traffic). All of those problems increase with speed.

Kwikfit-up

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18°C, cloudy & sunny stuff

They’ve charged me for nitrogen filling in a tyre repair. No, I didn’t ask for it, the stuff I have been putting in tyres for 20 years is 80% nitrogen anyway- why pay extra for it. Further, look at what it says in the receipt under “Brakes”:

Unique Lifetime Guarantee on all brake pads…
For as long as you own the car, plus 12 months or 12,000 miles whichever comes first.

12,000 miles is about a 1½ years, great lifespan. What lives for just 12 months?