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" The thing is it did actually stick in my memory enough that the idea of signalling, shoulder checking etc didn't seem at all strange by the time I actually got round to cycling on the road in earnest.">
That is is all I wanted recognised; that some of the lost generation (current drivers and cyclists alike) simply take signalling as an optional extra...like a walnut gear knob.
MultiGrooves
@Vanneau
I can pretty much summarise what I remember about cycling proficiency. This was, I guess, in the Thatcher years. We had milk too, in midget-sized bottles.
Having also done modern cycle training, I think the main difference is there was no real emphasis on road positioning other than at junctions when turning right: I don't recall anything highlighting dooring risk, and there was certainly nothing that stuck in my memory about left-hooks. The other substantive difference was that the training wasn't done on public roads with an instructor also on a bike , but in the schoolyard supervised by a teacher (who may or may not have owned a bike but usually appeared in a yellow Volvo).
You're right though, it was a entirely 'normal' thing and everyone in my school year (all 6 of them or whatever it was, I grew up in the sticks) did it. It was just one of those things that you were expected to do, like the BAGA gymnastics award for that matter. The thing is it did actually stick in my memory enough that the idea of signalling, shoulder checking etc didn't seem at all strange by the time I actually got round to cycling on the road in earnest.
However, as