This morning's commute and other commuting stories

There's the driving test I suppose.

For some reason I wore bibtights and long sleeves today as it was pissing it down when I woke up and I assumed it would be cold. How wrong I was. Sweating/10

Madman.

Gloves too, felt like a proper idiot. Only managing to cycle to work 0nce or twice a week at the moment. Last time I did it (early last week) my hands were freezing until halfway through my commute. Least I have some emergency summer kit at work for the cycle home.

I live by the Accuweather app - the realfeel thermometer hasn't steered me wrong on glove choice yet.

+1 my favourite weather app

Cheers, will investigate. Blaming the nipper for having me up at 12.00, 4.00 and 6.10am. Brain can't function properly after that kind of abuse.

Coming home just now, at Blackwall roundabout saw a guy on a Boris Bike going round in the wrong direction!

I shit myself every day going round in the right direction, how he didn't get killed is a miracle.

I saw a lady on a Boris bike do that at Hyde Park Corner (!)

Best commute of my life this evening.

Riding along Theobolds Road and some yummy mummy pulls out in front of me - whatever, that shit happens in London. Oh look, she's on her phone - whatever, that shit happens in London. Oh hey, two police officers walking along the road, oh hey we've stopped at a red light - I hail them over - surely this woman will realise before it's too late - no, she's still on the phone.

As the policeman walks into the road to accost her, I tap on the window and ask why she's on the phone. She gives me the finger, I motion for her to turn around - she does so and sees the officer. The light goes green and I leave them both there. Lolz all the way East.

Karma says....

Guy skitching onto a van going over the crossing and along Mile End rd, Sainsburys bag swinging around hanging off his bars...lets go of the van after he realises how fast he's going - swerves within an inch of the car lane/cycle superhighway dividing island. No helmet. Carries on riding until weewoo weewoo he gets pulled over. Probably the best outcome for him, if he'd hit that island it would have been his brains all over the road as well as his meal deal

I'd never have dropped my meal deal, brains or not.

Meal Deal Holyfield

No helmet.

Because it's illegal to ride without it?

No but adds to the potential severity of the situation

... along with no hi viz, and no road tax!!

To be fair, stacking it at speed without a vehicle involved is one of the very few situations that helmets have a half-decent track record.

Struck dumb by police in an unmarked car this morning. Guildford Road, nr Stockwell - quiet residential road, one-way for cars, two way for cyclists. I'm pootling along, car coming towards me, parked cars on either side (so quite tight), so politely I pull over into a space and wave the car through. He crawls past, winds down the window and says "what's your problem?". (It's now that I see that it's a couple of policemen in the car). I say:
"Nothing, just waving you through".
Plod: "It's a one-way street"
Me: "Two way for cyclists"
Plod: "No, it's a one-way street", and drives off.
I'm a bit miffed as I've been doing this route for ages. So I turn round and cycle after him, get to the road where there is clearly a sign for bikes and a segregated part of the junction. Tap on the window:
Me: "See, it's a two way for bikes"
Plod: "Well, I'm not a cyclist am i" and drives off.
Behind him was another unmarked police car with a police woman laughing her head off!
I spent most of the rest of the commute thinking of all the witty replies I should have used......and promptly failed to unclip!

Our shared values reflect the special nature and demands of policing London. They are so important to us, because they shape and guide the way we work.

Professionalism
Integrity
Courage
Compassion

Ha! I think he may have missed that particular memo, cos you know, Judge Dredd never read memos did he, and he's a proper policeman.

Crossed Vauxhall Bridge Northbound and rolled up to the red light.
Put my foot down and it just kept on going! Slipped forward and out from under me. Kept relatively upright only needing to touch a couple of fingers to the ground.

Closer inspection of my shoes reveals the rubber heal pad is pretty much all worn off so I've basically been stepping down onto the plastic sole for who knows how long!
Hurry up, Payday. It's new shoe buying time!

Man, that is SUCH a familiar situation from when my commute used to take me round there! I used to go from Larkhall Lane to Landsdowne Gardens (which is the same: one-way for motorised, but two-way for bikes) and would regularly get drivers eyeballing me with pure rage at the presumed injustice of what they thought was me deigning to come at them the wrong way down a one-way street. Because, you know, flooring it straight at an oncoming cyclist on a tiny street is the best way of dealing with that, obvs.

On the upside, I did used to see Will Self fairly often round there. Never quite made up for the couple of attempted punishment rammings/unasked for games of chicken with oncoming Range Rovers though...

Police dont appear to know the rules for lot of stuff right now, absolutely fuckin useless.