This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Reminds me of ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgCqz3l33kU

If she was hitting the steering wheel she may have been trying to start the sirens, there's a master on switch but they're actually started by the horn being used, they also might have just broken, they have a tendency to just pack in

Yeh it had crossed my mind. She was furious in the car, maybe with the car, and totally calm outside the car.

hah

Some kind of march heading North over Blackfriars just now. Full police support blocking traffic around them. Overheard it was taxi drivers but thinking about it, taxi drivers and walking don't really fit. Any clue?

Well, that took a bit longer than I thought. Still, no dramas, nothing fell off (inc. me) and was rather nice riding through pitch-black lanes with lights...

Chatted to a guy in Streatham this morning - we were both riding a 2015 Genesis Flyer, wearing the same type of Chrome SPD shoes, and both had an item of Vulpine clothing.

Snap!

Got a little bit shirty with a bus driver who pulled up into the ASL after I'd been waiting there 10-15 seconds, so that his cabin was level with me. He didn't seem bothered...

Independent Worker GB Union for the Uber Workers rights tribunal starting today

That could describe every driver in the world. Fucking saint in normal life but will run you over and kill your children if you dare slow them down on their way to buy their soy latte.

There's some hospital protests on today...
http://ealingnewsextra.co.uk/editors-pick/residents-urged-to-rally-against-hospital-cuts/

EDIT: Not today. Mate said it was today.

EDIT EDIT: No he didn't, I just assumed he'd seen it.

Ah, cheers.

It's this: https://iwgb-universityoflondon.org/2017/09/26/tomorrow-strike-and-demonstration/

Combining the Uber tribunal date with a strike at University of London to bring outsourced staff back in house, and a general carnival protest for precarious workers.

Just experienced my first commute altercation in 14 years of London cycling, as I stopped at a crossing to let a pedestrian cross (ballsy move):

Bus pulls up alongside me, door open, and the driver begins gesturing and shouting, then he gets out.

Bus driver: "What are you f*cking doing?"
Me: “Letting the pedestrian cross”
Bus driver: “You f*cking idiot, what’s your problem?”
Me: “I’ve stopped to let the…”
Bus driver: “Do you know the f*cking highway code? Do you?!”
Me: “That man was crossing”
Bus driver: “It’s two crossings, you don’t stop til he’s on the second part”
Bus driver (to pedestrian): “This cyclist is a tw*t isn’t he?”
Pedestrian: “I don’t know, you seem…”
Bus driver (to me): “You f*cking idiot, I’ll stick a pin in your brake”

Bus driver gets back in bus and we both continue our journeys.

report to bus company, get the fucker off the road before he hurts someone or worse.

Sounds like an utter cunt. Definitely report him.

However he is factully correct that if a zebra crossing has an island in the middle you only need to give way if the pedestrian has reached the island. Giving way when some one is still crossing the first section does however not make you a "f*cking idiot" as it is certinaly one of more nuanced sections of the highway code.

raised an official complaint to TFL.

Make sure you report to the actual bus company (arriva, first etc), not just TfL. They are more likely to chase if you tweet them and be a persistent nuisance.

What does sticking a pin in someone's brake do?

Scratch up your fancy deep carbon rimz. The driver knew a flat tyre was only a minor annoyance and wanted to take it to the next level

Or maybe force you to bleed your hydraulic disc brakes which he knows is a massive faff

The guy's an animal!

Got out of the bus to tell you this? Definitely the opening stages of a breakdown, by now he'll be wandering around in camo, spent rocket launcher by his side, smouldering construction site behind him...

This!!

I called the police non-emergency number this morning, to let them know about a massive swan sitting in the bus lane just at the top of the hill from Seven Sisters up towards Finsbury Park.

Wonder what's happened to the swan?

maybe?

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