This morning's commute and other commuting stories

riding brakeless on roads online

I haven't heard of 'Lucas Brunelle: The Online Video Game' yet, but I suppose I just haven't been paying attention. :)

Cycled through Kingston upon Thames y/day

Great to see so many school kids doing their commute by bike. Wish the same was facilitated in more of London... Think most parents fear the roads too much to allow their children to cycle unattended. Sad

Its peak pigeon rutting season I notice. They're not the sharpest tools in the box, but are normally strong, able flyers, and London ones are good at leaving it until the last possible second before getting out of the way.

All that goes out the window during the rutt. Male pigeons' peripheral vision disappears, they've got nothing going on in those tiny brains apart from the constant sounding of the pigeon pwnani klaxon.

There is clearly not enough blood in a male pigeon to operate its brain and its dick at the same time, I almost shredded a few in my front wheel today.

Yo pigeons! Stop, look and listen you dumb fucks.

All that goes out the window during the rutt. Male pigeons' peripheral vision disappears, they've got nothing going on in those tiny brains apart from the constant sounding of the pigeon pwnani klaxon.

Are you trying to imply that this is any different for humans? :)

@Oliver its all year round for humans though, those bastards are not be trusted either :)

At least with pigeons its just for a season.

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I've already been approached by the Beeb for when Attenborough croaks. The next series of Blue Planet is going to be much more street.

Dear Gods, there's a Plane Tree seed plague out there of fucking biblical proportions at the moment. It's as if some cyclists have enslaved a tribe and their god is imposing punishment on all cyclists until they're freed.

They know when it’s windy.

Yep, a section of the IKEA ride yesterday was almost completely filled with plane tree jizz. Just north of Hammersmith if I recall correctly.

We also rode through some really green bits: through Mitcham Common, along the Wandle, the Thames and the Lee.

It was a miracle noone died from hayfever. Maybe meatballs (or cinammon buns) are the secret antidote.

There's fucking drifts of it in the parks, I aborted riding there immediately. It sounds like something from Ron Jeremy's CV, coming to an adult film store near you....drifts of jizz, and the sequel, face fucked through the park....

^ Looks like a slip and slide mush situation once it rains, or is that not so bad?

Being a good cyclist, waiting in the ASL stopped for red (it is green for peds so I could safely go through when there are no peds, but hey....no need to do it on that junction, it is not one where you can get squeezed by a lorry etc.) and a guy just zips past me clean through the red in his lycra on the ped green.

Bit of a lulz then when I catch up with him a mile down the road on Brompty the Brompton. Commuting racer ahoy...

It was a massive mess around Cornmarket [the metal squiqqly statue in Belfast city centre], Monday 0900 seems to be refill and bin lorry time, normally it is just pedestrians and the occasional taxi. A big lesser-black back seagull was patiently waiting for the bin bags to rip.

Saw someone smashing it through a red on the road at 20mph near London Bridge on one of these

Actually hair raising to witness.

On the plus side, cold morning keeping those horrible flies that loiter around streams/canals at bay. 2nd only to plane trees for springtime eye agony.

This morning, I saw a van somewhere outside of Wimbledon that looked like it was doing that American 'rolling coal' thing, except it was definitely not on purpose. It reminded me of the amount of diesel exhaust coming out of the decades-old Merc trucks back in Paraguay, when they were hauling loads of sugar cane that were so exaggerated they could barely get up small hills anymore.

Surely MOT looks at that kind of thing, right?

Ahh, that's what it is! I've noticed some incredibly dozy pigeons this last weekend too.

Completely oblivious driver on my commute in this morning. Pulled into a bike lane & stopped right in front of a cyclist ahead of me, who rightly gesticulated frustratingly. Then pulls out, tries to overtake a stopped bus by pulling out without indicating, then pulls back into the bike lane right in front of me, then out again as I try & pass on the right.

Didn't seem to be a malicious thing, just a completely inattentive driver. Was an old man when I looked over, think it's passed the point when they should be on the road.

Surely MOT looks at that kind of thing, right?

"The most significant area for diesel car owners is stricter rules on the permissible level of emissions of cars fitted with a DPF. If a car’s exhaust emits visible smoke of any colour, it will fail the MOT test."

I've never owned a vehicle in the UK so I haven't had any first-hand experience with MOTs, but I assumed as much. Really hope they'll be forced to get that fixed soon.

i do find it a bit strange that i still seem to see plenty of vehicles that belch out black smoke, especially when the driver puts their foot down.
i'm sure the police have the authority to take a car off the road if it has a visible defect that would make it fail the MOT - they certainly do when it comes to bald tyres, or malfunctioning lights.
possibly it's just if it poses a danger, although you could argue that pollution is causing a danger to health...
maybe it's time for environmental police patrols?

::edit::
https://www.gov.uk/report-smoky-vehicle

look like you can report busses or lorries, but not any other type of vehicle, to the DVSA

look like you can report busses or lorries, but not any other type of vehicle, to the DVSA

I don't have the license plate, but it was a large van with a cargo bed in the back anyway, not a proper lorry. I wonder why it's limited to those...

Increasingly annoyed at how often people just leave their engines running (e.g. at level crossings etc). At North Sheen level crossing drivers seem pretty oblivious to the fact it's a residential road, and there's pedestrians, families, children etc waiting at the crossing.

Haven't done a cycle commute since April 4/5 (only commute SW15/SE1 once a week by bike and have had holidays and rest prior to marathon) so haven't witnessed the congestion that the Hammersmith Bridge closure is causing.

I only have to do LRR between the Half Moon pub and Putney Bridge (and then I go down the New King's Road) so it won't be too bad I guess.

Hoping it will make lots of people rethink their decisions about their mode of transport.

Typical shonky builder with a Transit that has never been serviced is on a standard Drving License, rather than a Vehicle Operators license for HGVs?
https://www.gov.uk/topic/transport/vehicle-operator-licences

Our council LB Hillingdon has a specific clause for those who leave engines running within their PSPO (Public Spaces Protection Order).
Whether they have enough Enforcement Officers,
and,
which department of the Council you would need to inform
is another matter.

Lots of flies
In the eyes
Cyclist cries