This morning's commute and other commuting stories

rode in against the wind
ride home with the wind
#yinyang

So many people in heavy jackets today. Why you do this to yourself?

I'm cutting, innit? Water weight loss.

15C yesterday coming in, 6C today - #frozenfingers

Muggy drizzle - damp both ways.

sunny day, canal towpath, breezy tail wind, fly'y mc fly face.
#freeprotien

Where? It's been stair rods all day.

#sunnyScotland ;)

Ah, today was the one this year.

Optimal conditions for some really cuntish driving tonight.

Two special mentions. One to the Uber driver who pulled out into the segregated lane between Blackfriars and St George's Circus and one to the BigMetallicWeapon driver who began to right hook me in Streatham then beeped and yelled when I held up a hand and shook my head to make it clear I had right of way.

I quite like riding in the wet, but it doesn't half make cunts of everyone.

Can you describe the right hook in more detail? Were you overtaking or was he coming from the lane to your left?

PS - 'priority'

It's possible I'm misusing the phrase "right hook".

I mean he was facing northbound and waiting to turn right across 3 lanes, with me riding southbound in the middle of the left-most lane (I'd moved into the middle of the lane so as to be more visible to him). Nevertheless, he began to move across me anyway. Was that a right hook? Dunno. Whatever it was it felt like a dick move at the time.

Slightly different kind of commute story this time - not just me whinging about crap driving.

About 6 weeks ago I was riding northbound in the segregated bit CS7 at Oval - just before the Oval bus trap. I see a bus driver amber-gamble the left-turn light and consequently almost skittle a pack of riders moving away from the cycle-only light to go straight on. One woman in the pack, let's call her Sarah*, berates the driver for what was a dangerous and stupid bit of driving. When we roll to a stop at the next reds I ask if she's OK and we get chatting about crap driving. We end up riding most of the way into Southwark just chatting away rather pleasantly.

Fast forward a few weeks and I bump into Sarah again - a little bit further down Kennington Park Road this time. That morning I'd almost been rear ended by a bus after slamming on the brakes to avoid being "right hooked" by a car, so the conversation flowed pretty easily from there and we rode together into Southwark again.

And finally this morning. On the same route, I greet her with a "We really must stop meeting like this." and a smile, but alas she's clearly not interested and explains she has to rush off to work... and then when I say "Oh no problem, see you around then", she indicates that the way in which she wants to rush off is by me speeding up. Oh...say no more.

Awkwardness compounded by stopping at the same reds a few more times in the same journey.

In hindsight I get why suddenly bumping into the same guy three times on your commute might seem a bit suspicious... I must have come off creepy, and I know that's the impression many of you will get from this, but honestly the first two encounters felt organic and not creepy at all. Ah well, you live and learn. And it seems like a good story for the commuting thread...

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Fair cop.

I'm just kidding, its actually quite sad. Hopefully she was just having a bad day and didn't want to talk to anyone rather than being creeped out by a friendly sounding chap who just wanted a chat

It's a short film just waiting to be made. :)

The new Love Actually. Christmas blockbuster for sure

500 days of summer meets premium rush?

500 Days of Skidding?

Brakeless in... er... Seattle?

We have a winner.

I think the etiquette of casual hellos is really tricky.

I walk with family and dog every school day at pretty much the same 5min window. I have developed cheery hellos with certain prople who walk at the same time every day. One of these people I stopped seeing (he changed his dogwalk routine I think) but when we now see we are friendly, we have mutual acquaintances and I would consider him the beginnings of a casual friendship.

Today one of the other regulars and I had a really good stop-&-chat version of the usual keep-walking-smile-wave routine, due to me having serious news I wanted to offload.

He was so kind and generous with his time.

Sometimes familiarity is quick to gestate ie yours and Sarah's initial rides alongside each other, but trust is slower to realise.

Don't be too disappointed that your friendliness has been snubbed a little. It may be that your benign presence may be accepted as casual acquaintance level rather than feelings that you're cracking on at her if you are civil but unforthcoming next time you cross paths.

if you are civil but unforthcoming next time you cross paths.

Yes, that's the plan. This interacting with other humans business can be a minefield!

10 things i hate about you cycling in a busy inner-city.