This morning's commute and other commuting stories

BigSam?

Would you accept a two minute detour on your commute every day?

Ultimately the safety of your child ought to over ride all other considerations, but maybe the parent has a small time window between dropping the kid off at school/nursery and getting to work.

The point remains though that pedestrian facilities are usually ill considered and not very user friendly.

.

I'm 100% with you that pedestrian facilities are not up to scratch. Totally.

But would I endanger the life of my child every morning to save two minutes? No.

What's the point of raising them and ferrying them to-and-from school if you're going to drag them in front of a bus?

Remember being a kid and always being told to cross at a crossing.

She should leave the house 2 mins earlier then. Nobody should be endangering their's or their child's life for 2 friggin minutes.

Before you all start a witch hunt against errant parents, just remember how irate you get about a lack of cycling provision on London roads. Then think about how that environment caters for pedestrians.

Word

I am now stopping at refuges when peds are waiting.

Have you ever tried getting a kid out of the house on time?

I'm not defending this person, just saying that being more tolerant of vulnerable road users, especially in an environment which is essentially hostile towards them, is a good thing.

I am an aunty to 17 children, I know how annoying they are at leaving the house. I just don't agree that a parent should be endangering their child's life because they can't be arsed to walk 2 minutes to a safe crossing.

This is why I push the empty buggy into the road first, and then cross. It's much quicker and safer.

Slept in, bought coffee, caught train. Peachy.

WEll they're endangering their life by taking them out of the house... Blanket bans on behaviour rarely make much sense in the real world...

Blanket bans on behaviour rarely make much sense in the real world...

#banchildrennow

Get fucked.

This was every day last week for me, fml as I believe they say

Nothing like an early morning commute to get the blood pumping/boiling. I'm blaming all the bad driving on the moon, twice this morning I've been indicating to turn right and twice the car behind has taken that as a single to over take. BMW driver almost taken out by a bus as BWW driver decided they shouldn't have to wait and so pulled into the bus lane just as a bus was over talking. And the sheep, all the hi-vis sheep.

Still lovely weather

Got the estimate from the workshop, call the driver. He says "that's way more than I was expecting" and hasn't picked up since. Good job I'm seeing the police later, their involvement may persuade him to pay...
Twat.

Well, it may still be cheaper for him than an increase in insurance... has he thought about that?

Maybe, maybe not. Who knows!
I unfortunately don't have the name of the guys insurer, but do have his number plate. Any suggestions on how to work with only that?

You could try contacting the dvla? Maybe?

Then after that solicitors.

I think the police can do it but can't remember the circumstances in which they'll release it.

This is a few quid http://www.askmid.com/askmidenquiry.aspx

Decided not to use the bike lane to filter past a van, he wasn't indicating but I'd just arrived and didn't know if the lights would be red for long, he was about 3 cars back, couldn't quite see in the van from the left mirror as it was a bit dark inside but he signaled as he moved off and I give a little I've seen you wave and he turned left in front of me, nice easy interaction, no bother. I go to carry on ahead and notice a black car on my right who can surely only be going ahead as well. Nope, the lady inside makes no mirror checks or looks to the side at all and makes a very good try at left hooking me, I manage to brake and avoid it but how can she not notice me? She was behind me, she overtook and my bike is fucking huge, the guy in the little white van turning right looked quite glad I avoided her.

Not justifying his behavior, but if he can be convinced it's cheaper in the long run, perhaps it goes smoother?

A few tenners now... (if it's just your wheel) or a lot more tenners by losing no-claims...

You'd think the logic was sound wouldn't you.
It's a new rim and build, new saddle (rails twisted) and the fork needs re-aligning (TLCW seems happy to do it, it's only a few mm apparently). They're total was reasonable and certainly less than the cost of an excess and blown NCD.
The biggest issue is that I can't seem to get him on his phone number (I have previously) so there's no dialogue whatsoever.

wac. Hope you have more luck with the OB later