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JWestland
Velocio
Yesterday evening was a strange commute. I left work a little early, around 17:30, and could not believe the degree of gridlock throughout London. Embankment clogged, Parliament Square not moving, everywhere around St James's Park stopped, and then I got to Hyde Park Corner where police had blocked off Knightsbridge. They let me roll through, but I'm not sure why as a little further up another cordon stopped me altogether and then it dawned on me what I could see, an articulated lorry and a construction vehicle with a lot of blue lights around them right at the junction I knew the 21yr old cyclist had died earlier in the day.
Riding up through Hyde Park as a diversion it was bumper to bumper. Broke out on to Kensington High Street and nothing was moving. And it was like it the whole way home, Hammersmith, Chiswick, all the way. No cars moving, everything stopped and drivers resigned to it taking hours.
What struck me was how stressful that ride was. The slower the traffic, the more likely a frustrated car driver would do some insane sudden squeeze into a small gap, or that a pedestrian would emerge from inbetween vehicles.
Got home exhausted. This morning's foggy ride was blissful in comparison.